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October 29, 2007
God, Gold and Islam
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
LONDON — One of the things that strikes visitors to the British capital are the countless signs of its magnificence. The grandeur of the Big Ben or the Westminster Abbey, the elegance of The National Gallery or the Tate, along with all the handsome avenues and eye-catching monuments of central London seem to be testament to the majesty of the British Empire, which was, until just a half century ago, the world's preeminent superpower.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 8:56 PM | Comments (6)
October 26, 2007
PKK is Using Al-Qaeda's Strategy
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Fouad Hussein is a radical Jordanian journalist who met Abu Musab Zarqawi and other al-Qaeda leaders as early as 1996. Later on he spent quite sometime with these people and even shared the same prison cell. In 2005, he produced what is probably the most definitive outline of al-Qaeda's master plan: A book titled “Al-Zarqawi: The Second Generation of al-Qaeda.” According to Hussein, before Sept. 11, ideologues within al-Qaeda believed that “the Islamic nation was in a state of hibernation” and some action was needed for the “awakening.” By striking America – “the head of the serpent” – al-Qaeda would cause the United States to “lose consciousness and act chaotically against those who attacked it.” The result would be the popularization of al-Qaeda. “This will entitle the party that hit the serpent,” they wrote, “to lead the Islamic nation.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:01 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
The Wedge Strategy Turkey Needs Against Terrorism
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The Turkish Parliament has given the government authorization to order a military operation into northern Iraq in order to hit the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) terrorists. Thus we might see some action in Iraq soon. Yet I don't expect a massive, full-scale incursion. There rather will be, I guess, pointed attacks to specific PKK camps. Some guerrillas might be killed — and I hope that no civilian will be harmed. But will this end the PKK terror as some hot-headed Turkish pundits wishfully think?
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:48 AM | Comments (4)
October 18, 2007
An Open Letter to the Armenian Diaspora
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Dear all,
A few days ago a new friend of mine who happens to be an American Armenian played some beautiful songs for me that come from the deepest roots of her ethnic tradition. While I enjoyed the numinous rhythms of that magnetic Armenian music, I realized how similar they were to the tunes of the Turkish classical music that I have grown up hearing. “Despite all the political warfare,” I said to myself, “alas, look how similar we are.” I actually have a similar feeling when I drive along the magnificent mosques and palaces of Istanbul, some of which were built by Armenian architects – men in fez who devoutly worshipped Christ and proudly served the Sultan.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 6:02 PM | Comments (57)
October 11, 2007
Why the PKK Is Trying to Provoke a War
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
With the recent killing of 13 young soldiers of the Turkish army, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) once again proved that it is a brutal, monstrous terrorist organization. The nation has every right to hate it, and the government has every right to fight against it. But we should also understand why the PKK carries out such violent attacks, and especially at a time when Turkey's Kurds have become freer than ever.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:00 AM | Comments (2)
October 8, 2007
The Islamic Case for a Secular State -III-
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
In June 1998, a very significant meeting took place at a hotel near Abant, which is a beautiful lake in the east of Istanbul. The participants included some of the most respected theologians and Islamic intellectuals in Turkey. For three days, the group of nearly 50 scholars discussed the concept of a secular state and its compatibility with Islam. At the end, they all agreed to sign a common declaration that drew some important conclusions
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:14 AM | Comments (6)
October 5, 2007
The Protocols of the Elders of Turkey
[Originally published in The Washington Post]
Look in just about any bookstore in Turkey, and you'll see some strange bestsellers. The cover of "The Children of Moses," the first and most popular book in a series of four, shows the country's devoutly Muslim prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the middle of a six-pointed Star of David. Inside, you'll find a head-spinningly weird argument: that Erdogan and his conservative allies in Turkey's ruling pro-Islamic party are actually crypto-Jews with secret wicked ties to the conspiratorial forces of "global Zionism."
The books are hardly a fringe phenomenon. They're arrayed in chic bookstores along Istiklal Avenue, the funky pedestrian mall that's the heart of secular Istanbul. They're openly displayed alongside Orhan Pamuk novels at Ataturk International Airport. And they're even sold on tiny bookstands on the Princes' Islands, the vacation destinations in the Sea of Marmara that many well-off Turks view the way Manhattanites do the Hamptons. By the publishers' figures, they've sold about 520,000 copies since the books started rolling out this year -- a staggering figure for a nation of about 71 million people.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:14 AM | Comments (4)
October 4, 2007
The Islamic Case for a Secular State -II-
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
There are some myths that many well-educated Turks believe to be true. One of them is the idea that the Ottoman Empire's modernization efforts were continuously resisted and crippled by religion. Italian scholar Rossella Bottoni summarizes the falsity of this cliché well in her article titled, “The Origins of Secularism in Turkey.” “According to received wisdom,” she notes:
“In the Ottoman Empire there was a Manichaean struggle between, on one side, the reformers who were Westernizers, liberals, secularizers and modern, and, on the other side, the opponents, especially the ulema (Islamic scholars), who were obscurantist, backward-looking and hooked on the most obsolete customs dictated by religion.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:23 AM | Comments (11)
October 3, 2007
Voices from the Capital of Sufism
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
KONYA - In Turkey, there are cities that symbolize certain identities. Diyarbakır has made a global name for itself, for example, for being the capital of Kurdish politics. To its north lies Tunceli, which was bombed by the Turkish Armed Forces in 1938 in order to suppress a local rebellion, and has been the crucible of all kinds of radical left groups since then. And at the other end of the country, İzmir stands as the bastion of a secular and westernized lifestyle.
If one is looking for a city that would symbolize conservative Islam, though, none will be more definitive than the central Anatolian city of Konya.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
