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May 31, 2007
Fareed Zakaria Agrees on ‘Fact-Free Paranoia’
On May 2, I had a piece in the Turkish Daily News titled "The Secularist Hype In Turkey Is A Fact-Free Paranoia.” In his May 14 piece, Fareed Zakaria, the editor and columnist of the Newsweek magazine, agreed with my assessment in his piece which had the web title, “Worries About Turkey Are ‘Fact-Free Paranoia’.” Based on his evaluation of the Turkish political scene, and his interview with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, Dr. Zakaria wrote,
Gul is right. The secular establishment's suspicions about the AK are best described by Turkish columnist Mustafa Akyul as "fact-free paranoia.
The only thing is that my surname is Akyol, not Akyul. But no problem. I appreciate Dr. Zakaria’s quote and agreement.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 2:23 PM | Comments (1)
May 28, 2007
Speech at The Council on Foreign Relations
Last Friday (May 25, 2007) I delivered a speech at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The event, titled “Turkey’s Political Battle: Secularism vs. Democracy” was presided by CFR fellow Steven A. Cook, and was based on my assessment of the current debate in Turkey over secularism and “the Republic.” You can download and listen to the audio recording of my speech and the Q & A session here. And the full transcript of the meeting is also available here on the CFR website.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:49 PM | Comments (12)
May 25, 2007
Mr. Loğoğlu Is Wrong, Considerably Wrong, About Turkey
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Yesterday's Turkish Daily News had a piece by Mr. Faruk Loğoğlu, former Turkish Ambassador to Washington, titled “The apologists are wrong, dead wrong about Turkey.” The “apologists” included Suat Kınıklıoğlu (of the German Marshall Fund), Fareed Zakaria (of Newsweek), The Economist magazine, and me. And what we “the apologists” have been doing, according to Mr. Loğoğlu, was defending “moderate/liberal Islam” and the “conservative Muslim democrats” of Turkey against its secularist establishment.
Continue reading "Mr. Loğoğlu Is Wrong, Considerably Wrong, About Turkey"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 2:16 PM | Comments (2)
May 16, 2007
Islam Will Modernize—If Secular Fundamentalists Allow
[Originally published in The Washington Times and Turkish Daily News]
In the past two decades, the violence perpetrated by the proponents of Islamism—an ideology distinct from Islam as a religion—has created serious doubts about the potential of Islam to live in harmony with others. The doubts are well justified, but it would be wrong to extrapolate the current “crisis of Islamdom” to a general negative view about Islam as a religion. One should recall that Islamdom was probably the most advanced and enlightened part of the world a thousand years ago. Perhaps, we are just living in a bad episode in its extremely diverse history.
Continue reading "Islam Will Modernize—If Secular Fundamentalists Allow"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:30 AM | Comments (22)
May 10, 2007
Reductio ad Sharium—A Popular Turkish Demagoguery
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The Latin term, Reductio ad absurdum (“reduction to the absurd”) refers to a method of proving the falsity of a premise by showing that its logical consequence is absurd. Inspired by this classical expression, modern political philosopher Leo Strauss coined a new term: Reductio ad Hitlerum. Strauss noted that political demagogues employ the “reduction to Hitler” method very often in order to silence their opponents. They just had to find an irrelevant similarity with the Nazis, and then “reduce” their opponents to this deeply and rightfully hated gang.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:24 PM | Comments (2)
May 5, 2007
The Latest Jewish Conspiracy: 'Moderate Islam' & AKP
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Did you know that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife are crypto-Jews who secretly collaborate with the Mossad? And that they are trying to cook-up “moderate Islam” and destroy Turkish secularism for the sake of serving the elders of Zion?
Well, I had no clue about that terrible conspiracy either, until I went into a major Istanbul bookstore last weekend and checked the bestsellers list. There were a few usual titles telling stories about how the beloved Secular Turkish Republic is targeted by internal and external plots — a highly popular and powerful paranoia in the country these days — but none of them were as informative as the one penned by a die-secularist named Ergün Poyraz.
“The Children of Moses” is the title of Mr. Poyraz's masterpiece, and in its subtitle, there are two unexpected names: “Tayyip and Emine.” On the book's cover, there is even a more stunning graphic message: a huge Star of David encircles the photos of Mr. and Mrs. Erdoğan.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:32 AM | Comments (15)
May 4, 2007
The Threat Is Secular Fundamentalism
[Originally published in International Herald Tribune]
It is no secret that Islamic fundamentalism is a threat to democracy, freedom and security in today's world, especially in the Middle East. Yet the same values can be threatened by secular fundamentalists, too. Turkey's self-styled laïcité, a much more radical version of the French secular system, is a case in point.
The American model of secularism guarantees individual religious liberty. The Turkish model, however, guarantees the state's right to dominate religion and suppress religious practice in any way it deems necessary.
Continue reading "The Threat Is Secular Fundamentalism"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 5:30 PM | Comments (0)
May 2, 2007
The Secularist Hype in Turkey Is a Fact-Free Paranoia
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Nowadays many people say that there is a division in Turkey between “Islamists” and “secularists.” But that's wrong. There is indeed a division, but the sides are rather different. On one side, there are Islamic conservatives (not “Islamists”) and secular liberals whose motto is “democracy.” On the other side, there are illiberal secularists whose motto is “the Republic.”
You can ask what the big difference between democracy and republic is. Both terms vaguely mean “rule by the people,” but in Turkey, there is more than what meets the uninitiated eye.
Continue reading "The Secularist Hype in Turkey Is a Fact-Free Paranoia"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:14 AM | Comments (5)
