Usually moments of silence are solemn and dignified events that can help heal wounds left in the aftermath of tragedies. Two such occasions this week however show how they can leave troubled feelings in their wake. The first blown event was G-20 Moment of Silence for the victims in Paris. The problem is that it turned out to be a G-19 Moment of Silence because President Obama walked in late. While one would hope that this deeply symbolic moment would be sufficiently important to get the President there on time, problems can occur. Yet, this President has been criticized for years for being consistently late to events, which shows a lack of respect as well as organization. This is one of the worst such failures in a long line of delayed arrivals. The second incident was far more disturbing in Turkey.
Before the soccer game between Turkey and Greece, the officials called for a moment of silence for the Paris victims. The response from Turkish fans was to start yelling “Allahu Akbar” in Istanbul and booing the expression of sympathy for the hundreds of dead and wounded victims of the attack by Muslim extremists.
The scene at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium in Istanbul was deeply disturbing and Turkey manager Fatih Terim was quoted as saying: “Our fans should have behaved during the one minute silence.” That is an understatement.
I understand that, like American football games, fans at soccer games are not necessarily the best behaved crowd. However, this raises more obvious concerns for many who have watched changes in Turkey under the current government. The attacks have been widely condemned by Islamic scholars and groups — making this response even more disconcerting.
It is deeply concerning that, even with a disgusting massacre of innocent people like the one in Paris, many fans would still see their allegiance with the murderers due to religion. It also deepens the concern of the impact of the disastrous tenure of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has fueled the rise of Islamic parties in that country. 
We have been following the gradual erosion of Turkey as a symbol of secularism in the Islamic world under Erdogan. Erdogan was elected by Muslim parties and has steadily broken down secular traditions and introduced more and more Islamic influences in government.
I often write about my great love for Turkey and Istanbul, a city that defies description for its beauty and history. I have been fortunate to visit Turkey and I have met many Muslim civil libertarians and secularists who have bravely resisted the encroachment of religion into their government. Erdogan has destroyed the one major Muslim country that showed that it was possible to have separation of mosque and state in a Muslim nation. The result seems to be a rise in extremists like those seen at the game. We have seen the same trend in countries like Pakistan where the government seeks to encourage but control religious parties despite rising extremist elements.
Unfortunately, this moment of silence spoke loudly about the direction of Turkey under Erdogan.
Tom Nash, Engaging is not advisable. When someone dissembles they are not worth your valuable time. Ignoring is the most advisable plan.
That’s almost 25% of the Dems who voted Aye, for you liberals publicly educated in math! LOL!
Nick…if I were not so confused, I ‘d probably take your advice.
Liberals lie. Twelve of the Dems who voted for HR 4038 were from California, NY, CO., NJ, MA., OH, and RI. Doesn’t sound like “Dixie” to me. Of course, along w/ being liars, many liberals are dumber than a bag o’ hammers. The party of dumb liars. LOL!!
Aridog….actually, there are a number of people who would agree that Tom Nash “is confused”..
But anybody who goes by “forgotwhoiam” may not be the best person to label others as “confused”.😊
And those 47 Dims that hate Freedom? Dixiecrats voting in numbers…
In 1939… MS Saint Louis.
America refused refugees fleeing war and sent them back home to face their own gas chambers.
History repeats… GOP style.
p.s.
GOP frontrunners are calling Syrian refugees digs ans suggest we close Mosks.
Smell that Fascism.
That Donald… Give Muslims ID cards? LoL
All ISIS has to do is claim to be Mormon.
The attackers were from France and Belgium…
… So bomb Syria?
MAX-1 If this latest attack in Paris was an ISIS operation- and it appears that it was- then it seems to me that it makes more sense to attack ISIS strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
But if you’re advocating dropping bombs on France and Belgium, feel free to make your case.
I can’t see that you’ve done this so far.
GOP just voted to bar Syrian refugees … Because freedom?
Meanwhile… Western nations embrace Fascism as a response to ISIS.
I could be wrong, but you left out the “un” before chien.
🙂
No doubt, po will correct me if I am committing a mistake in French. I’ve been away from it for years.
Je suis chien.
