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June 26, 2008
The Atatürk Silhouette on The Holy Mountain
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The people of Damal, a district of the eastern city of Ardahan, couldn't have imagined that their modest and destitute town would attract droves of visitors and become the focus of the Turkish media. But that is exactly what happened in the past few years with the "Atatürk miracle" discovered on the face of the Karadağ heights. Apparently, the silhouette of Turkey's revered founder appears on the shadow that falls on these heights between June 15 and July 5. And thousands of Atatürk lovers, including military officers, bureaucrats and urban professionals, visit the region in order to observe this fascinating solstice.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:20 AM | Comments (7)
June 21, 2008
Is Islam For 'Victory?' Or For God?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
A few weeks ago, I ran into a quote from Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Egyptian Muslim scholar and Al-Jazeera televangelist, in Turkey’s controversial Islamist daily, Vakit. “Victory,” the 80-year-old cleric was saying, “is only possible by returning to Islam.” The “victory” he was referring to was the one Muslims would have won against Israel. “The defeat of the Jewish State is possible,” he reportedly declared in a sermon in Qatar, “only when Muslims fully return to the pure teaching of Islam.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 4:04 PM | Comments (9)
June 19, 2008
Does The Secular Mind Beat The Religious One?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Thanks to the new liberal daily Taraf, we now know that a bureaucratic Turkish cabal called the “Republican Working Committee” has been working on yet another “soft coup” project for quite some time. It seems to have started in 2003, when 15 die-hard secular university rectors held a secret meeting with Gen. Şener Eruygur, the commander of the Gendarmerie. They all agreed to fasten the internal struggle against the “backwardees.” (That term, “mürteci” in Turkish, refers to conservative and observant Muslims, such as the women in headscarf.) The group emphasized the need to convert the “young backwardees” when they are at primary school age, and to crack down on their parents within state structure. Taraf writes that these ultra-secular rectors even swore to be martyrs for this unholy war to save the holy Republic from religion.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 4:11 PM | Comments (2)
June 14, 2008
‘How Dare You Not Love Atatürk?!’
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The ultra-secular camp in Turkey has just found a new reason to bolster its campaign of fear. Two young ladies wearing the much-hated Islamic headscarf showed up on a TV program, and one of them declared, “I don’t like Atatürk.” The other even said she rather has sympathy for Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution. And hell broke loose.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:26 PM | Comments (8)
June 12, 2008
Imam vs. Teacher: Who Really Won?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Şerif Mardin, arguably, is the most prominent social scientist that has come out of Turkey. His career posts include top universities such as Stanford, Princeton or John Hopkins. His books are pieces of first class scholarship. He has spent a long time in the United States teaching and doing research about the history of Turkish modernization, and is now professor at Istanbul's Sabancı University.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:29 PM | Comments (2)
June 8, 2008
Introducing the Kemalist Revolutionary Tribunal
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Yesterday I received an email from a Turkish high school student named Sümeyye. She, who seemed to be around 16 years old, was sad and bitter. She wrote:
“With the decision of the Constitutional Court, I feel like a dead person. Next year, I am scheduled to enter the university exams, which I had been so excited about. My biggest dream was to go to university, and I had already started to work hard for it. But now I feel so desperate. I am now forced to make a choice between my belief and my dreams. And I am full of anger at those people who forced me to do so. I used to speak about tolerance and understanding, and quote Rumi and Yunus Emre, but I really don’t feel that way anymore. There is simply no justice or democracy in this country.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 2:00 PM | Comments (16)
June 5, 2008
Why Is The CHP Such a Disaster?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Most foreigners who follow Turkish politics are puzzled by the Republican People's Party (CHP). The party, led by Deniz Baykal, claims to be a social democratic one, and is a member of the Socialist International. It also places strong emphasis on concepts such as secularism, modernity and enlightenment — all the principles one needs, supposedly, to have a democratic and open-minded political movement. But there is an irony: The CHP is a far cry from that. It is, on the contrary, extremely illiberal, nationalist and xenophobic.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 2:43 PM | Comments (1)
June 1, 2008
Yet Another Threat to The Turkish Republic: Pacifism
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Are you familiar with Ms. Bülent Ersoy, the famous Turkish singer? Actually, once upon a time she was Mr. Ersoy, but she had a trans-gender operation in the early ‘80s and said goodbye to masculinity. Since then, she has gradually become one of the most popular divas of Turkey. I personally think that her music is hardly bearable, but millions of fellow Turks, apparently, disagree.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 8:21 AM | Comments (2)
