[1]Uma foto da época da escola de Furkan Dogan. Fonte desconhecida.
À medida que a poeira baixa após o ataque brutal das Forças de Defesas de Isral (IDF) sobre a Flotilha da Liberdade para Gaza, surgiram notícias da morte de nove ativistas que estavam a bordo do navio turco Mavi Marmara. Oito dos mortos eram de nacionalidade turca, e o outro era o cidadão com dupla nacionalidade turca-americana de dezenove anos chamado Furkan Dogan [2]. Dogan, que declarou ter residido na maior parte da vida na Turquia, foi baleado um total de cinco vezes, quatro [balas foram] na cabeça à curta distância [3].
Jim Buie, um blogueiro americano que reside em Kayseri, na Turquia, cidade natal de Dogan, escreve [4] sobre sua experiência:
Furkan Dogan, the 19-year-old Turkish-American citizen killed by Israeli soldier(s) aboard the flotilla is from Kayseri. It's so difficult to imagine a “terrorist,” the label Israelis put on the activists who joined the flotilla and allegedly attacked the solders — someone sympathetic to Al Qaeda — emerging from this environment. Moderation, prudence and conformity are bywords in the culture here. Kayseri, the hometown of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, has been enormously friendly and welcoming [5] to me, my wife, and son in the eight months we've been here…
…This young man obviously was a respected member of the community. He was studying at a private high school in Kayseri, similar to the one I teach at, and hoped to become a doctor. He was a neighbor of a student of mine.
Furkan Dogan, o cidadão turco-americano de 19 ano de idade morto por soldado(s) israelense(s) a bordo da frota é de Kayseri. É tão difícil imaginar um “terrorista”, o rótulo colocado pelos israelenses nos ativistas que se juntaram à frota e alegadamente atacaram os soldados – alguém simpático à Al Qaeda – surgindo nesse ambiente. Moderação, prudência e de conformidade são palavras que definem a cultura aqui. Kayseri, a cidade natal do presidente turco, Abdullah Gul, foi extremamente amigável e acolhedora [5] para mim, minha esposa e filho durante os oito meses que estive aqui …
… Este jovem, obviamente, era um respeitado membro da comunidade. Ele estudava em um colégio particular em Kayseri, similar ao [colégio em] que eu ensino, e esperava se tornar um médico. Ele era vizinho de um dos meus alunos.
Para muitos americanos, o assunto do dia é o relacionamento dos Estados Unidos com Israel. No Twitter, @hughsansom [6] observa o histórico dos Estados Unidos em responder às mortes americanas nas mãos de Israel:
[7]O Americano Hugh Sansom endereça seu governo neste tuíte.
A chave para qualquer discussão sobre as relações EUA-Israel é a quantidade de dinheiro dos Estados Unidos provê em ajuda ao exército israelense, cerca de 3 bilhões de dólares por ano. O blogueiro americano PoliticalMonkey2010 advoga [8] aos Estados Unidos para acabar com essa relação:
Five bullets? Five bullets for an unarmed person? Were these bullets paid for by the USA? Were these bullets funded by your tax dollars? Did these bullets have inscribed on them “to our special friends, love the USA”? Bullets used on American citizens.
Let me be clear, all of the loss of life on this flotilla is horrific. No one's life is any greater than another, each of those people who died were somebody’s family and friend. I am focusing on Furkan because he was an American, I am an American, I don’t care where he lived. He was an American.
It is time to end our “special relationship” with Israel. The only thing our relationship with this country does is cost us, it costs American lives, American money, American influence. If this were a business deal, one would look at it and say, cut it loose, you can’t afford it it any more. America cannot afford a friend like Israel.
Cinco balas? Cinco balas para uma pessoa desarmada? Foram essas balas pagos pelos EUA.? Foram essas balas financiados por seus dólares de impostos? Será que essas balas tinham escrito nelas “para os nossos amigos especiais, com amor EUA”? Balas usadas em cidadãos americanos.
Deixe-me ser claro, toda a perda de vida na flotilha é horrível. A vida de ninguém é superior a de qualquer outra, cada uma daquelas pessoas que morreram eram da família ou amigos de alguém. Estou focando em Furkan porque ele era um americano, eu sou um americano, eu não me importo onde ele morava. Ele era um americano.
É hora de acabar com nosso “relacionamento especial” com Israel. A única coisa que o nosso relacionamento com este país faz é nos dar custo, nos custa vidas norte-americanas, dinheiro americano, influência americana. Se este fosse um negócio, alguém olharia para ele e diria, corte-o fora, você não pode sustentar mais. A América não pode sustentar um amigo como Israel.
Muslim-American blogger Hijabmaster picks apart the media reports, which have often referred to Dogan as a “Turkish citizen with an American passport.” Of the distinction, she says [9]:
Now there are only two kinds of people that can have a US passport. A US national and a US citizen. ALL U.S. citizens are US nationals but all US nationals aren't US citizens. U.S. passports issued to non-citizen nationals contains the endorsement code 9 which states: “THE BEARER IS A UNITED STATES NATIONAL AND NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN.” on the annotations page.(read Nationals who are not US citizens [10]). Furkan Dogan's passport did not contain that annotation and therefore is an AMERICAN CITIZEN. Most likely a dual citizen and choosing to say a Turkish citizen was killed is better than saying AMERICAN CITIZEN.
Stephen Saperstein Frug, whose blog is called Attempts, rejects the Israeli version of events that claimed IDF gunfire was in self-defense. Referring to Dogan's death, the blogger writes [11]:
If confirmed, it will certainly put the lie to any claim of self defense by the shooter. A bullet in the chest might well be self-defense (by an aggressor, of course — the Israelis shouldn't have been on that ship in the first place, and they were the ones attacking — but nevertheless understandable). A bullet in the head at close range… possibly, probably not but possibly, that's self-defense too.
Three more? That's murder. And calls into question the entire rest of the scenario.
Finally, Richard Silverstein, an American who writes the popular blog Tikun Olam (a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world”), wonders aloud [12] if President Obama will do the right thing in response to Dogan's death:
Barack Obama, do you let U.S. citizens be murdered in cold blood by the IDF? What will you do about this? If this were any other country I’d know what to expect: protest, redoubled efforts to end the Gaza siege, engagement with Israel, possibly withdrawing the U.S. ambassador. That’s what Britain would likely do, as it’s already had the moxie to demand an end to the siege, something our government hasn’t had the courage to do. This incident should bring our policy a lot closer to Turkey’s as we clearly now have shared interests. But will it?
But given the timidity of this government, I don’t know what they’ll do aside from murmuring a bit about it. Face it, our policy is shameful. Dogan’s dead body serves as physical witness to this. Will it spur Obama on to do the right thing–or anything? Your guess is as good as mine.