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May 29, 2008
Some Muslims Are Too Conservative. So What?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
A few days ago the secularist side of Turkish media have fervently unearthed an article on the Web site of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. The piece includes quite ultra-conservative views in terms of gender relations: Dating is denounced as a form of adultery. Women are told to speak to men as modestly as possible and even refrain from putting on attractive perfumes. The two sexes are even suggested to not to come together in the absence of others.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 8:21 AM | Comments (3)
May 24, 2008
From Isolationism to Peacemaking: Turkey Meets Mideast
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
One of the interesting news of the past week was the launch of indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria â and mediated by Turkey. The two countries, who have been technically at war since 1967 and who havenât talked to each other since 2000, have started to talk "in good faith and openly" â and in nowhere else but Istanbul. It was the Turkish government, especially Prime Minister ErdoÄan and his top foreign policy advisor Professor Ali DavutoÄlu, who made this happen thanks to a four-year-long diplomacy. Both the Israelis and the Syrians, and also the United States and EU, thanked Turkey for this initiative and praised its role as facilitator.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 8:21 AM | Comments (1)
May 23, 2008
The Liberation of Turkey—From Heavy Smoke
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
I have never understood why people smoke cigarettes. I have tried about a little less than a dozen of them throughout my life, and each and every one was horrible. Therefore, even if they were magical health potions that heal the body and the mind, I would have a hard time using them. So it is completely beyond me why people pay to smoke those stinking white paper tubes, which only kills them slowly.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 4:19 PM | Comments (11)
May 17, 2008
Why Most 'Educated' Turks are Hopelessly Illiberal?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
One of the great benefits of Turkey’s EU adventure is that it unveils some crucial yet often unnoticed facts about this country. Thanks to the accession process, Europeans are taking a closer look at Turkish society, and realizing who is really who in this very complex and often confusing nation. One particular discovery of Europeans has been that the secularist Turkish elite is not sharing some of their fundamental values, such as democracy and individual freedom. These European-looking Turks are also quite militarist and nationalist according to Western standards.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:18 AM | Comments (5)
May 15, 2008
God Save The Queen, Indeed
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The first time I went abroad, I was 16, and my destination was Britain. My parents had sent me to spend a summer in London, so that I could improve my English and “see the world.” Staying at a warm family house in Richmond, and touring the whole city almost everyday, I had cultivated a beginner's admiration for Her Majesty's country. Actually, at first sight, there were few oddities. I could never understand, for example, why their washbasins had two separate taps, through which you either freeze or burn. But the plus side was dominant.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:13 AM | Comments (3)
May 10, 2008
The Kemalist Crusade Against 'Imperialism' (aka the EU)
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
If someone had handed out a questionnaire these days among Turkey’s Kemalists asking them, “Who do you hate the most,” I bet two names would top the list: Olli Rehn and Joost Lagendijk. These gentlemen are the most-known faces of the European Union in Turkey and they are among the most vocal supporters of Turkish democracy. And, in the eyes of the guardians and apparatchiks of our semi-autocratic regime, democracy is a “counter-revolution” that should be avoided at all costs.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 1:09 PM | Comments (6)
May 8, 2008
Who Threatens Turkey's Jews?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Ishak Alaton is one of the most prominent names in Turkey’s tiny Jewish community. He, as the boss of the well-established Alarko Holding, is not just a very successful businessman, but also a man of intellect who comments on social and political problems. As a self-defined social democrat, Mr. Alaton believes in social responsibility – not as a public relations strategy, but as a value in itself.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:25 AM | Comments (2)
May 3, 2008
The 'Ankara-ization' of The Islamo-liberal AKP?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
On May 1, Istanbul was like a city ruled by martial law. Drones of policemen tried to âprotectâ Taksim Square from workers and left-wing groups who had been craving to âcelebrateâ Workersâ Day in this crucial spot, which had become the area of tragic deaths in 1977, in those heydays of Turkish communism and anti-communism. The tensions between the police and demonstrators turned into a street war conducted by tear gas, rubber bullets and pavement stones.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:02 PM | Comments (2)
May 1, 2008
A Righteous Judge Among The Unrighteous
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Once in a while, a righteous judge steps forward in Turkey and makes a speech that bravely defends democracy and freedom – which are heretical concepts for the majority of their colleagues.
Sami Selçuk, for example, who was then the chief judge of the Court of Appeals, had made a series of remarkable speeches at the turn of the century, in which he rigorously argued for a more democratic and liberal system. A similar vision was presented last week by Haşim Kılıç, the chief judge of the Constitutional Court, in his address given at the 46th anniversary of his institution. It was, as a Turkish Daily News columnist and pre-eminent diplomat, İlter Türkmen noted, a very “refreshing speech.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:06 PM | Comments (2)
