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[ by Charles Cameron — a case of Catholic taqiyya? srsly? you jest! ]
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This tweet about Fethullah Gülen is just too rich in ironies to relegate to the comment section of my earlier posts, Turkey — keeping an eye out for Gülen and its follow-up, Turkey Tweeted, continued:

Pro-Erdogan newspaper claims Gulen is Vatican's "secret cardinal." pic.twitter.com/oUQKPwFo51

— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) August 14, 2016

H/t Bryan Alexander.

I may write this one up for LapidoMedia, in which case I’ll report back here…

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Update:

Apparently LapidoMedia won’t be covering this, since they already have two pieces from me for this week & next.

Here’s the gist:

The suggestion has recently been made in at least two Turkish media that the Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, now resident in the US, is a secret Catholic, not a Muslim, and that when he met Pope John Paul II in 1988, the latter made him a cardinal “in pectore”.

The Turkish Minute article Indictment claims Gülen secretly made cardinal by John Paul II reports the claim as having been made in a court case, and explains:

The indictment said “in pectore” is a term meaning “in the heart” and that it refers “a person who keeps his religious beliefs secret in their country.”

Shia, under the doctrine of taqiyya, have the right to say that they are Sunni if questioned in a sectarian life-and-death situation, and the Turkish indictment apparently conflated this idea with the authentic Catholic poractice of a Pope making a cardinal “in pectore” — where the secret of the appointment is kept, not because the cardinal keeps his religion a secret, let alone that he claims to be a Muslim cleric while in fact being a high-ranking Catholic — but because the news that the person had been raised to the College of Cardinals might draw unwanted attention to him as a public figure in an area where this might have dire consequences.

So the two ideas have their similarities — but are in fact different.

Add in the fact of the amazing image of Gülen wearing a bishop’s miter and the pallium — an item worn only by major archbishops and the Pope — and you have quite a multitude of ironies in play.

[ by Charles Cameron — a bridge & burial ground in Turkey, an Oregon creek & road, all named for death ]
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There’s a certain power to names. Ursula LeGuin described it best, perhaps, when she wrote:

He saw that in this dusty and fathomless matter of learning the true name of every place, thing, and being, the power he wanted lay like a jewel at the bottom of a dry well. For magic consists in this, the true naming of a thing.

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I included that quote in my post Indistinguishable from magic? six days ago, little realizing I would need it again so soon, but here we are: a dark magical DoubleTweet:

Scenic Bosphorous Bridge crossing the Bosphorous river, connecting Turkey w/ Asia to be renamed "Martyr's Bridge"' pic.twitter.com/5Ocso5D5dr

— ColorMeRed (@ColorMeRed) July 25, 2016

That’s the more positive of the pair — less so, I think, is this:

The Traitors' Cemetary, Istanbul, Turkey… pic.twitter.com/MJEEcn3tpz

— Gürkan Özturan (@Obefintlig) July 26, 2016

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A couple of other notes from the poster of that second tweet:

The term “traitor” is still very loosely used in Turkey; some day may come, all those accusing eachother of treason might lie side by side..

Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor had announced the will to construct the Traitors’ Cemetary some days ago “for all to spit on when passing by”

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When my Lakota mentor, Wallace Black Elk, came to teach a class in the building and ceremonial use of the stone people’s lodge (“sweat lodge”) at what was then Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, Oregon, the route to the site where we performed the rituals on Dead Indian Creek went along the clearly marked Dead Indian Road. Wallace always got a chuckle out of that.

But then, Wallace was glad Columbus told Queen Isabella he was en route for India, not Turkey — “Full-Blooded Turkey I’d be,” he’d say, “Native Turkey Movement, Bureau of Turkey Affairs..”

The road, though not perhaps the creek, has now been renamed:

[ by Charles Cameron — continuing from Turkey — keeping an eye out for Gülen ]
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Recommended, by blog-friend Sean Paul Kelley:

"What Happens Now that the Turkish Coup Has Failed?" A question I answer at Ian's place: https://t.co/ByuF3we2HS pic.twitter.com/wwjxfue4ya

— Sean Paul Kelley (@seanpaulkelley) July 20, 2016

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I apologize for the fact that this post and the comments I post to follow it take the form of a stream of tweets. I am hoping for an opportunity to write up a longer-form narrative account of the salient aspects of the coup with special attention to the role of Fethullah Gulen, but in the meantime my earlier post and this one are intended as rapid annotations of some very complex and rapidly breaking events. I hope you will find them helpful as pointers for specific areas that may be of interest.

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#BREAKING Turkish Deputy PM says TR to suspend European Convention on Human Rights for a while like France did pic.twitter.com/2rGqDfRaAM

— CNN Türk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) July 21, 2016

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Whoah!

#gulenism vs #isis#FailedCoup pic.twitter.com/ub4vlt4pa0

— serkan inci (@srkninci) July 20, 2016

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The New Turkey #turkey #newturkey #TurkeyCoup #Erdogan pic.twitter.com/sIoycp0sSo

— Aldo Toledo (@aldot29) July 20, 2016

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More than 60.000 people … https://t.co/xK3OgSd9dF

— Patrick Lang (@pat_lang) July 21, 2016

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#Turkey’s Pres. Erdogan turns on former brother-in-arms Gulen, as imam allegedly uses military might to stage coup: https://t.co/5ta4xDWdhg

— Emre Peker (@wsjemre) July 21, 2016

[ by Charles Cameron — “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” ]
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Stalin’s sneering rhetorical question meets Erdogan’s declaration of faith:

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The idea of spiritual force is an old one, found eg in both New Testament and Qur’an —

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. — Ephesians 6.12

When you were calling upon your Lord for succour, and He answered you, ‘I shall reinforce you with a thousand angels riding behind you.’ — Qur’an 8.9

— and von Clausewitz:

One might say that the physical factors seem little more than the wooden hilt, while the moral factors are the precious metal, the real weapon, the finely-honed blade.

[ by Charles Cameron — the power of images in which overwhelming humanity is juxtaposed with overwhelming force ]
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The image of Ieshia Evans standing truth to power became an instant icon last week, as did an earlier photo of a man facing down a line of tanks at Tienanmen Square. Now, that photo of individual courage in the face of a tank has a cousin from Turkey, and Kenneth Roth has paired the two of them in what I term a DoubleQuote in the Wild:

Turkey's tank man. pic.twitter.com/cCwnxyoCZj

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) July 16, 2016

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Serenity in the eye of a camera has many battalions.