[View the story "Trending against Kurds in Turkey" on Storify ]Trending against Kurds in Turkey "The best Kurd is a dead Kurd" provokes sparks outrage on Twitter. Storified by The Stream · Fri, Aug 10 2012 13:35:06
"En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt" -- the best Kurd is a dead Kurd -- gained ground as a trending topic on Twitter, as these screenshots show.
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This tweet shows one user repeating the phrase over and over, a common tactic for increasing a topic's mentions to get it into the trends column shown above.
En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt En İyiBOB
The topic reportedly started after news broke of the ambush of a Turkish military bus by suspected Kurdish fighters. One soldier was reported to have died in the attack. Tensions among ethnic Kurds and the Turkish military have been running particularly high in recent months, but attacks in western Turkey are relatively rare.
Turkish military bus ambushedAt least one soldier has died in western Turkey after suspected Kurdish fighters launched an attack on a military bus, according to local...
Local media in Izmir: Two bombs (w. 8 min. interval). 1 dead soldier, 30 wounded (6 seriously wounded) http://www.izmirgundem.net/haber/9133-izmir-focadaki-saldiri-ani-kamerada.html #TwitterKurdsArjen Donan
Many of the "En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt" tweets focused on the conflict between the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish military. This tweet translated, "The best Kurd is a dead Kurd. Every Kurd is a potential PKK and I have yet to meet a good Kurd." The account is now listed as
protected .
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This screenshot of @BlackFreud's account, which had nearly 30,000 followers before it was
deleted , shows several tweets reading that he is against people who want to dismember Turkey and that he goes crazy when he hears the word "Kurdistan".
RT @a_camioglu: EN İYİ KÜRT ÖLÜ KÜRT TT'si kahramanı @blackfreud mahkeme provası yapıyor. BIO'ya dikkat :) http://pic.twitter.com/5um0bAguHertoşist
This tweet combines a popular slogan of Ataturk, Turkey's first president, "How happy is the one who says, 'I am a Turk'" with the Twitter trend, "the best Kurd is a dead Kurd".
Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyene // en iyi kürt ölü kürtHilmi Akman
This tweet was translated as, "'The best Kurd is a dead Kurd' -- To say this takes guts and I'm going to write it 100 times!" The link to the tweet no longer
exists .
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One tweet warned, "Those who are making this a [trending topic] are Kurds, don't be provoked!"
En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt TT sini yapan Kürtler provakasyona gelmeyin !Hakan
This tweet was translated as, "It's not in their hands to be Kurds. For you to say 'the best Kurd is a dead Kurd' is tasteless."
kürt olmak onların elinde olan birşey değil En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt ttsi biraz ağır kaçmışMs. ReTwEeT
The topic steadily gained ground as Kurds on Twitter learned of the trend. Many commented that the trend reflected racism against Kurds in Turkish society.
This is unbelievable, @Twitter! How could you let something as disgusting as "the best Kurd is the dead Kurd" trend?Birusk
Racist TT shows just how threatened Turks feel about Kurds. #InsecurityXende Biradostî
Kill all Kurds still trending in Turkey, this is hidden thought came out from the racists. See who we we Kurds live among in this countryFreelance Journalist
What kind of a role model can #Turkey be when its citizens are trending "En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt" ("A good #Kurd is a dead Kurd")? #RacismMinhaj Akreyi
i feel sad for the tolerant, peaceful turks who have to live with these turks (actually, i feel sad for us all) --> En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürtnaila bozo
Its a sad time when "En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt" trends, meaning "the best Kurd is a dead Kurd," in Turkish. We still don't know how to be human.Selin Al Khalil
"The best Kurd is a dead Kurd" is currently trending thanks to fascist Turks. What happened to peace & brotherhood? Anyone? #TwitterKurdsMeltem Ay
One user commented that the topic seemed to have continued trending due to the number of tweets outraged by the phrase, rather than in support of it.
@patrickgjackson It's the 4th most trending topic because most of the Turkish people are complaining about it.GNO
Some commented on the fact that the topic trended the same day that Turkey's Kurdish taekwondo fighter, Servet Tazegul, won the country's first gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
En iyi Kürt ölü Kürttür=The best Kurd is dead Kurd..Servet Tazegül=Taekwondo Olympic Champion and gold medal winner is a Kurd..Mehmet Nuri Avcı
Racists picked the wrong day to trend! Cos ironically a living Kurd is the reason why Turkey has a gold medal! Ah the tragic comedy!Ehmedê Xanî
@kurdish Servet Tazegül, a Kurd from Qers, is Turkey's first gold medalist in Olympics. Meantime,a Turkish TT trending. http://pic.twitter.com/WIvhN988kurdish blogger
The Stream spoke to Kani Xulam of the American-Kurdish Information Network about what he thought sparked the trend.
Kani Xulam talks to The Stream about "the best Kurd is a dead Kurd."ajstream
![The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) are regular targets of Turkish incursions and airstrikes [AFP]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8426/7754865108_262c4d489a_z.jpg)
