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<a href="http://counterpunch.org/cockburn09012006.html" eudora="autourl">
http://counterpunch.org/cockburn09012006.html<br><br>
</a>September 1, 2006<br>
The Interview That Wasn't<br>
Hezbollah Denounces Evrensel Interview of Nasrallah as a Fake<br><br>
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN<br><br>
Hussain Rahhal, Hezbollah's press liaison, has issued a written
statement:<br><br>
"Our secretary general Nasrallah has not given
any interviews to any Turkish or other non-Lebanese journalist during the
month of August. In the face of this imaginary interview that is
untruthful, and hence does damage to journalism, credibility and
objectivity, Hezbollah reserves its right to take legal action against
those who have published it."<br><br>
This is in reference to an interview purporting to be of Hezbollah's
leader,Sayeed Hassan Nasrallah, by a Turkish collective in Beirut. It was
published in Evrensel, a socialist Turkish daily, on August 12 and 13,
causing some stir in the Turkish press. It was translated into English
and posted on least one left site, Marxmail, one of whose readers
forwarded it to CounterPunch. We ran excerpts from it on August
17.<br><br>
In an item last weekend I noted charges that the interview was
fraudulent, also interesting and important observations about radical
components in the Shi'a tradition, which might buttress arguments for the
interview's genuineness. I hope this particular fakery won't discredit
those insights, which are important for the left.<br><br>
Hezbollah's denunciation is categorical, and should be taken as the last
word, though if there are any significant or interesting updates we'll
let CounterPunchers know. I do find Hezbollah's threat of legal action
somewhat comical. Will they also try to drag Rupert Murdoch and Ted
Turner and other barons of the First World press into the World Court for
misrepresentation? Wasn't that the hope of the proposed New World
Information Order, twenty-five or so years ago?<br><br>
Postscript:<br><br>
Today we received this statement from Evrensel Daily.<br><br>
STATEMENT FROM EVRENSEL DAILY<br><br>
ABOUT THE FORGED NASRALLAH INTERVIEW<br><br>
Taylan Bilgic<br>
Cihan Celik<br>
Foreign News Desk<br>
Evrensel Daily / ISTANBUL, TURKEY<br><br>
It is now clearly understood that, the so-called "interview"
with Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, which appeared on our
newspaper (12th August) in Turkey is a forgery.<br><br>
Press Representative of Hezbollah, Hussein Rahhal, on a question asked by
the official Anatolian Agency correspondent, replied that Nasrallah has
not conducted any interview with any Turkish journalist in
August.<br><br>
With this forgery, "Mutlu Sahin" and "Roza Cigdem
Erdogan", the forgers, who are members of the "Sheikh Bedreddin
Film Collective" (Turkish initials, SBFK) have attempted to tarnish
the reliability of Evrensel, a 12-years old socialist newspaper. But this
is not all. They have attempted to erode the reliability of all
progressive, antiwar, antiimperialist sources and people all over the
world; as the "interview" had far reaching consequences than
they probably have imagined in their pathetic minds.<br><br>
Evrensel General Coordinator, Ihsan Caralan, has made a written statement
about the developments. This statement is printed on the 2nd September,
2006 issue of Evrensel, from the front page... We believe this statement
will shed light into the forgery, though the real aims and connections of
the instigators are still unknown ...<br><br>
Here is the statement:<br><br>
"This 'interview' was sent to us by members of
the Sheikh Bedreddin Film Collective members, Mutlu Sahin and Roza Cigdem
Erdogan. The fact that these people who are known as 'documentary
filmmakers' were members of a known cultural organization is the most
important factor that we approached them without any suspicion.<br><br>
These people, whose "Beirut impressions"
were printed in some other newspapers and internet sites, have also sent
us, before the said "interview", their 'Beirut impressions' and
these were printed on our paper, too.<br><br>
The so-called interview with Sheikh Nasrallah included
symphatetic remarks about historical persona such as Deniz Gezmis and Che
Guevera. These remarks were found suspicious by us; but at that time our
thought was that Hezbollah, who had won the support of Islamic circles,
was attempting to erase the prejudices and suspicions in the West and
especially, in left-wing circles by these words. Our aim of publishing
the 'interview' was, our desire to reflect the developments of an
important conflict from all perspectives.<br><br>
After the interview was published, there were various
suspicions raised in various circles. Because of this, we demanded from
Mutlu Sahin that he should immediately confirm that the interview was
actually done. But they have evaded us until the last minute by
continuously saying that they will confirm the interview, will present
documented evidence, make Hezbollah print the interview on their website
etc.<br><br>
When the news of Anatolian Agency was put into
service, we immediately sent the text to them via Windows Messenger.
After reading the message, and without making any comment, Mutlu Sahin
became offline and from then on, did not answer our phone calls.<br><br>
As obvious to all, this attitude amounts to nothing
more than an 'unqualified forgery'. Our newspaper, since the beginning,
has uphold the principles of peoples' right to true information and
learning the truth. But another principle of our newspaper is follow-up.
Thus, we will continue to seek and tell the truth about these people and
the figures behind them, if there are any.<br><br>
These people are responsible for cheating us and thus,
making us the instrument of the dissemination of false information. But
nevertheless, we cannot evade our own responsibility as the newspaper who
printed this false interview. We have encountered such a situation for
the first time in our history and this teaches us again that
meticulousness in newsmaking should never be forgotten.<br><br>
We sincerely apologize from our readers, from the
various publications (online or print) who trusted us and printed this
text and those who translated the text to various languages and sent it
to various news resources."<br><br>
And here is another recent development from the film
collective. This piece of news below also appeared on Evrensel on 2nd
September.<br><br>
SBFK did not even apologize<br><br>
Mutlu Sahin and Roza Cigdem Erdogan, who had their
names on the fake interview are nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, SBFK made
an announcement yesterday:<br><br>
"This sudden development about the interview was
totally unexpected. SBFK Press Representative Yilmaz Kilickaya, Foreign
Relations Coordinator Zafer Hanoglu, members Roza Cigdem Erdogan, Berfin
Gunes and Esra Celik, have gone to Beirut to inform the public and put an
end to the debate.<br><br>
After weekend, they will inform the public on behalf
of SBFK, which Hezbollah representatives will also attend.<br><br>
We had declared that we retain some of our rights. We
will explain these rights in this last information we will give.<br><br>
From now on, the drawees are not Roza Cigdem Erdogan
or Mutlu Sahin, but our collective. Until this last information meeting,
we deem our friends innocent. After that last moment in which all debate
will be put an end, their duties and authorities are suspended
temporarily. We also note that we will not take seriously the attacks and
insults circulating the internet against our collective and our
members.<br>
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