August 14, 2012

“Der Spiegel” does not reflect the truth

İsmail Kul

One cannot help but remember the joke about Nasreddin Hodja after reading the article about the Hizmet Movement that appeared in the current issue of Der Spiegel. The story is as follows:

Hodja and his donkey go to pick up the Hodja’s son. While father and son ride home on the donkey together, a group of people see them and say: “Shame on you Hodja, don’t you feel any pity for the poor donkey!” So the Hodja tells his son to get off and the boy starts walking alongside the donkey. Another man comes across them and says: “Hodja, shame on you! Although you are a grown man, you ride the donkey and let this poor young boy walk.” So the Hodja dismounts the donkey and lets his son ride instead. This time, another man sees them and says: “Hodja, don’t you have pity for yourself, you are a respectable scholar of mature age, this young boy can walk but you let him ride instead.” This time they both start walking alongside the donkey. People now say: “Hodja, why are you walking instead of riding the donkey? You are acting rather strangely!”

In the end, the Hodja says: “Son, it seems that we still will not be able to avoid criticism even if we carried the donkey on our back!”

Now let us go back to the Der Spiegel article. The situation of the article resembles this joke very much. For example:

Spiegel journalist visited FID dialogue society in Berlin. He describes the room and refers to the books on the shelf. According to his description, there was a bible, a book by Anne Frank, and another by Protestant theologian Heinz Zahrnt. He remarks that these books were deliberately placed on the shelf to give a certain image. To be honest, I also have Anne Frank’s book and a bible at home, like many people who went to school in Germany. Then to whom might I have tried to give a message by putting these books on my shelf? This is the connection with the Nasreddin Hodja story. You face such bias that people derive a negative meaning from whatever you do. If you have these books, they say, “You are trying to give a false image.” If you do not have them, then they say, “How indifferent are you to the culture of the country you live in!” That is, having and not having them are equally wrong. Just like how you will be criticized whether you ride the donkey or not.

Actually, Der Spiegel publishing such an article about the Hizmet Movement can even be taken as a compliment, as a kind of honor. Let us think whether this magazine ever published anything good, or at least objective about Muslims, except for trying to raise panic against them. Here are some picks from the covers of issues over the last 15 years:

“Dangerous Foreigner” (16, 1997), “Too much foreigner” (48, 1998), Sacred Grudge (6/2006), Mecca Germany: Quiet Islamization of Germany (13:2007).

It needs to be added here that this magazine likes to target believing people. It similarly targets Christians without making distinction. Lastly, I want to make an address to the journalist of Der Spiegel who authored the article:

Dear journalist, it is evident that you have made use of all of your material that serves to reflect a negative image. You are making what I believe are personal accusations about Zaman newspaper by referring to people like Dani Rodrik. You assert that Zaman accused the left wing German party of supporting a terrorist organization (PKK). If you had questioned the issue carefully, you would have seen that Dani Rodrik is the son-in-law of a general being tried for the attempt of a military coup. And you would also see that the left-wing party is too friendly with the terrorist organization, that they helped some people from those circles make their way to the local parliaments, and that a senator from that party bore the symbol of that party on his arm in Wiesbaden. Or did you see but simply dismiss it since your duty is confined to defaming?

English translation retrieved from fgulen.com, 10 August 2012, Friday
Original version [in Turkish] on Euro Zaman, 07 August 2012, Tuesday

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