Sorry for the back to back postings, but I was chatting to friend in Ankara this evening and we were reflecting on the way things are moving (politically) in Turkey and and how in some regions they have closed their eyes to what has been happening over the past year (well, longer really) or so. I know Martin Niemöller has been to a certain extent discredited in respect of his support for the NS in Germany, but no-one can take away the sentiment behind his little bit of prose, and I'm changing it a wee bit:
First they came for the Generals,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a General.
Then they came for the journalists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a journalist.
Then they came for the Kemalists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Kemalist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the youth,
and I didn't speak out because I was old.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
JF