Turkish PM Erdogan returning Jewish American award
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ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is returning an award given to him by a Jewish American group in 2004, after the group asked for it back because of comments he made regarding the conflict in Gaza.
Turkey's ambassador to the US, Serdar Kilic, wrote to Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, on Erdogan's behalf.
Kilic said Erdogan would be glad to return the award because of Israel's actions in Gaza and “the regrettable stance adopted by the present leadership of the American Jewish Congress vis-a-vis the recent attacks on the innocent civilians in Gaza. “
The letter, dated July 27, was made available Tuesday. In an open letter to Erdogan last week, Rosen described the Turkish leader as “arguably the most virulent anti-Israel leader in the world.”
He said Erdogan was given the Profile of Courage award in 2004 for working for a peaceful solution in the Middle East and for his commitment to protecting Turkey's Jewish citizens.
Erdogan, who is campaigning to be elected president next month, has spoken out strongly against Israel's operations in Gaza, accusing it of committing genocide.
In his letter, Kilic stressed that Erdogan's “strong determination in fighting against terrorism, preventing all forms of extremism, bringing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through peaceful means as well as ensuring the safety and well-being of the Jewish community in Turkey still remains as strong as ever. “
However, he said, the Turkish leader “should not be expected to turn a blind eye to the policies of occupation, blockade and destruction that the Israeli government has been implementing against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza,” and said the killing of civilians and the bombing of hospitals and UN schools in Gaza “constitute a grave violation of not only the international law, but also the most fundamental human values. “
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Comments (89) Closed
Jul 29, 2014 07:00pm
He is the man.
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Jul 29, 2014 07:17pm
I respect Erdogan, but what I do not understand is that why does he not cut diplomatic relations with Israel? Probably because the trade between Israel and Turkey is worth millions of dollars and Israel oil tankers fill tonnes of oil off turkey ports.
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Jul 29, 2014 07:23pm
Another one of his election gimmicks. Turkey is doing business with Israel as usual, as Palestinian are dying in Gaza. People like him are the worst kind, in Muslim World.
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Jul 29, 2014 07:24pm
At least he has shown some resistance at least..
I would say ask these Zionists who have illegally occupied the Palestinian land ...stop this bloodshed otherwise ready for this themselves..
I really wish so called Islamic states can give a clear and direct message to these Zionists Terrorists...
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Jul 29, 2014 07:31pm
What I wonder about is the role of Saudis and other Arab states.
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Jul 29, 2014 07:47pm
YES! and than Israel stop bombardment on GAZA.
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Jul 29, 2014 07:58pm
Please Prime Minister, do advice Palestinians also to stop fighting, as fighting from that weak situation would bring more bloodshed with no results. Israel has very strong allies, what do you have? There cannot be any comparison between the two, It is like committing suicide.
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Jul 29, 2014 07:59pm
@Syed ...Are you serious? Who in Muslim world has the capacity to attack Israel? I want to know
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Jul 29, 2014 08:01pm
Where does Pakistan stand in all this? Is Sharif gone to Saudi Arabia to reassure them that his mouth will be shut unless and until they wished him to...even Pakistani people are giving cold shoulder to the Palestinian issue.
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Jul 29, 2014 08:07pm
Well done Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan you are the brave face in this coward world. Nawaz sharif take lessons from Tayyap.
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Jul 29, 2014 08:39pm
@Haroon Rashid Khan Because Turkey have embassies in Israel and from there Turkey charitable organizations work to help Gaza citizen. If they cut out all relationship with Israel then there will be no way to channel food supplies or any kind of relief efforts.
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Jul 29, 2014 08:41pm
What do you want him to do? At least he has done something. What has rest of the Muslim world done? Practically nothing! Appreciate when someone takes a stand, no matter on what level. Respect for him!!!
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Jul 29, 2014 08:56pm
May Allah provide him with success.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:09pm
YES. There is a way you can actually help. Stop buying goods, services, entertainment and leisure offered by companies or individuals with Jewish links or sympathy. Easier said than done. Look around you seriously and you will be surprised how our (yes, yours and mine) money helps to buy or produce the arms and ammunition which is killing Palestinians. Do you really want to help? Then start today.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:11pm
Erdogan's hard line approach may garner local votes but has essentially spoiled Turkey's historical role as mediator. In the long run Palestinians are the ones being harmed.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:14pm
Boycott the products which finance Israel. When did you last watch a Hollywood film. It may shock you but you indirectly helped Israel.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:28pm
And how it would help the people of Gaza in any shape or form? Can the Muslim world leaders including Pakistan do any actions then just symbolic gestures?
