Diyanet Deputy Mufti commemorates man who insulted Atatürk instead of Atatürk

Karabük Deputy Provincial Mufti Ekrem Akmanşen continues to draw backlash for his social media posts against the Republic and Atatürk. 

It was noted that on November 10, instead of commemorating Atatürk, Akmanşen commemorated Osman Yüksel Serdengeçti, who passed away on the same day as Atatürk and is known for his anti-Atatürk views. This post caused a widespread reaction on social media.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED? 

Previously, on October 29 Republic Day, a controversial post was made in a WhatsApp group called the "Science and Wisdom Group" (İlim İrfan Grubu) created by Eflani Mufti Salim Güngör. The message sent to the group stated, “Republic celebrations are, as always, structured upon smearing and insulting the past…” While these words drew widespread public backlash, such rhetoric directed at the Republic and Atatürk became a focus of criticism.

HE HAD CALLED ATATÜRK A 'PHARAOH'

Serdengeçti had used the following expressions in his Samsun speech:

“Many reforms imposed from above and coming from the outside had turned the nation upside down. Those raised in the streets of Paris! Those who know the Declaration of the Rights of Man by heart! Under the guise of secularism and reformism, they recklessly trampled on the faith, conscience, rights, and laws of the poor Anatolian people.

They insulted and belittled our ancestors, who ruled continents and stood tall for centuries across 3 continents, by forcing them into all sorts of queues here and there, in community centers.

They considered themselves semi-divine. They were the ones who did it, they were the ones who created it; when talking about their party, they called it our honorable party. In ten years, they had created fifteen million youth. For exactly 27 years, they spoke like gods. They reigned like Pharaohs. They ate, they drank, they vomited. Let the one who remains at the bottom perish. The one who remained at the bottom was the public, the nation, the peasant. But in speeches, but on posters, it was written ‘The peasant is the master of the nation.’ They robbed the public and the peasant by saying ‘you are our master, you are our master.’”

News Source: 12punto