....While both of these traits are bad enough, racism against the minorities of this country expressed in the guise of nationalism is apparent.

Until recently, a retired senior diplomat who was the vice chairman of the main opposition party justified the slaughter of the Dersim/Tunceli Kurds by poison gas and aerial bombardment by saying it was done for the security of the state. ...... Yet the poor minister was still rejoicing.

The latest gem came from a very experienced Cabinet minister who complained about the fact that some of the captured or killed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants were not circumcised. He blamed it on the Armenians. His words were exactly as follows: "There is a close relationship between Armenian and PKK [Kurdish] terrorism. They are blood brothers. The former has left the stage to be replaced by the latter. In fact, I beg your pardon, the fact that some of them are not circumcised must mean a lot to you. This is not hearsay; we know all too well who is who."

.... I wonder whether the PKK looks under the belly of the militants as it recruits them with the same interest as the minister? Apparently it does not. Could it be that this notorious organization is more tolerant of religious and ethnic differences that the Cabinet member? Secondly, how come he knows that every uncircumcised militant is an Armenian?

The last example of intolerance toward ´others´ came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ....... All military and civilian authorities in the security and intelligence agencies knew of the preparations to kill him. They turned their eyes away and deadened their consciousness until it happened and the trial of his assassin and his accomplices turned into a shameful theater with no results.

When his family appealed to the European Court of Human Rights... the ministry wrote a defense in the name of the Turkish Republic, likening the late Armenian journalist to Hitler and accusing him of inciting hatred against Turks. This was an open example of racism, shaming all of us. How shall we get rid of this suspicion, anxiety and hatred of the other in us that makes it impossible to live with other peoples of the same motherland and build a democratic system based on equality and the rule of law?

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-219997-wrong-rhetoric.html

last time I heard of a way to tell what ethnic backround you were by verifying if you were circumsised was when the Nazi where seeking out the Jews.  If circumsision is a way of identefying the origin of a man then many would be confused here in Canada because many Catholic men are circumsised.  Sheesh if we would have been in Europe during the war half of Canadian men would have been sent to concentration camps just because of their foreskin!