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Jul 29, 2014 09:34pm
Mr. PM you are the brave man in the whole Islamic world who is not scared of western Israel supporters. Thank you for reminding the world that Israel is a terrorist state.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:44pm
More power to the man! Also he should not cut diplomatic ties with Israel because solutions can be only achieved by constant dialogues.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:45pm
Are we just stupid or just brain dead? This conflict is happening because of our "Gulf Brother" Saudi Arabia and their approval. There have been regular contacts between Israeli Mossad and Saudi Intelligence chief. This conflict couldn't have gone to this extent without the nod from our 'Gulf Brother". Why you ask? because of Israeli and Saudi stance on Iran. So you see, we ourselves are SO DIVIDED there is no point in talking nonsense here.
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Jul 29, 2014 09:49pm
I love this man and have respect for him. Where are the other so called leaders....bunch of .......?
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Jul 29, 2014 09:55pm
The only brave man in muslim ummah who is having courage.
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Jul 29, 2014 10:21pm
I hope awards are not made to silence anyone with influence.Then Erdogan is absolutely right seeing the ongoing slaughter in Gaza
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Jul 29, 2014 10:24pm
But Turkey has diplomatic ties with Israel and receives Billions from U.S in return. This action has no meaning!!!
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Jul 29, 2014 10:39pm
Great Erdogan. A brave Man from Islamic World.
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Jul 29, 2014 10:47pm
I fail to understand why reaction to Israeli aggression is limited in few Muslim countries. Where is OIC, why a joint strategy is not formulated to deal with Israeli aggression. When will the ummah wake up.
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Jul 29, 2014 11:21pm
we salute to Mr. Erdogan. but where is the remaining muslim community specially saudi's Govt.
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Jul 29, 2014 11:30pm
Erdogan definitely stands out best among all the leaders of the Muslim World
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Jul 29, 2014 11:33pm
The brave man! Respect!
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Jul 30, 2014 12:05am
Incase Dawn decides to publish my comments ( they have not been lately). Erdogan is to secular Turkey what Zia was to secular Pakistan. Thus starts the destruction of Turkey.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:06am
World public should boycott American and israeli products. This is the only alternative left for a civilized and helpless society.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:09am
@Haroon Rashid Khan Why not advise Arab and Muslim countries to cut of diplomatic relations with USA who is blindly backing Israel genocidal policies.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:30am
He knew what propaganda was used to deceive turks in recent Election and who was behind it.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:31am
at least some muslim country leadership still has a backbone to say "Wrong is wrong"...even though its only words...but its a start...Pakistani leadership please stand up for the right and take that $$$ tape off of your mouths....
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Jul 30, 2014 12:34am
Good, strong stance.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:35am
Israel is committing genocide in Palestine - US government is supporting Israel 100% by holding the victims responsible - Arab Government are passing resolutions as they have always done - European governments are asking Palestinians to stop "fighting" with no one blaming and stopping Israel from murdering unarmed people. What a shameless world we live in!
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Jul 30, 2014 12:42am
@Syed What Islamic States? They kill their own people!!! They burn houses and people in them alive!! who is going to listen to such Islamic States. Put your own house in order before you can give advise to others.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:43am
@MSAlvi They are the purest of the pure Islamic countries. A major disappointment!!!!
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Jul 30, 2014 12:45am
@Masoud The so called "Uma " are busy fighting amongst themselves and declaring everyone a non Muslim!!!
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Jul 30, 2014 01:04am
@Masoud thats because most OIC countries know Hamas is extension of Muslim Brotherhood and these OIC countries are themselves affected by Muslim Brotherhood terror ( or its loosely affiliated branches). They would be happy to see Israel pounding Hamas as hard it can without themselves having to do anything about it.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:06am
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shown how close he is in ideology to Islamic Brotherhood, Al Qaeda and ISIS with his irrational comments on the Israeli- HAMAS conflict. Recep may yet make Turkey an Islamic nation but he will then have a much reduced, reviled, pariah and unstable, zenophobic Islamic Republic. That is what he wants. It is the people of Turkey who are standing in his way and for good reason. There goes the only Muslim nation we all could point to as a shining example of how Muslims could be progressive.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:10am
@Jehandida You made two glaring factual errors. Calling yourself "civilized and helpless society." You are neither "civilized" nor "helpless." You are fantical, exclusionary hate mongers who hate every one else who does not tow your exact line.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:11am
@Agha Ata. Palestinians are fighting against occupation of their lands, and that is always done from a weak position.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:16am
@Shahryar Shirazi. This is ridiculous comparing Zia, a tyrant and usurper with Erdogan, the democratically elected leader.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:26am
Muslim leaders follow Turkey.
