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November 30, 2007
The Verse at The Gate — and a Koranic Debate
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Is the Koran a “created” or an “uncreated” book?
This question might sound vague and even meaningless to many modern minds, but it was a crucial one among Muslims during the initial centuries of Islam. Indeed, there were bitter disputes and even clashes between those who gave different answers.
Continue reading "The Verse at The Gate — and a Koranic Debate"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:15 PM | Comments (2)
November 24, 2007
Turkey's Veiled Democracy [A Must-Read Article]
This article, published in the November/December issue of The American Interest magazine, is available here online (but in full only for subcribers), and here in full as a PDF file.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 7:16 PM | Comments (2)
Yes, Muslims are Indeed 'Christians'
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
In yesterday's Turkish Daily News, there was a photo of a group of Turkish demonstrators who gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square and held a banner that read, "We are all Christians!" They were protesting against the attacks on Christian communities and especially the savage slaughter of three missionaries in Malatya seven months ago by a gang of ultra-nationalist brutes.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:28 PM | Comments (18)
November 22, 2007
Why is The AKP Reasonable on Kurds?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Anybody who follows Turkish politics these days will notice that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is quite reasonable on matters relating to the Kurdish question. First, Prime Minister Erdoğan has resisted the calls from other parties and the “mainstream media” to launch a massive war against northern Iraq. He, instead, insisted on building an effective cooperation with the United States to crack down on the terrorist PKK — and only the PKK, not Iraqi Kurds. Plus he managed to build that cooperation in his meeting with U.S. President Bush early this month.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:54 AM | Comments (3)
November 17, 2007
The Scandal of The Kemalist Mind
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
I, unluckily, made a lot of people upset with my piece in last weekend's edition of the Turkish Daily News, The gospel according to Atatürk. A few dozen readers sent fuming emails, which rebuked me for daring to criticize the level of veneration shown in Turkey to its founder.
If you have been reading the Letters to The Editor section, you might have come across two of these reactions, which came from two Turkish readers living in the United States. The one from New Jersey noted that he was shocked by my piece, and added, "someone should tell Akyol that he is dead wrong." The other one, a lady, expressed anguish at me and my "very naive look." I, she also argued, "cannot be a Turk."
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:33 PM | Comments (5)
November 15, 2007
Turks, Jews and Arabs
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
In the year 1454, Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati of the Ottoman city of Edirne sent a letter to his co-religionists in Europe who were suffering under the persecutions of medieval anti-Semites. "Leave the torments you endure in Christendom," the Rabbi suggested, "and seek safety and prosperity in Turkey." This Islamic land was a haven for all, he added. "Here every man dwells at peace under his own vine and fig tree."
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:21 PM | Comments (9)
November 14, 2007
Turkey's European Front
[Originally published in The Wall Street Journal]
ISTANBUL — Last month, all eyes were on Turkey's struggle against the resurgent PKK. While a massive incursion into Kurdish Iraq to smoke out the terrorist "Kurdistan Workers Party" seems to be off the table for now, news came from another front Turks seem to have ignored for a while — Europe.
The European Commission's annual progress report last week on Turkey was mixed at best. It praises recent achievements, notably the resolution of "the political and constitutional crisis which followed the April presidential elections."
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 6:33 PM | Comments (1)
November 12, 2007
The Gospel According to Atatürk
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
DUBLIN - A few weeks ago, while driving through one of the busiest spots in Istanbul, Şişli Square, I came across dozens of Atatürk flags hanging all over the place. They were, apparently, an official prelude to Nov. 10, the anniversary of the death of the country's founder. Yet the flags included not only the usual smiling look of the national leader, but also a message that I had never came across before. "Sizi izliyorum," it read in Turkish, which means, "I am watching you."
Apparently the folks who had this brilliant idea have never heard of George Orwell and his classic novel 1984, in which the Big Brother watches everybody in order to ensure the persistence of his totalitarian regime. And certainly, the state of affairs in Turkey is not as bad as that. Yet it seems no accident that the veneration of Atatürk has reached such absurd heights that its slogans started to resemble Orwellian archetypes.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:56 PM | Comments (4)
November 5, 2007
Apostasy is a Right, Not a Crime
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
NEW YORK- Western governments and the international media focused on a bizarre court case in Afghanistan in February 2006. The accused was Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Afghan citizen, who was on the verge of receiving a death penalty. His crime was abandoning Islam and converting to Christianity.
Soon Rahman was saved thanks to international pressure on the Afghan government, but his story was only one of the many severe violations of religious freedom in the contemporary Islamic world.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 1:26 AM | Comments (3)
November 2, 2007
Ein Volk, Ein Ummah, Ein Muhammad?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
PRAGUE - Last Sunday evening I was strolling down the biggest avenue of the Czech capital and suddenly a blonde and blue-eyed young lady approached me. She handed me a tabloid paper and said something in Czech, which, of course, sounded to me like Chinese. "Excuse me," I asked, "could you please repeat that in English?" She kindly did. "Come join our cause," she invitingly explained. "We are standing up against Islam."
Continue reading "Ein Volk, Ein Ummah, Ein Muhammad?"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:18 PM | Comments (1)
