Ann Althouse has the story of the trial and eventual acquittal of Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, a scientist whose history of the head scarf landed her in a Turkish court, charged with "insulting the people."Recent events in Turkey indicate that the country has a decided desire to, at the least, be acceptable to western society. No doubt part of the motivation is entry into the EU, a Turkish project for about twenty-five years now.
Several of my friends and acquaintances have visited Turkey within the past few months. One couple went there some three months ago for an international conference of medical researchers and reported that many Turks were at pains to tell them how much they loved the Americans...and their tourist dollars.
More recently, a colleague, Andrew Jackson, who has visited Turkey many times--and written several books about the country--went again and reported that there was more tension, more fear created by radical Islamic elements, than has been present before.
A real battle over whether Turkey will be a pluralistic democracy or a radical Islamic state is bubbling below the surface. Orhan Pamuk's recent acquittal, along with that of Muazzez Ilmiye Cig, indicate that progressive forces are working to tip Turkey toward the democratic vision.
My mother-in-law visited Turkey, spending a lot of time in Ephesus, last year. She has traveled all over the world over the past seven years or so. She says that there is no place more beautiful or interesting than Turkey.
[UPDATE: In response to my observations, Althouse comments that the Turks also "have the problem of bad laws on the books exacerbated by the bad procedure of allowing lawyers initiate prosecutions." This makes it even easier for those with a radical Islamist agenda to make life miserable for those who want a pluralistic democracy.]
[THANK YOU TO: The Turkish Digest for linking to this post.]
[IT MEANS A LOT TO ME THAT: Andrew Jackson, who has traveled extensively in Turkey and knows so much about it, has linked to this post!]
No comments:
Post a Comment