Ah here.
President Higgins at Atturk Airport, Istanbul on the first day of a state visit to Istanbul and Gallipoli.
No need for the little circle.
A small chalk mark would have sufficed surely?
Don’t mention the genocide.
Earlier…
Squee and Sabina flying the (Turkish Airlines) flag.
FIGHT!
(Aras/Photocall Ireland)
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Looks like he’s about to be beamed up.
And sure wouldn’t there be an Irishman in charge of de transportey thing as well? Energise Mr O’Brien.
Or face a free kick…
MEME alert!
….Don’t mention the genocide…..
Officially in Turkey it never happened…
none officially happened in Ireland either!
That’s a fairy circle to protect him from the At-At Turks !
Grabs fez and leaves, just like that!
to camp?
* too camp?
with your Chinese brother Hoo Ha?
Turk amp.
Is it coz they’ve got our Squee that we’re holding off of acknowledging the Armenian genocide?
What the hell is the president of Ireland doing commemorating Irish collaborators who fought with our invader/occupier (Britain in case you didn’t know). Proper countries execute collaborators, our president thinks we should honour them. What a confused little man.
+ 1.
*gets popcorn*
Are you allowed to use phones in your school or are you taking a sneaky look at broadsheet during little break? Enjoy PE if you didn’t forget your gym gear!
Gym gear eh? You dirty fecker.
… and typed in the language of the “invader/occupier”.
Soundings I am worried for you, there are plenty of excellent mental health professionals in Ireland that can assist you.
The Stockholm Syndrome is strong in this one! You really can’t appreciate the fact this country was invaded, its people brutalised by the nation which invented pitchcapping, land and possessions stolen, citizens sold off as slaves to the Caribbean, religion and culture repressed, a genocidal famine administered with a third of the country starved or emigrated, industry stifled so it wouldn’t compete with Britannia, the execution of the heroes of 1916 and a partition forced on us at the end of a threat from Churchill.
All too far back in memory for you?
What about the 1974 Monaghan and Dublin bombings carried out with the resourcing and connivance of the British? What about the murder of Irish fishermen dragged to their deaths by British submarines (and then denied by the Brits)?
Let bygones be bygones? Riiight. Like present day British servicemen who turn their backs on the Japanese emporor on the Mall because of what happened in WW2. Like the British who erect monuments to the brave men of Germany in 1939-1945? NOT!
You really have no idea of your history or self, do you? Never mind, you’re in the company of titans like our overfed and overpaid president.
You comment with all the certainty and bluster of someone who grew up a comfortable distance (geographic or temporal) from the Troubles. Wise up.
“Troubles”? What’s that? By the sound of it, a tiff down the local pub? What sort of idiot refers to what happened in the partitioned six counties of Ulster between the late 1960s and 2000 as “Troubles”?
That’ll be a yes, then. Back to Wikipedia for your next volley of moronic soundbites.
And you comment with uncertainty and ignorance of your provenance.Or maybe you do know your provenance – did some Black and Tan get over the garden wall and have relations with your granny?
Ha! You’re actually entertaining! (And I’m pretty sure deliberately trolling – touche.)
“What sort of idiot refers to what happened in the partitioned six counties of Ulster between the late 1960s and 2000 as “Troubles”?”
That’d be for one, that Jerry Adams idiot…. there are more.
Juvenile comment. The guy laid out some historical facts. Why should we celebrate WW1? We had no argument with Germany et al.
Thanks! All good points in history. You’re a well-read man! But that just it. It’s all history. Well-read does not mean intelligent. In fact, an inability to gain anything from it other than anger makes you beyond ignorant. It must be so frustrating carrying that rage around with you.
Let it go mate. It’s better for everyone.
Perhaps he is angry at the present effort to forget our history?
The guy laid out some of his Junior Cert history to justify his RSF fantasies. Not worthy of intellectual engagement.
And intellectual colossus that you are, so sure of your position, and presumably an honours leaving cert history student, you immediately descended to name-calling. What a rich debating repertoire you have!
You have my sympathy, Soundings.
You think the Irish who fought in WWI should have been executed upon their return? Wanker.
Executed as collaborators as soon as practical, yes, that’s what proper countries do.
Do you think Britain had scruples about executing Irishman William Joyce (or Lord Haw-Haw) after WW2? William’s war crime? Not killing or anything like that, but aiding the enemy in propaganda broadcasts. Were Brits wankers then? Is that what you’re saying. Didn’t think so.
Ah, OK. Fool’s pardon…….carry on.
Soundings the same Heros that were jeered in the streets by the people of Dublin prior to their execution!
I am well aware of my history and that many men who VOLUNTEERED to fight for the British WW1 were exactly that volunteers they joined of their own free will
One was my grandmothers father, his daughter would go on to marry one of the leading figures of the struggle for Irish independence. If he was ok with ex british servicemen I am not sure what your problem is!