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Jul 30, 2014 01:37am
@MSAlvi
In a nutshell most disappointing.
Too scared to upset protecters
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Jul 30, 2014 01:45am
@Haroon Rashid Khan KSA don't have TIES with Israel but we all know how much TIES they have actually with Israel so I think turks are a lot better because they are not supporting genocide by Israelis behind the closed door but have nothing to hide.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:17am
Should publically flush the award down the toilet
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Jul 30, 2014 02:40am
Long live Erdogan.....If all the Muslims of the world are brought under one banner then Erdogan is the best fitted person to lead them.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:44am
Civilized world should wake-up to save this genocide by Isreal, thousands of innocent women, children and elderly have died or have suffered severe losses from brutal policies of Isreal.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:46am
It is after three wars and more than two thousand Palestinian deaths you realize you need to give up this medal. I think you are doing this to attract votes in the upcoming elections. Why don't you sever diplomatic ties with Israel and close down their embassy in Turkey? So called leaders like you are responsible for so many deaths across Muslim world - you are pathetic!
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Jul 30, 2014 02:49am
@Agha Ata so you are saying if dacoits come to your house with weapons you let them take all the loot (because they are powerful) and let them even kill you with no resistance - that's perfectly logical !
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Jul 30, 2014 03:34am
bravo Erdogan.......i wish there were more MEN OF HONOUR like Mr Erdogan.......may Allah protect him from evil and enable him to lead the Muslim ummah...............Its time countries like Pakistan,Saudi Arabia,Kuwait,Qatar,Malaysia,Indonesia sasnd shoulder to shoulder with Mr Erdogan and provide all sort of moral and materiel help to defenceless poor palestinians.Mr Erdogan reminds me of Umar Bin Khattab and Khalid Bin Waleed.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:40am
I salute the Turks for the brave statement. Arab are paying dearly for supporting Europeans in breaking Ottoman Empire otherwise
Muslim world will be united under Ottoman Banner.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:39am
There are only a handful of democratic countries in the Muslim world, but they include world's finest democracies like Turkey and Malaysia, these are democracies with moral authority, not with stolen or purchased elections. The Deep-State of the status quo on this forum is coming up with spurious comments and fraudulent logic to be little Turkey and Erdogan, they are dwarfs trying to spit at the sky.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:44am
One battle for Gaza would be fought in Islamabad on August 14th, be there!!
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Jul 30, 2014 04:46am
@unbelievable;
Mediator??, Israel does not believe in mediators, they only have slaves.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:52am
@Sam Watkins;
False, Turkey does not receive any aid from any country. Turkey's per capita GDP is nearly twice of China and 7 times India's.
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Jul 30, 2014 04:56am
Noble nations don't need Nobel prizes, even if it was a Nobel prize (except for science), I would flush it down the toilet, it came from a toilet.
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Jul 30, 2014 05:09am
This is a misleading news. Erdogan was given the Profile of Courage award in 2004 for working for a peaceful solution in the Middle East and for his commitment to protecting Turkey's Jewish citizens. American Jewish Congress has asked him to return it.
Why would they give a Muslim this award? Mr. Erdogan is a big supporter of Israel. Turkey has diplomatic relations with Israel. Turkey is a member of NATO. The only reason he spoke against Israel is that Turkey is having Presidential Election and he is a candidate. This is just a Public Relations stunt. Nothing Else. Don't trust him. Saudi Royal Family and Turkey are the most corrupt governments in the Muslim world.
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Jul 30, 2014 06:06am
@MSAlvi Why do you wonder about the Saudi, and other State leaders. They are in power with the support from Americans who are in turn controlled by the Zionists. Mehmud Abbas himself gets millions from the Americans.
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Jul 30, 2014 06:12am
Erdogan - the only MAN in the Muslim world who has stood up against the powerful Zionists - Shame on the rest of the muslim rulers.
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Jul 30, 2014 07:06am
Brave man with concious...... where doss Pakistan stand in this scenerio ??????
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Jul 30, 2014 07:08am
I wonder if he condemns the illegal occupation of northern Cyprus? Finding it hard to listen to any member of the Turkish establishment condemn Israeli occupation when they serve the same poison to their own neighbor. Musim world couldn't care less about cyprus because its non Muslims being occupied by Muslims.
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Jul 30, 2014 07:12am
@Shahryar Shirazi Erdogan is no Zia but you could in some respects compare him to ZAB. After all who initated the process of de-secularising Pakistan, certainly not Zia he just carried on from where his predecessor had left off.
Charismatic figures
Preaching Islamic Unity
Both than intending to lead that Union
Megalomaniacs
Teensy weensy threshold for criticism- come down hard on those who dare.
