[Originally published in The New York Times]
FOR years, foreign policy discussions have focused on the question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy. But this is becoming passé. In Tunisia and Egypt, Islamists, who were long perceived as opponents of the democratic system, are now promoting and joyfully participating in it. Even the ultra-Orthodox Salafis now have deputies sitting in the Egyptian Parliament, thanks to the ballots that they, until very recently, denounced as heresy.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
There was an interesting headline in this weekend’s papers. Khalid al-Zafarani, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Associated Press that he and some of his colleagues were working to found “a political party with the same program of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP].” They would copy not just the policies, but also the very name of the Turkey’s AKP, Mr. al-Zafarani explained in Cairo, since they were inspired by the party’s achievements.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
You might have been following the events in Syria. In a nutshell, the country’s corrupt, dictatorial and brutal regime has killed more than 2,000 unarmed protestors in the past six months. And it seems willing to kill more and more.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
The question in my headline is asked by many these days, especially in light of the gradual decline of the Turkish military as an intruder into Turkish politics. But the question itself is questionable, for it seems to overlook a few crucial facts. Click to continue »
[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News, with reader's comments]
When a lonely shepherd guided his flock out to pasture near the village called Yukarı Gündeş in eastern Turkey, in 1997, he committed a “highly disrespectful [act], an act of treason,” according to a Turkish parliamentarian. For this parliamentarian, along with thousands of other Turks, were present in that middle-of-nowhere place to witness a miracle: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s silhouette, they believed, was miraculously falling on a hill and creating a magical scene which the reckless shepherd and his clueless sheep inadvertently disrupted.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
Last week, Turkey’s visionary foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, visited Benghazi, the stronghold of the Libyan opposition. Crowds were waiting for him at Tahrir Square, which was quite very reminiscent of its more famous namesake in Cairo. When Davutoğlu merged into the crowd with a smile and a hand in the air, he was welcomed with two interesting slogans. “Thank you, Turkey,” people began to chant, adding, “Erdoğan, Turkey, Muslim!”
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave a notable speech at the first gathering of his “party group” in Parliament. Speaking to more than three hundred deputies who were just elected in a very victorious election, he warned them against arrogance. “We received trust from our nation,” he said, referring to political power. “We will carry it modestly and will give it back when the time comes.” His Justice and Development Party, the AKP, in other words, was in power only for a limited time, and had to use it humbly.
Jeffrey Tucker interviews Mustafa Akyol on Islam and liberty, following Akyol’s speech at the Mises Institute on The Commercial Heritage and Contribution of Islam.
For more talks, interviews or TV appearances, see Akyol on Video.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
Yesterday, the Turkish Parliament had its first meeting after the elections on June 12 and hundreds of new members took their seats for the first time. A few of the elected were unable to come, because of the judicial blocks on their way, and a few dozen others boycotted the Parliament to protest this “intervention against the national will.”
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers' comments]
As if we did not have enough political problems, a new one has just been created by the judiciary: At least three of the newly elected members of Parliament have been barred from their new job by court decisions.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers's comments]
Sebahat Tuncel, a Kurdish member of the Turkish Parliament, had an interesting piece in the New York Times last week, titled “Arab Spring, Kurdish Summer.” Most of what she wrote was commonsense; that Turkey needs more reform on its vital “Kurdish question” and more steps to take it to a non-violent phase. But Ms. Tuncel also had a few misleading remarks and a total negligence of the problems on the side of her own party, the corrections of which are crucial to get the “Kurdish summer” right.
[Orininally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with reader's comments]
There was an interesting story in the Daily News last week, about the cancelling of a Yuval Ron concert in Istanbul. Mr. Ron, an award-wining Israeli musician, was supposed to play his tunes in a Sultanahmet hall, but the event was cancelled at the last minute due to protests, and, allegedly, some “threats.” The organization holding the protest – but denied any threat – was the famous Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, that organized last year’s controversial Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, which was lethally raided by Israeli commandos.
[Orininally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with reader's comments]
Erdoğan won it again – and won it big. The election victory for his party last Sunday, received an astonishing 50 percent of the votes, was not just magnificent, but also unprecedented. For no other Turkish party has won three elections in a row before with a steady increase in votes.
The question why Erdoğan’s party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is so successful has been a recurrent one in Turkey in the past decade. For a long time, the common Kemalist answer has been quite simple: The AKP gets so many votes, because the majority of the Turkish voters are stupid and ignorant. Had the people been “educated” better, they would have seen the light, and have voted for the political branch of the Kemalist regime: The Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
Click to continue »
[Orininally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with reader's comments]
Millions of Turks will go to the polls this weekend to shape the Parliament that will rule Turkey for the next four years. We will all see the result on Sunday night, but, before that, let me share with you my bet.
[Orininally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with reader's comments]
Last weekend, I had coffee with a young Turkish lady who is, besides other things, the daughter of a general in the Turkish military. She was very polite and articulate, but not very cheerful and happy. For her beloved father has been in prison since last January, when an Istanbul court decided to arrest nearly 200 officers. They were all accused of having taken part in the “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) scheme, a 2003 military meeting in which a military coup against the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government was allegedly discussed.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers’ comments]
I will tell you what I think about this as well. But first, let me tell you how we came here.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers’ comments]
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers’ comments]
It has been argued lately that Turkey is “turning its face to the East.” The country’s traditional “Western orientation,” real or perceived, has claimed to be replaced by a different direction, including the all-scary Middle East. Some blame the incumbent Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its “covert Islamism” for this shift, whereas others point to tectonic changes in the world’s political economy, to which Turkey is only adopting.
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers’ comments]
The credit for the question in my headline goes to Osman Durmuş, a senior member of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party, or the MHP. “Obama has given the orders: the MHP will not be in the parliament,” he said last Friday, in a meeting with his party members. “Instead, PKK militants will go there in mass… This is the project of Obama; the project of the AKP; the project of Tayyip Erdoğan.”
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News, with readers’ comments]
Two days ago, on May 19, Turkey celebrated its “Youth Day.” Thousands of youngsters gathered in stadiums in order to rejoice in this official annual festival. Statesmen applauded colorful parades, while millions of citizens watched them on TV. And all of us were repeatedly reminded of the “the meaning and importance of May 19.”
To get this “meaning and importance” better, I suggest taking a closer, and critical, look at it. What makes May 19 particularly important is, of course, its place in the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. On May 19, 1919, his boat reached the shores of the city of Samsun, from where he launched his mission to first join and then lead the War of Independence against the allied powers which occupied Turkey in the aftermath of the Great War. No wonder the full name of the “Youth Day” is “The Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.”
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