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A response to the letter to the Turkish PM" başlığı ile letters@thetimes.co.uk adresine gönderiyoruz Mr. John Witherow Chief Editor The Times Dear Sir, I am writing this letter to most vigorously condemn the misinformed, misguided and misleading advertisement taken out in The Times earlier this month. I feel that objection must be made to the poorly informed criticism of a local event. The five people who died lost their lives during the fighting on the streets. One police officer also lost his life. These deaths are unfortunate and are being investigated by the Turkish Home Office. However, do the 18 lives lost during Occupy Wall Street and the 10 lives during the Brazilian unrest constitute cases to answer? The meetings that were held throughout Turkey are compared in the letter to a Nuremberg Rally. The Nuremberg Rallies were events that included demonstrations of military strength, with military parades; they were intended to increase the cult of personality of Adolph Hitler. The Kazlicesme rally included no military dimension. The rally was convened to release pressure; the pressure felt by the MILLIONS of people who did not turn out on the street to protest, felt by the MILLIONS of people who had to watch their beloved city be destroyed by vandals. These people did not turn out onto the streets in counter-protest for the simple reason that their prime minister told them to “stay home.” More than 1.5 million people turned out to express their support for a democratically elected prime minister and to express disapprobation of the Gezi protests. The letter accuses the Turkish prime minister of imposing a dictatorial rule. This is an insult to the Turkish people. AK Party has been democratically elected in three elections, with a growing proportion of the vote in each election. Yet Erdoğan is referred to as a dictator, thus rendering our votes, our democracy meaningless. AK Party has made great strides in introducing new freedoms that have taken the country from being a military-based laic state to a secular state of the Anglo-Saxon model. Yet, the letter published in The Times implies the opposite of this. The Convention on Human Rights is mentioned; this convention, while granting the right of freedom of assembly, states that the same is subject to certain restrictions. For example, if protests endanger human life, public order or property, they can be dispersed, with force if necessary. How many people’s freedoms were impinged upon by the protestors? People could not leave their homes; covered women were verbally and physically attacked, millions worth of public and private property was destroyed. Whether this letter was endorsed by the signatories after being fully informed about the situation in Turkey or whether they signed the letter in the belief that it contained an accurate representation of the truth, the result is the same. They have made themselves look rather foolish in their pathetic attempt to slander a democratic leader, accusing Erdoğan of heinous crimes that no one has committed. As a direct result, this letter has cast a dark shadow over your prestigious publication.