Both came democratically but than did whatever they could do forge a political cult.
Than again the positivity one sees in Erdogan in terms of his sincerity for his people was unheard of in the latter.
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Jul 30, 2014 07:37am
More power to turkey.
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Jul 30, 2014 07:38am
More power to turkey
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Jul 30, 2014 07:43am
So funny everyone calling him brave man lol jewish asked him to return thr award read it properly users
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Jul 30, 2014 07:52am
We demand an offical comdamination of Israel from Pakistan Govt.
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Jul 30, 2014 09:12am
@RIP They were not wrong when they said these guys are innocent and will believe anything.
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Jul 30, 2014 10:14am
@Khan Don't you know Mr Zardari is in US for power grab and Nawaz is in Saudia to help to keep in power. They can't think about others only for themsevles.
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Jul 30, 2014 10:15am
@Ali :You know Turks know their history very well, they know Safavids were/are and will always be their enemy...that the always see iran with doubts...
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Jul 30, 2014 10:18am
what a tantrum
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Jul 30, 2014 11:19am
No medals from children killers.
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Jul 30, 2014 11:34am
Take it from him and give it to Showbaz sharif
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Jul 30, 2014 12:07pm
Turkey is possibly the last stronghold of Islam after the Arabs on the American leash, to save their oil and wealth have systematically destroyed other Muslim countries with great potentia like Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:08pm
Great man! Hats Off!
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Jul 30, 2014 01:16pm
@N -USA Isreal is easy to take out, Iran or Turkey alone can take out Isreal... problem is Isreal will never be doing the fighting, it will US and Europe against Muslim world and Arabs like Saud Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, PLO, etc are all controlled by the Zoinist and the American stooges ... Isreal can't exist without American support and the Arab dictators..
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Jul 30, 2014 05:18pm
@Khan I would like to see evidence that Pakistani people are giving 'a cold shoulder' to the Palestinians. Please, go on. I'm waiting.
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Jul 31, 2014 02:09pm
Nobody is anti Israel, Most of the world is anti- slaughter of innocents.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:51pm
Mr Erdogan is a flamboyant leader and a most competent Prime Minister of his land.. It is on his watch that Turkey has made enormous economic growth and gained political recognition among the muslim populace of the world. However, he has also sparked quite an opposition from those who are regressive, authoritarians and practice anti democracy.
Rex Minor
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Jul 31, 2014 03:55pm
@N -USA
Is Hamas not enough? ISIS is enroute as well! Sissi will be washed away when the rainy season comes and the worms will strat sprouting from under the Nagiv!
Rex Minor
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Jul 31, 2014 07:12pm
Turkey must come out from NATO, break all relations with Israel, Make Brothers Defense Alliance with 56 Muslim nations on Board.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:16pm
It's good action of Turkish Prime Minister, but by this "aggressive" action, the Israel-Palestine recent clash cannot be eliminated. I think Erdogan should end the diplomatic relation with Israel. This is better than returning "old" awards.
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Jul 31, 2014 08:59pm
As a non Arab Muslim, Erdogan has always spoken for the rights of the Palestinians whereas Oil rich Arab states are conspicuously silent. While the slaughter of Palestinians goes on, Islamic world remains detached.
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Jul 31, 2014 08:59pm
@MSAlvi Most of the Arab state leaders are illegitimate and installed by the US to work for their benefits. These regimes are nothing but to serve the purpose of US and Israel and provide free flow of oil. Any democratic government will be uprooted in the Middle East showing their religious intolerance by the US, UK, France and Israel because it doesn't serve their purpose. So, I don't expect anything from these paid thugs like Saudi King, Sheikhs of Kuwait, Bharain, UAE, Qatar to save these Palestinians from this dire situation. It is funny that Israel is waging war in the name of their religion and accusing Palestinians to be religious fanatic. These people are not fighting for their religion. They are fighting for their home and basic human rights. But the western media continue to demonize these people based on their religious belief to justify their crime at home to millions.
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Aug 01, 2014 08:06am
There is blood of Gaza children on that award now.
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Aug 01, 2014 05:03pm
Thank you sir.
You are a true leader of our time (who is in power). All others are kursi pujari only.
May Allah help all Muslims to correct their deeds so that they get good leaders.
Ameen.
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Aug 01, 2014 09:38pm
Interestingly, Mr. Erdogan was asked by a leader of a Turkish opposition party to return this medal but he did not. Now, when the American Jewish Congress(the awarding authority) asks for it back, he returns it. As, W.Shaikh had mentioned in a comment; this news is a bit misleading since he did not voluntarily return this medal, but was asked by the issuing authority to do so.
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