A Balkan native emerged and poked the taboo

Diamond Tema! He is 30 years old, an Albanian Turk. Last year, I watched a broadcast on his own YouTube channel where he and his mother told stories of their “escape from Albania to Turkey.” Mimoza Hanım is a true Albanian woman. She is someone who does what she sets her mind to.

She is brave and courageous. Beyond the adventure of coming to Turkey with her two children and her parents, there are stories of them being rescued from the rubble in the Yalova earthquake, her chasing away a man who tried to kidnap 5-year-old Diamond at the time with an axe in her hand, and her going to the District Governorate to get permission to establish a logistics team made up of volunteers to ensure that food and aid reached those truly in need, rather than the greedy, opportunistic people in Yalova… The family moving to Burgazada by taking the helping hand of a philanthropist who thought about her children's future. The documentary journey she embarked on with her son Diamond, telling the story of Balkan Turks…

Diamond Tema has had an arrest warrant issued against him for saying “I am against Sharia” during a period when speaking about or debating Sharia is considered almost taboo.

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç joined the situation via his social media account.

He used the following expression regarding Diamond Tema; “Due to the insulting, ugly, and provocative expressions used regarding our Prophet in the video content shared on the social media account named Yer6, an ex officio investigation was immediately launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 16.06.2024 for the crime of “publicly inciting the people to hatred and hostility,” and an arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect Diamond Tema as he is abroad. The provocative, ugly, and provocative expressions used regarding the Islamic religion and our beloved Prophet can never be accepted,” he said. 

If the Minister watched that broadcast, he would see that not a single word came out of this young man's mouth that would constitute the crime of insult or disparage the religious values of Muslims.

He himself also stated, "I said what was written in a book approved by the Presidency of Religious Affairs; I did not insult Prophet Muhammad." 

As we enter the 200th year of the Republic, will the Diamond Tema case take its place in the pages of history as a short sentence? Or a whole chapter? A Balkan native emerged and poked the taboo.

At the very least, he reminded us of the Balkan Turks and showed how attached they are to this country—unlike Syrian refugees—with their love for Atatürk, their courage, and their heart.

I will end my article by commemorating my grandmother, who was half-Albanian and half-Thessalonian, and by recalling the words Atatürk said in 1927, which are included in the Nutuk (Speech).

Atatürk says,

”Our sublime religion makes research mandatory for every Muslim man and woman, and every Muslim is tasked with enlightening those who adhere to this religion.” As it has been for centuries, today, the existence of those at home and abroad who attempt to use religion as a tool and instrument to achieve all kinds of political and personal goals and interests by exploiting the ignorance and bigotry of nations, unfortunately, still keeps us from refraining from speaking on this subject. Until knowledge and understanding of religion in humanity are purified from all kinds of superstitions and refined and perfected by the lights of true science and technology, actors of the religion game will be encountered everywhere."

1927 (Nutuk II, p. 708)