You say “VOLUNTEERED” like that was something to be proud of, in contrast say, to being conscripted or press-ganged. It’s obviously not, and means your ancestor was a willing (and all the more filthy for it) collaborator with the armed forces of a country which brutalised this country. Shame on you for even thinking this is something that would be mentioned in polite company – you wouldn’t expect Graham Dwyer’s ex-wife to be so upfront about her history. You should be embarrassed with yourself, but somehow I don’t think you know enough of who you are to feel that.
So soundings a leading light in our independence movement married the daughter of a British soldier & somehow you think, that you are in a better place to judge!
You should probably visit mentalhealth.ie and get the help you obviously need
I’m more embarrassed for you Soundings
Soundings – you have actually gone full Armchair Republican.
Don’t you know you should never go full Armchair Republican?
(It makes you sound like an out and out loon for one thing)
going full Armchair Republican – it’s a new sport dontchaknow?
http://www.donegaldollop.com/2012/03/armchair-republicanism-officially-declared-a-national-sport/
Ah, I see. Avoid commenting on the inconvenient facts. “Collaboration”? What’s dat, never heard of it in context of war situation. Shura, isn’t colloboration something we do at work all the time, it’s a positive thing, how could anyone see a problem with it?
And when someone asks you to consider how other countries have dealt with collaborators, stick your fingers in your ears and la-la-la and parrot “shura, it doesn’t matter, let bygones be bygones”
It is a national disgrace that those who fought alongside our enemy are receiving any official recognition other than the recognition they were collaborators who, in a just world, would have been executed. Shame on you if you can’t recognise that.
Lol Full armchair republican indeed.The sort of person who would justify the massacre in Omagh with a few drinks on them. Let’s hope dangerous splinter republican troll-some visions never make it further than your bedroom.
And let’s say for sake of argument that I did want to honour the people behind the Omagh bombing. That would make me detestable, right? You’d condemn me, you’d snub me, you wouldn’t want to be in any way associated with me, right?
And when Charles Windsor is accorded a state visit next month, you will note his role as head of the British paratroopers who killed 14 civilians in Derry in 1972, paratroopers who then lied about what they’d done, with at least one of them being made a knight by Charles’s mother and promoted to the rank of general. And did Charles condemn the killings? Did he resign his office? Of course not, so, because you’re not a hypocrite, you will snub him when he visits next month and you won’t want to be in any way associated with the visit. Right? Yeah, right.
LOL Soundings. Bit early to be raving drunk, no?
Istanbul? Not Constantinople?
Surely Byzantium?
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks.
not sure its a good idea to support this inaugural Gallipoli thing which just happens to be on the day Armenians remember their genocide
Or we could remember both?
We could at least recognise the genocide though.
True – I was thinking small we (ie personnally) rather than big we (ie as a nation). Agree, but it won’t happen. Turkey needs to be kept sweet because of the old geopolitics innit, not that that is right.
The Turkish government changed the day of the Gallipoli commemoration this year so that it clashed with the genocide commemoration in Yerevan.
we should never forget bursa and johnny turkey’s shameful treatment of tony cascarino.
@tombuktoo, April 25th is ANZAC day, that is the main day this year, as it is on other years.
Agreed – It’s insensitive at best.
Its not necessarily the guests fault though – Turkey deliberately changed the usual date to conflict with the Armenian anniversary.
Incumbent upon the Irish govt. then to re-reschedule, no?
No. Though I don’t think any government would get them to change their minds – imagine the uproar if none of the leaders went. Especially from Oz and NZ, they would be crucified.
Fair point, I suppose.
I think it would be a worthwhile diplomatic spat.
Trouble with these kinds of memorials is they have such sentimentality, if that’s the right word, that you cannot use them for political plays, its too sensitive for the public you represent so no leader would touch it.
Old Boy – will never happen now with IS. The West needs Turkey to be on our side, especially if it is going to stop people coming back in from Syria etc
Excellent point, Pidgeoni. I had rather forgotten about that.
Its the same reason we can’t publicly condemn Saudi for all the beheadings and nonsense they get up to. We need them and they know it.
Damn, I am on fire with my geopolitical debates today!
oh no!!! the turks caught Squee in a cat circle!!!!
Fair play to Squee, and McAleese in 2010, for recognising the 3000 odd Irish that died at Gallipoli. More than in died 1916 and in the all troubles that followed. More Irish died here then New Zealanders, and they honour it greatly with ANZAC.
+1
It was an awful bloodbath. Orchestrated by hungry war lord Churchill and implemented miserably by his generals.
The same Churchill who played the Orange Card and wanted to invade the South during WW2.
And they all came home to a lovely warm welcome… oh no, wrong Grimm fairytale….