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.
Continue reading "Why Most 'Educated' Turks are Hopelessly Illiberal?"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
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.
Continue reading "God Save The Queen, Indeed"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:13 AM | Comments (1)
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.
Continue reading "The Kemalist Crusade Against 'Imperialism' (aka the EU)"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 1:09 PM | Comments (2)
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.
Continue reading "Who Threatens Turkey's Jews?"
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 “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.
Continue reading "The 'Ankara-ization' of The Islamo-liberal AKP?"
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.”
Continue reading "A Righteous Judge Among The Unrighteous"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 12:06 PM | Comments (2)
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:
Continue reading "The Trouble With The Theophobes"
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.
Continue reading "The Republic and Its Islamic Enemies"
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.
Continue reading "The American Plot to Overthrow The Turkish Republic"
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.
Continue reading "The Biggest Threat to Turkey is 'Independence'"
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!”
Continue reading "Kurds, Turks, and the Tower of Babel"
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.”
Continue reading "Who Is an Islamist? Who Is a Muslim? And What About Me?"
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.
Continue reading "'Fitna' Is Fanatical—But It Deserves a Voice"
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)
March 30, 2008
The Undivine Rights of Kemalists
[Originally published in 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.
Continue reading "The Undivine Rights of Kemalists"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 1:05 AM | Comments (2)
March 27, 2008
The Religious Way to The Open Society
[Originally published in 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.”
Continue reading "The Religious Way to The Open Society"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:13 PM | Comments (2)
March 26, 2008
Secular Jihad—A Judicial Attack on Turkish Democracy
[Originally published in 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.
Continue reading "Secular Jihad—A Judicial Attack on Turkish Democracy"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 9:48 PM | Comments (7)
March 22, 2008
The ‘Crimes’ of Tayyip Erdoğan
[Originally published in 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.
Continue reading "The ‘Crimes’ of Tayyip Erdoğan"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
Introducing the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ankara
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
Turkey is often called a democracy, but that is a gross mistake. In fact, it is only a quasi-democracy. In democracies, sovereignty rests with the people. In Turkey it is shared between the people and the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ankara (SSRA). The latter lets the people make decisions on trivial issues, but never allows them to mingle with more important ones. When the representatives of the people take steps to make Turkey a real democracy, the SSRA first resists, then warns, then attacks.
Continue reading "Introducing the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ankara"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 11:58 PM | Comments (7)
March 16, 2008
The Attempt For a Judiciary Coup D'état
[To be published in Turkish Daily News]
I have been telling you that these people are crazy. And now they proved it beyond any doubt.
You must have heard what I am speaking about. Turkey’s chief prosecutor has just filed a case against the incumbent AKP (Justice and Development Party). He asks for the closure of the party and the banning of Prime Minister Erdoğan and his 70 top colleagues from politics. A political party which has just gained the votes of the 47 percent of the Turkish people is now under threat. Even President Abdullah Gül is on the list of the would-be banned politicians. Unbelievable but true!
Continue reading "The Attempt For a Judiciary Coup D'état"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 4:55 PM | Comments (6)
March 15, 2008
'Islamization' of Turkey: Not What You Would Think
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
One of the popular themes of the recent years is whether Turkey is being “Islamized.” People ask, and fear, about the change in Turkish society under the incumbency of the conservative AKP (Justice and Development Party) government. The suspicion ranges from extravagant conspiracy theories about the “hidden Taliban-like face of the AKP” to the more reasonable concerns about the rise of moral conservatism in public life. Fellow TDN Mehmet Ali Birand, with whom I agree on many matters, touched upon the latter issue in his successive pieces about “the gradual Islamization of our daily lives.” I bet many readers have found his observations compelling.