Reuters and other news organizations got it wrong about what the moment of silence was for. It was not for Paris victims. It was for Turkish victims of the bombing in Ankara, Turkey. i don’t know whether this makes the event any more palatable. The booing is perceived to be from ultra-nationalists who blame the Ankara victims as being soft on the Kurds. Regardless, The Washington Post got the story right: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/13/watch-turkish-soccer-fans-boo-minute-of-silence-for-ankara-terror-victims/
Dang: “their” should have been “there”…brain engaged, fingers off the wall?
forgotwhoiam .. I don’t agree that Tom Nash is confused. Those days were confusing times, to almost all of us who lived through them. Otherwise I don’t disagree with your comment. I do like the “Shadow Government” reference…which continues to this day….and not necessarily to our benefit, if at all. Having worked in DOD for a couple decades I can assure anyone interested that their is a senior bureaucracy trying very hard to run everything….no matter who is in office.
Yeah, Algeria, watch the movie, “Battle of Algiers, “plus ca change plus le meme chose”
Beldar … Tom Nash is of course correct…the French soldiers & military fought bravely in Vietnam, aka Indo-China, by then a place they did not recognize….and should not have been re-introduced to post WWII…a mistake by most Asian viewpoints. After 1954 the arbitrary borders drawn up in Geneva made the mess worse. The French politicians and journalists were the surrender monkeys (not the soldiers) … sound familiar? Paging Walter Cronkite down the road?
I’m still convinced Vietnam didn’t have to happen had we (the west allies) not escorted the French back in to their “colony” when many therein were allied with us until that point. The French politicians of course welcome the re-introduction, and sent their young men to fight a war they had no legitimate purpose in all considered. The politicians didn’t show up and Dien Bien Phu was a result. The rest is history. A proper footnote for Vietnam is that originally there were at least 3 sides, the Southern Republicans, the Northern Communists, and the majority who just wished to be left alone and on their own. We westerners made that impossible post WWII.
Both Bernard Fall and Jules Roy (very different viewpoints) have written excellent books on the subject…and I read most of their stuff before I went off to visit the place in the late 60’s, enlisting at age 26. The coincidence of joining the military relatively older than my contemporaries gave rise to me being referred to as “Lifer” even as a PFC by some of them. Knowing a bit of the history of Indo-China made my time easier in dealing with civilian and military nationals. It probably kept me alive during my brief sojourn. I’d say that in the time period, “Street Without Joy” by Bernard Fall was the most influential to me…at the time a college kid in the 60’s. It opened up more than one or two dimensions and I’m grateful for that.
Frankly, I don’t see a “western solution” in the Middle East today…just too many mistakes to rectify, and with the introduction of religion in to the politics makes it worse.
I’d love it if someone would write a cogent piece on any solution for the ME issues of today. It seems like War is the foregone conclusion, as it usually turns out in our crazy world. The question is, then, who & what comes after that war?
JFK’s increase in U.S. Vietnam advisors took the U.S. up to 16,000 troops.. There were maybe 1,000 advisors there when he took office.
Tom Nash
Excuse me. May I say this. You are one confused individual. Kennedy expected to lose the 1960 election. Kennedy wasn’t prepared for the surprise gift his father gave him. Kennedy wasn’t briefed on the “Bay of Pigs” until he took office.
In fact, Richard Nixon was Vice President for 8 years and fully aware of previous South American “operations,” the deteriorating situation in Cuba and the “Bay of Pigs” plan. Nixon supported those operations and plans.
Kennedy was “green” and unprepared and failed to provide air support which led to operational failure and was perceived as betrayal by Dulles and the “Shadow Government.” Kennedy was subjected to the very same type of CIA foreign-regime-change operation as many other Latin American and foreign leaders for this act of omission.
In just over 1,000 days, John F. Kennedy did not order withdrawals from Vietnam and American forces, that had been in Vietnam since the early 1950’s, continued operations during Kennedy’s 1,000 days.
read the transcript of the Oct. 21, 1960 debate that I cited. It may clarify for you the candidates’ positions and JFK’s subsequent actions.
You humans need borders. And you dont need doctors without borders. Europe needs a navy to keep the Syrians on shore in Syria or where ever and Europe needs an army to go to Syria. Syria is not in the North Atlantic so NATO is off table. I am curious. Have the French fought since they surrendered to the Germans in May of 1940? That is 75 years ago by my math.
Yes, Beldar. Vietnam and Algeria.