Onur Romano, a founding member of Turkey’s Atheism
Association, opens the office and checks the mail. For once, he says, there are
no death threats.
"Sometimes they send photos of some al-Qaida members
chopping people off heads and putting all the heads in a bucket," he says.
"They tell us your head is going to be in one of the buckets, that's how
you are going to leave your office, stuff like that."
In officially secular Turkey, whose population is 99 percent
Muslim, atheists are voicing alarm about what they call increasing intolerance fuelled
by the country’s pro-Islamist government.
"Through Facebook, Twitter, emails, and to our call centre,
we have received a couple of hundred death threats already," Romano
continues. "We have a total of three security cameras, and we have two
panic buttons hooked up to the nearest police precinct. But we are
determined."
On Turkish TV channels where growing numbers of Islamic
clerics espouse their beliefs, Atheists are a popular target. Romano says much
of his group's work involves countering such views.
"We don't insult religion, we don't insult people’s
values. All we are trying to [do] is to tell people what atheism, because our
people think that atheists are people who have orgies every night, rape animals
because [and] have no ethical values,” he said. “For them, ethics is equal to
religion."
In speech last month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
warned people to beware of atheist terrorists, accusing them of conspiring to
overthrow his government.
Over the past year, people have been jailed for questioning
God’s existence on Twitter, prosecuted under a law against inciting religious
hatred. Last month, that same law was used to ban 48 websites, including one
belonging to the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, as well as the
atheist association's webpage.
At their weekly meeting, members discuss the site ban over
bottles of wine. Despite the setback, everyone is trying to keep spirits up.
As one member who declined to provide her name, says these
gatherings represent an opportunity to hang out with fellow atheists, many of
whom are too scared to admit their views even to their own families.
"Unfortunately, people does not even want to say,
because they are scared to lose their job, they are scared to have trouble with
their family as well," she said. "I had big problem with my family.
My mother told me that [she is] going to the government, and say it’s not my
daughter anymore. And I told her, 'OK, if it's the way it is for you, go ahead,'
because it’s not going to change what I am."
Last month, the head of a fringe Sharia society directed a
death threat at the Atheism Association's president, Tolga Incir, vowing to cut
off his hands and head. Stepping outside the atheist group's office, Incir says
the threat is more serious than usual, but that there's little he can do.
"This threat is very open. When we founded this
association, we were aware that we were risking things, especially in a country
like this," he said. "I will not be surprised if thousands of people
are thinking the same — that atheists should be killed. I carry on with my life
and if it happens, it happens."
Incir says his group's biggest concern is not Turks but
jihadists, many of whom he says spend time in Istanbul en route to Syria. But
he says the society is unbowed and is planning to celebrate its first
anniversary with a march through the centre of Istanbul.
Thanks to: Dorian Jones LINK
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