Turkish Finance Minister Naci AĞBAL was forced to apologise for what can only be described as hate speech against Greeks and Christians in the Turkish parliament on March 10th, reports Antenna.gr.

The minister read out an incendiary poem by Islamic poet Ismet Ozel calling for bombs to silence Christian church bells and referring to Greek infidels placing their flags in mosques.

Opposition HDP MP Idris Bakoulen reacted strongly, condemning the minister’s words.

The Turkish ruling party AKP is becoming more and more Islamic in nature, and has engineered the crushing of the media through hostile takeovers. This ensures that political opponents will not get exposure during elections.

The intention is to completely control the Parliament and gain enough seats to change the constitution.

Judging from the statements from ministers like Agbal, any changes to the constitution will be towards Sharia law and away from democracy.

This would be at considerable odds with Turkey’s ambition to join the EU, and would move the country towards a totalitarian state.

Not ready for EU membership

Actions speak louder than words, and on March 4th, Turkey’s government showed through its continued persecution of the press that it is not ready to join the European Union.

Today’s Zaman daily newspaper is the third media group to be put under a trustee system by the public prosecutor’s actions. During the takeover, the police threw tear gas at the protesters, and turned high-pressure water guns on them.

The Nazis in Germany carried out a similar operation with the German press in the 1930s. Under Hitler, the Nazi regime assumed control of Jewish-owned publishing company Ullstein, which published the Berlin daily Vossische Zeitung, forcing the family to resign from the board. (Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia).

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