Tho there already are some "happy new year" threads, I'm opening this one myself.

I want to wish everybody from TC (global village ) a happy new year filled with happiness, health, wisdom and love. May it bring all you wish for, for you and your loved ones.

I especially wanna wish a happy new year to Catwoman, Slavica, Elisa, Aenigma x, Aslan and Lyndie. Thank you all for having been there for me and though I am not around much lately, Im still always happy to see when there is a PM from you. The website has changed and so has my life, but the ones that I met here and that became special to me have not

A very happy new year to you all!

SuiGeneris posts made it rather clear to me. The difference btween insult and critisizm can be very hard to realize sometimes though, and that is where Catwoman is right. Sometimes its too vague (and that is a way law can be bended for both good and bad purposes).

I am having an inner discussion with myself now. I would never insult someone, let me say this in the first place.
But if İ would publiclaly compare Atatürk to Adolf Hitler (someting I would never do because I think its a false comparison), is that insulting or is that criticism? And even be it insulting, is it worth to loose years of your life with?

It reminds me the discussion about 'making fun of someones name'. That has nothing to do with the making fun itself, it has to do with the way the person responds to it. If someone I dont know insults me, I might be offended for a bit because Im not treated as Im worth, but.. what do I care anyway? I know what I am worth and the people I love know what Im worth? Let them make fun of my name and I will laugh with them. Let ones I dont know insult me, and I wont care. Let them criticise me and I will think with them.

I understand you. I am really sorry to say, but lately some of the turkish people on this website, reason via the A-B theory. İf its not A, then it must be B!!! There cant be a thing in between or a C, let alone the rest of the alphabet!

Opening a topic of discussion doesnt mean you are trying to make people hate Turkey.


But.. freedom of speech ends where rudeness starts.
The line between freedom of speech and respecting someone else's beliefs is very thin and can easily be passed, being unaware you do so.

Mesela..

Burning another country's flag:

- Should be forbidden as you trespass the law which tells you should respect someone elses beliefs. Insulting someone is not allowed.

- To forbid burning another country's seems to contradict the freedom of speech law.

Lets not have endless discussions on this. Lets have an open discussion so that both sides can learn something. Critisizm isnt a bad thing. Someone who tries to make something in history look flawless, only makes me wonder what he/she is trying to hide. It does not make me believe that really no blood was shed. It takes more than nationalistic feelings to run a discussion.

I dont wanna join this discussion because I have no information about it all and Im tired of being unable to discuss. KeithL made a great point and Catwoman's reply reflects my meaning too. If we have a certain point of view due to backgrounds, this point of view may be wrong in a situtation that is not like ours. This is exactly why we need to discuss, not just to critisize other points of view and other systems, also to learn about our own system better.

Anyway, as I dont really know anything about it this might sound rude and I dont mean it that way, Im trying to learn something here so please dont get me wrong.. but after I read the article.. I wonder what bad was said about Atatürk? The article gives the following reason

'The passage that landed Çalışlar in court quotes a witness as saying how Atatürk, facing an armed attack by political opponent Topal Osman put on a chador to disguise himself as a woman to flee the presidential palace in Ankara'


If you ask me that is very smart?