Lebanese freedoms not immune to Ankara’s encroachment

Recent
developments have shown that even Lebanon, where Turkey has no military
presence or shared borders, is not immune to Ankara’s interference.
Lebanese
political sources said that Turkish prosecutors’ claims against Armenian-born
journalist Neshan Der Haroutiounian for “insulting” the Turkish president are
part of ongoing confrontations between Lebanese Armenians and Turkey, which is
accused of carrying out a genocide against Armenians between 1914 and 1923.
Some
Lebanese Armenians’ harsh criticism of Turkey seems to embarrass Lebanese
authorities, who have tried to intimidate them into observing certain “red
lines.”
There are
numerous external forces pressuring Lebanon, starting with Iranian proxy
Hezbollah. Turkey is now attempting to curb Lebanon’s hard-fought freedoms, of
which its citizens are rightly proud, by also exerting pressure on Lebanese
authorities.
On Thursday,
Beirut referred Der Haroutiounian to trial on charges of “insulting” Turkey.
The trial is set to begin on October 8.
Lebanese
news agency NNA said that “according to information provided to the Public
Prosecution Office, Der Haroutiounian will be referred to trial before the
Court of Publications Chamber in Beirut.”
A Lebanese
journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that there were no
grounds for the judicial charges against Der Haroutiounian.
“This is a
matter of a historical dispute that has no prospect, knowing that it is about a
great crime against the Armenian people — a crime that Turkey refuses to
recognise. This in itself continues to provoke Armenians wherever they are,”
the journalist told The Arab Weekly.
Der
Haroutiounian hosted former Environment Minister Wiam Wahhab during the “Anna
Heek” (This is how I am) programme that aired on the Al Jadeed satellite
channel.
Wahhab,
who is the head of the Arab Tawhid Party, said in the interview that the
Turkish president was “sly” before the campaign against Der Haroutiounian
began.
In
response to Wahhab’s statements, a Lebanese national intervened in the
programme and attacked Der Haroutiounian, saying “Neshan, the refugee, showed
his racism,” referring to Der Haroutiounian’s Armenian origins.
Der
Haroutiounian responded fiercely to the provocation, doubling down on Wahhab’s
position.
“A son of
a million malicious people … Erdogan, the regime, the Ottomans, and the Turks,”
Der Haroutiounian said.
“If you
consider me a refugee, then I am more Lebanese than you, and I am proud of my
country, Lebanon, more than you are,” he added.
The
Turkish Embassy intervened in the dispute and mobilised dozens of protesters to
demonstrate in front of the Al Jadeed TV station against “insulting the Ottoman
state and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
The
protesters raised Turkish flags, chanted slogans in support of the Ottoman
Empire and Erdogan and called on Al Jadeed TV and those in charge of the
programme to “apologise for what happened.”
Under the
hashtag “The New Ottomans,” Facebook users posted videos showing protesters
holding Turkish flags and demonstrating in front of the Al Jadeed TV building.
In early
June, a similar online campaign targeting Der Haroutiounian was launched, with
supporters of the Turkish president hurling racist insults and using a
defamatory hashtag on Twitter in response to his criticism of Erdogan.
Observers
said that Turkey has succeeded in exploiting Lebanon’s political vacuum that
has been caused by mounting social and economic crises.
Ankara,
according to observers, managed to infiltrate the country and create a lobby to
silence critics of Ottoman history and Erdogan’s expansionist policies in the
region, by which Lebanon, like Syria and the rest of the Mediterranean
countries, is affected.
Observers
warned of the risks Der Haroutiounian’s trial could pose, not only to Lebanon
but to the entire region. They pointed out that Turkey is seeking to create
media, political and legal lobbies to prevent any criticism of its old and new
colonial policies.
Ankara is
also trying to advance a self-serving agenda, a reality that functions in the
same radical and intransigent way as anti-Semitism and exposes the critics of
the Ottoman Empire to legal charges, the observers said.
The Turks
benefit from Muslim Brotherhood support in the region, as they glorify Ottoman
history at the expense of Arab countries – a trend that is especially harmful
in the Libyan conflict.
This trend
is also seen in Ankara’s expanding influence in Tunisia, Yemen and Somalia.
Islamists in these countries consider Turkish expansionist manoeuvres to be a
“victory” for them and their vision of the Arab and Islamic world.