Turkish Parliament member from diaspora, Mustafa Yeneroglu’s recent over the edge comments about Quran recitation in Ayasofya on Istanbul’s conquest anniversary drew harsh criticism from the members of Turkish diaspora. Yeneroglu said reciting Quran in Ayasofya was government’s attenpt to divert attention away from economic woes while defaming Turkish Republic as a “regime.”
Yeneroglu was on Turkey’s ultra-nationalist Halk TV on Friday night commenting about current issues in Turkey. The hottest topic being recitation of Sura Al-Fatih (conquest) from Quran in historic Ayasofya mosque, Yeneroglu made extremely controversial comments which reverberated not just in Turkey but also in among Turkish diaspora whom voted to appoint Yeneroglu to the Turkish Parliament.
Responding to the question, Yeneroglu said “authoritarian regimes implement ethnical policies to cover up economic woes.” The former MP for Erdogan’s party refrained to say if he supported the religious ceremony being held in Ayasofya instead he called Turkish state which has been run by the most popular government of Turkey a regime.
Turkish people heavily criticized Yeneroglu for his comments but reaction of Turkish diaspora have been found more meaningful since Yeneroglu was brought up in Cologne, Germany and has been seeing the only representative of the diaspora at the Parliament.
A prominent member of Turkish diaspora and the politician Ismet Misirlioglu shared Yeneroglu’s controversial video on Facebook and likened Yeneroglu to German-Turkish politician, former co-head of Green Party, Cem Ozdemir. “Both of them had abandoned their roots,” said Misirlioglu, referring to the fact that Ozdemir and Yeneroglu had completely different stance towards Turkey at the begging of their political carriers. Another well-known member of Turkish community who grew up with Yeneroglu in Cologne, Sami Alphan also called on Yeneroglu to first resign from Parliament membership then talk about ethics. “People in Europe voted for Ak Party not fir Yeneroglu. If he resigns from the party, he should resign from the parliament,” Alphan pointed out.
Another social media user from Germany drew attention to the fact that Yeneroglu called the Turkish state a regime. Most radical terror elements as well as Gulenist lobby mostly refers to Turkey as a regime hoping to bring Turkish government’s -which have been receiving around 50 percent vote in every single elections for nearly 20 years- legitimacy into question.
45 years old Politician Yeneroglu was the secretary general of IGMG, the second largest Muslim body based in Cologne, Germany. IGMG movement have ideologically and politically been close to Turkish president Erdogan. Yeneroglu’s sudden and dramatic change on core issues has placed IGMG in a tough place, according to inside sources. The officials of IGMG (Islamic Community Milli Gorus) gave been trying to walk a thin line trying to keep good relations with its former secretary general while being well aware that his comments have caused disturbance among its core base.
Diaspora Daily 