http://www.thewhitepath.com/ The writings of Mustafa Akyol — on Turkey, Islam, modernity and more en Copyright 2008 Thu, 08 May 2008 11:25:57 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 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. ]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/05/who_threatens_turkeys_jews.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/05/who_threatens_turkeys_jews.php Fundamentalism (Islamic) Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Thu, 08 May 2008 11:25:57 +0000 Turkish Daily News] On May 1, Istanbul was like a city ruled by martial law. Drones of policemen tried to “protect” Taksim Square from workers and left-wing groups who had been craving to “celebrate” Workers’ 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.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/05/the_ankaraization_of_the_islamoliberal_akp.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/05/the_ankaraization_of_the_islamoliberal_akp.php Sat, 03 May 2008 12:02:37 +0000 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.”]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/05/a_righteous_judge_among_the_unrighteous.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/05/a_righteous_judge_among_the_unrighteous.php Unveiling Turkey Thu, 01 May 2008 12:06:41 +0000 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:]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_trouble_with_the_theophobes.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_trouble_with_the_theophobes.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:23:34 +0000 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.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_republic_and_its_islamic_enemies.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_republic_and_its_islamic_enemies.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:48:28 +0000 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.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_american_plot_to_overthrow_the_turkish_republic.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_american_plot_to_overthrow_the_turkish_republic.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:31:55 +0000 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. ]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_biggest_threat_to_turkey_is_independence.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/the_biggest_threat_to_turkey_is_independence.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:57:39 +0000 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!”]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/kurds_turks_and_the_tower_of_babel.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/kurds_turks_and_the_tower_of_babel.php Kurds, Iraq & Turkey Unveiling Turkey Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:01:14 +0000 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.”]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/who_is_an_islamist_who_is_a_muslim_and_what_about_me.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/who_is_an_islamist_who_is_a_muslim_and_what_about_me.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Islam & Muslims Unveiling Turkey Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:07:38 +0000 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.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/fitna_is_fanaticalbut_it_deserves_a_voice.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/fitna_is_fanaticalbut_it_deserves_a_voice.php Faith Matters Fundamentalism (Islamic) Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:58:13 +0000 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."]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/and_the_show_trial_begins.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/04/and_the_show_trial_begins.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:31:01 +0000 Turkish Daily News] For centuries “the divine rights of kings” was the justification for autocracy. Absolutist monarchs ruled their subjects with an authority they allegedly received from God. It took some time for those subjects to realize that this was simply an illusory rationalization of arbitrary political power. When the latter realized that no king has blue blood in his veins and divine blessing on his shoulders, they started to favor democracy. It was time for people's power to replace that of the monarchs.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/the_undivine_rights_of_kemalists.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/the_undivine_rights_of_kemalists.php Unveiling Turkey Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:05:32 +0000 Turkish Daily News] NEW YORK – Peter Berger, one of the world’s leading authorities on sociology of religion, put in a nutshell what all secularists, and especially Turkey’s fuming ones, should get. “Modernization does not necessarily secularize societies,” the Boston University professor noted, “it rather pluralizes them.” ]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/the_religious_way_to_the_open_society_1.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/the_religious_way_to_the_open_society_1.php Faith Matters Islam & Muslims Rethinking The West Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:13:48 +0000 Wall Street Journal] Who would you expect to be zealous enemies of "moderate Islam"? Islamic fundamentalists? You bet. From Osama bin Laden & Co. to less violent but equally fanatic groups, Islamist militants abhor their co-religionists who reject tyranny and violence in the name of God. But they are not alone. In this part of the world, there is another group that holds a totally opposite worldview but shares a similar hatred of moderate Islam: Turkey's secular fundamentalists.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/secular_jihad_a_judicial_attack_on_turkish_democracy.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/secular_jihad_a_judicial_attack_on_turkish_democracy.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:48:00 +0000 Turkish Daily News] The latest assault on the elected representatives of the Turkish people, as you might have noted, has come in the form of a judiciary coup d'état attempt. Turkey's chief prosecutor filed a case against the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP). He wants to close the party down, and ban 71 of its top members, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, from politics.]]> http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/the_crimes_of_tayyip_erdogan.php http://www.thewhitepath.com/archives/2008/03/the_crimes_of_tayyip_erdogan.php Fundamentalism (Secular) Unveiling Turkey Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:30:37 +0000