Continue reading "'Islamization' of Turkey: Not What You Would Think"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2008
The Heinous Attack on The Penis of Atatürk's Horse
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
You really shouldn’t miss this. Last week, the head of the CHP (People’s Republican Party) in the city of Denizli, Mr. Ali Kavak, unveiled yet another heinous attack on our secular Republic and its founder. He, with all seriousness, posed in front of cameras with a photo of the statue of M. Kemal Atatürk that rests at the center of his city. “As you see,” he said, “the penis of the horse that Atatürk sits on has been broken.” Then he moved on to disclose the wicked plan behind this blasphemy: “We think that the AKP (Justice and Development Party) cadres have broken the penis,” he asserted, “the mindset which covers our women’s heads with scarves is now attacking artworks!”
Continue reading "The Heinous Attack on The Penis of Atatürk's Horse"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:47 AM | Comments (6)
March 12, 2008
Debate in NYC: 'Is Islam Compatible With Capitalism?'
Mustafa Akyol & David Kelley, PhD
Moderator: Bob Bowdon
Co-Sponsors: International Policy Network, The Smith Family Foundation
Some say that Islam is not compatible with capitalism and that this is part of a wider “clash of civilizations.” But is Islam really incompatible with the key features of capitalism: free markets, investment and trade, the profit motive and pursuit of self-interest? Does it inherently promote collectivisim at the expense of individualism? Is it not open to the values of science, invention, innovation, and progress? Or is it quite compatible with the spirit of individualism, including individual rights, the rule of law, discovery and scientific progress? The answers to these questions will in large part determine whether Muslims can ultimately live peaceably with non-Muslims. So we are delighted to host a discussion of these issues between two learned experts, Mustafa Akyol (Opinion Editor and Columnist, Turkish Daily News, Istanbul) and David Kelley (Founder and Senior Fellow, The Atlas Society, Washington DC)
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 6:30 P.M. Prompt (Free and open to the public)
Donnell Public Library 20 West 53rd Street (Between 5th and 6th avenue), New York
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 3:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 6, 2008
Israel Should Stop Harvesting Hatred—For Its Own Sake
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
The mighty Tsahal, the Israeli military, recently carried an air attack over the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The reason was the Qassam rockets that Hamas militants have been firing into the Jewish state for quite some time. After a week-long offensive, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombs. At least 25 of them were civilians, including nine children and three women.
Then the Israelis decided to end their bombings. "This operation has run its course,” said the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon. “This is certainly deterrence.”
Continue reading "Israel Should Stop Harvesting Hatred—For Its Own Sake"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:14 AM | Comments (13)
March 1, 2008
Welcome to Islamic Reformation 101
[Originally published in Turkish Daily News]
This week Turkey made international headlines not only with its military's land operation in northern Iraq or its never-ending tug of war over the headscarf. There was also the scholarly and tedious work carried out by a group of theologians in Ankara, supported by the Diyanet (Turkey's official religious body), to revise the “hadiths” – the words and deeds of Prophet Mohammed. “Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts,” read the BBC's headline. “Turkey strives,” the Guardian observed, “for 21st century form of Islam.” According to the Financial Times, this was “Turkey's fresh look at Prophet.”
Continue reading "Welcome to Islamic Reformation 101"
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 10:13 AM | Comments (7)
Previous entries...
The Kurdish question: The Achilles' Heel of Turkey Feb 28, 2008The Greatest Turkish Story Ever Sold Feb 23, 2008
Has The AKP Unveiled Its 'Real Face'? Feb 21, 2008
The Surge Worked In Iraq—and Turkey Is Happy About It Feb 20, 2008
The (Turkish) Doctrine of Pre-Emptive Intolerance Feb 15, 2008
Celebrating Turkey's ‘Counter-Revolution' (aka Democracy) Feb 9, 2008
A Politically Incorrect Q&A on The Headscarf Feb 7, 2008
How Atatürk's Church Became an Ultra-Nationalist Base Feb 3, 2008
Nutty Professor Asks For Atheist Tyranny Feb 2, 2008
It Is About Freedom, Not Scarves Jan 31, 2008
ALL ARTICLES »
