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August 13, 2008
Is Turkey Abandoning the West?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Since 2002, the year the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came to power in Turkey, alarming pieces have appeared once in a while in the American or Israeli media, asking whether the country is turning its face “to the East,” rather than to the West. The article by Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post three days ago was not even asking that question. The title rather reflected certainty about what is going on: “Turkey's abandonment of the West.”
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:18 PM | Comments (5)
August 9, 2008
The Right to Pornography
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
A new hot debate started this week in the Turkish media with the draft law prepared by Edibe Sözen, a member of Parliament on the ticket of the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP. In order to âprotectâ the young from pornography and alcohol, Ms. Sözenâs proposal brings some measures that raised eyebrows in the secular camp: Minors below 18 will not be admitted alone in restaurants that serve alcohol after 10 p.m.. Even if they are with their parents, they wonât be allowed to stay there after midnight. Pornographic material will be sold in closed bags, and those who buy them will have to show their ID and give their citizenship number to the newsstand that sells them. And the newsstands will report these buyers to the local âyouth and sports department.â
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:14 PM | Comments (2)
August 7, 2008
Is Turkey's Problem 'Unreformed Islam'?
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The judicial coup attempt that Turkey has just barely survived was due to secularism. The soft coup of 1998, through which the military overthrew an elected government, was also tied to secularism. In other words, that very foundation of the Turkish Republic, as it is often referred, continues to be a bone — actually the bone — of contention in Turkish society.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
August 2, 2008
The Verdict: Politically Good, Legally Awful
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Yes, Turkey has passed through an acute political crisis and it ended happily. We are outside of the dark tunnel now. The closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, was an “attempt for a judiciary coup d'etat,” as I have defined it from the very first day. But the attempt failed. As the chief judge of the Constitutional Court, Haşim Kılıç, announced the decision to not to close down the AKP last Wednesday, Turkish democracy survived.
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Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)
