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January 31, 2008
It Is About Freedom, Not Scarves
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Why in the world does a state care how students dress in its universities? Shouldn't the state respect its citizens' choices and mind its own business?
If you tend to agree with the tone in these rhetorical questions, then you are probably a believer in liberal democracy. But, of course, that is not the only political system in the modern world. There are also autocratic regimesthatimpose their official ideology on their citizens' lives, including dress code. Islamist autocracies such as Saudi Arabia and Iran are the most known current examples.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:21 AM | Comments (5)
January 26, 2008
The Turkish Leviathan Under Arrest?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The hottest news in Turkey these days is the arrest and questioning of the members of a covert ultra-nationalist cell called "Ergenekon." Among the 33 members of this cell, there are notorious celebrities such as the retired general Veli Küçük, the shadowy name believed to be one of the masterminds of Turkey's deep state, and lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz, who has sued many liberal intellectuals for "insulting Turkishness." According to their confessions leaked to the press, the group's aim was to stop the EU accession and liberalization process, and force a military coup to overthrow the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government, which they saw as non-nationalist and treacherous.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 6:36 PM | Comments (4)
January 24, 2008
The Empire Strikes Back (Via Juristocracy)
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The bureaucratic oligarchy in Turkey experienced a massive defeat last summer, July 22, when the party that they despise was opted for by 47 percent of the Turkish voters. It was one of the milestones in Turkish democracy, by which people's power won over that of the authoritarian state. After that defeat, the Turkish military took a lesson and stopped making implicit threats about launching coup d'etats. And, at least for a few months, the non-military wing of the oligarchy — including its political arm, the CHP (People's Republican Party) — calmed down.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:18 AM | Comments (3)
January 19, 2008
The Trouble With Self-Hating Turks
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Yesterday's Turkish Daily News had an interesting interview with Marcus Graf, a German cultural scientist and curator. Speaking to our reporter Yasemin Sim Esmen, Graf noted a peculiar problem in the Turkish art community. “They have a problem with their identity,” he said about Turkish artists. “If they use the symbols and forms of Anatolia, they are called ‘orientalists,' ‘kitsch,' or even ‘fascists'.” The culture expert added that Turkish artists hesitate using “Islamic symbols, such as calligraphy,” because they fear being labeled as “religious.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:44 AM | Comments (2)
January 17, 2008
The Alevi Inquisition
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
For the uninitiated foreigner, it might be hard to get who the Alevis are. In a nutshell, they are an unorthodox religious group in Turkey whose folkloric faith seems to be a combination of Shiite Islam and pre-Islamic Turkish pagan myths. Recently the term "liberalism" has been often used to describe them. "The Alevi denomination," argued journalist Devrim Sevimay in a recent Milliyet piece translated and published by the Turkish Daily News, "is a distinct and liberal movement in Islam."
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:46 AM | Comments (3)
January 12, 2008
The Turkish Blutfahne (Blood Flag)
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Have you heard the news? A group of high school kids from Kırşehir, a central Anatolian city, sent a special Turkish flag to the commander in chief of the Turkish military, Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt. What made the flag special was the stuff it was made of. The red color in the background was not any ordinary paint. It was literally the blood of these students, which they had joyfully spilt to symbolize their devotion “to the homeland.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:28 AM | Comments (8)
January 10, 2008
Why Turkish Women Can't Drive
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
This might not be the most politically correct thing to say, but I cannot resist the temptation to proclaim the truth: Most Turkish women are horrible drivers. You will see what I mean if you spend a couple of years, or even months, in Turkish streets. If there is a car in front of you which is too slow, too undecided, and too paralyzed, there is 95 percent change that a lady will be sitting in its driver seat. Indeed, it is a truism among Turkish men that “women can't drive.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:02 AM | Comments (3)
January 5, 2008
Sexual Abuse alla Turca
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
This week some Turkish newspapers ran annoyed stories about a new billboard on German streets: "Mach mich nicht an, Ali!," it read, which means, "Don't abuse me, Ali!" The stylish blonde lady that stood beside this cold warning was evidently representative of many other Teutonic females who, apparently, had a problem with sexually abusive Turkish men.
Yet the Turkish media imagined a totally opposite — and cultural, not sexual — abuse behind this German poster. They thought this was a case of racist bigotry against Turks. One of our top selling newspapers ran the story with the headline, "The latest crusade." Another one defined the poster as a piece of "anti-Turkey propaganda."
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:42 AM | Comments (16)
