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April 26, 2008
The Trouble With The Theophobes
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
One of the interesting and tell-tale controversies of the past week was the fuss over the recent remarks of Hakan Şükür, Turkey’s famous football star and a pious Muslim. In an interview with daily Zaman, he warned the supporters of his team, Galatasaray, and the other big one, Fenerbahçe, about the impending match between the two. In Turkey, football matches, especially such key derbies, often turn into orgies of violence. But that is very much against the morals of Islam, Şükür noted. And, he added, it would be especially bad to swear and attack fellow human beings during the “week of the holy birth,” that of Prophet Muhammad, in which this match will be played. He reportedly said:
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:23 AM | Comments (17)
April 24, 2008
The Republic and Its Islamic Enemies
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
WASHINGTON - Every country has its own towering figures of intellect, and as a nation torn between several conflicting political philosophies, Turkey has quite many of them. There are prominent liberals, conservatives, socialist, or nationalists. Even the official ideology, i.e., Kemalism, has distinguished supporters, and quite a few of those figures would be as erudite and sophisticated as the eminent law professor, the 79-year-old Mümtaz Soysal.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 7:48 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2008
The American Plot to Overthrow The Turkish Republic
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Did you know that the U.S. government is a part of a big conspiracy to destroy Turkey's secular regime and, instead, establish a “moderate Islamic republic”? I have been totally unaware of that heinous plan, and I suspect that even the top officials of the US government itself have been as clueless as I am. But there are extremely smart people in the world, from whose eyes no trick escapes. They discover the hidden truths behind all stones, and they detect all the covert conspiracies that most mortals fail to see.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:31 PM | Comments (6)
April 17, 2008
The Biggest Threat to Turkey is 'Independence'
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
First, congratulations to the head of the EU Commission, Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso and EU's Commissioner for enlargement, Mr. Olli Rehn, for the excellent job they have done by giving bold support for Turkish democracy. The vision that they presented in their recent trip to Ankara and Istanbul is the best hope that this country can really have: Continuing with EU reforms, strengthening democracy, and accepting democratic secularism, as opposed to the unabashedly authoritarian one that we have.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:57 PM | Comments (2)
April 12, 2008
Kurds, Turks, and the Tower of Babel
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
One of the interesting episodes in Turkey’s past week was a quarrel between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Diyarbakır Bar President Sezgin Tanrıkulu. In a gathering of NGO’s and government officials, Mr. Tanrıkulu, an ethnic Kurd, asked from the prime minister “not only economic, but also political reforms” for Turkey’s southeast, including the right to “Kurdish education.” Erdoğan didn’t like the idea and, instead, replied with an argument: “Education in a mother tongue does not exist anywhere in the world!”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:01 PM | Comments (8)
April 10, 2008
Who Is an Islamist? Who Is a Muslim? And What About Me?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Political terms can be misleading, especially when used to serve ambitious agendas. For Senator Joseph McCarthy, for example, even a slight of touch of social democracy was “communism” in sheep's clothing. During his heyday in the U.S., it was very easy to de-legitimize a political actor by simply labeling him as “red.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:07 AM | Comments (9)
April 5, 2008
'Fitna' Is Fanatical—But It Deserves a Voice
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
I just saw "Fitna," the new controversial film produced by Geert Wilders, head of the Dutch Freedom Party. The 17-minute video shows acts of violence, and expressions of hatred, by Muslims against “infidels.” Heads are cut off, bodies are blown apart, children are taught to denounce Jews as "apes and pigs," imams call for world domination, and protesters hold signs that read, "God Bless Hitler." What makes all this disturbing scenery even more provocative, and, in a sense, more meaningful, is the way they are connected to the Koran. After each instance of ferocity, “Fitna” quotes a passage from the Muslim Scripture which, apparently, presents a justification.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:58 AM | Comments (14)
April 3, 2008
And The Show Trial Begins...
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Maximilien Robespierre was the architect of the Great Terror of the French Revolution, and the behind-the-scenes killer of Georges Danton, who was sentenced to death by a revolutionary tribunal in the year 1794. While accusing Danton with all the bizarre crimes, Robespierre had frankly put the logic behind such show trials. "When the Republic is at stake,” he proudly noted, “we can do anything."
Continue reading "And The Show Trial Begins..."
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:31 AM | Comments (2)
