Troubles Within Muslim Cultures

Written by Mustafa Akyol on February 18th, 2011

[Original published in Hurriyet Daily News]

MECCA – The Kaabah, the holiest shrine of Islam, is a breathtaking place – even through secular eyes. Millions of Muslims flock here every year to venerate this ancient building, which they believe to be the world’s first monotheist temple built by Abraham and his son Ishmael. The Kaabah is most crowded during the Hajj, with millions of pilgrims, but it is filled with thousands of worshippers at any given moment.

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Kemalism The Paper Tiger

Written by Mustafa Akyol on February 11th, 2011

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

It is too bad that Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s iron-handed dictator, refused to step down, despite the demands of millions. Yet still some form of “transition” to democracy has begun in that pivotal Arab country. My prayers go for the future of that change and its heroic leaders.

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Egypt Needs The New ‘Turkish model’

Written by Mustafa Akyol on February 8th, 2011

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

The stamina of the brave people of Egypt, who are entering their third week of pro-democracy demonstrations, makes it clear: The days of Hosni Mubarak, the country’s long time dictator, are numbered. That’s why the nature of the post-Mubarak era, which is uncertain, is the real big question. 

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Let Freedom Reign—In Cairo and Ankara

Written by Mustafa Akyol on February 4th, 2011

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

The uprising in Egypt against the country’s decades-old dictatorship is truly historic. The almost 2 million people who rallied in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and elsewhere, are certainly on the right side of history. They demand freedom, democracy and bread – to which they have every right.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan stood on the right side of history as well, with his slightly belated yet still-inspiring speech of last Tuesday. Calling on Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak to “listen to the wishes of the people,” and respect their yearning for liberty, Erdoğan gave the right message.

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Is The Arab Spring Israel’s Nightmare?

Written by Mustafa Akyol on February 2nd, 2011

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

It began in Tunis, with the unexpected fall of the country’s 25-year dictator. Then, in a perfect domino effect, came Egypt. The country’s oppressed masses raided the streets, protesting Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. That “pharoah” is still in office, but he probably won’t be able to hold onto power for much longer.
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Remembering The Holocaust

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 28th, 2011

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

I was at Istanbul’s Neve Şalom synagogue the other night, in the midst of almost a thousand people. Some were Jews, some were not. But at that particular moment, we were all Jews – for we all shared the sorrow for the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
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The Gods That Are Failing

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 21st, 2011

[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]

“What collapsed in Tunisia is the Kemalist model.” So read the headline of Yeni Asya, a Muslim Turkish daily, last Tuesday. And it summed up the doomed fate of the modern Muslim Middle East, and its erratically unfolding future.

What just happened in Tunisia, the smallest of all North African states, is a popular uprising dubbed the “Jasmine Revolution.” The fallen dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the county last week with one-and-a-half tons of gold, had been in power since 1987. Yet the country was no freer before: Ben Ali was just a sequel to Habib Bourguiba, another dictator, who had ruled the country single-handedly since its independence from French colonial rule in 1957. Click to continue »

 

What Just Happened to The AKP?

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 18th, 2011

[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]

In the past few weeks, the incumbent Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and particularly Prime Minister Erdoğan have managed to alienate many liberal intellectuals who have been supportive of their cause.

This took place via a series of reckless statements. First, on the Kurdish issue, Erdoğan made a speech emphasizing the “oneness” of Turkey, neglecting the demands for political decentralization and more freedom for the Kurdish language. Then he bashed a statue in Kars – the “Monument to Humanity” – and called for its removal. His party released a confusing package of regulations on alcohol, and Erdoğan, while trying to say that his party respects all ways of life, spoke about drinkers in a way that sounded offensive to many. He also sued Ahmet Altan, the editor-in-chief of the liberal daily Taraf, which has been supportive of many of AKP’s policies, for “insulting” him in his column. Click to continue »

 

Alcohol Bans and Taliban-In-Disguise

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 14th, 2011

[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]

At the very end of my high school years, at the age of 18, I attended what Americans call “the prom” — the graduation party where all the students dress up and dance all night long. Alcohol was one of the key attractions of the night. Unfortunately, one of my classmates drank so irresponsibly that he got totally drunk and finally collapsed on the dance floor. He was taken to the hospital, and the doctors, as I learned later, said that he barely survived alcohol poisoning.

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Ottomania, Sculpture-Phobia and The Conservative Agenda

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 11th, 2011

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

Two interesting controversies have swamped the Turkish media in the past few days, and both have tested the tolerance of the conservative camp.

The first one was about a new TV series named “The Magnificent Century.” It is a drama about the inner life of Süleyman the Magnificent, who ruled the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century, the zenith of its power. The drama’s trailer included scenes showing the sultan drinking wine and having intimate moments with his significant other, the all-attractive Hürrem. (Some even took a hint of a homosexual relationship, which did not turn out to be the case.)

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The Tragedy of Turkish Justice

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 7th, 2011

[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]

Turkey was shaken last week by the release of hundreds of notorious suspects from jail.

These included many members of the “Kurdish Hizbullah,” a brutal terrorist organization that committed horrible tortures and killings in the 90s. The media, naturally, got outraged, while the government and the high judiciary accused each other. Yet still, men who are probably responsible for unspeakable crimes walked out freely – and cheerfully.

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Why Said Nursi Matters

Written by Mustafa Akyol on January 4th, 2011

[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]

A controversial film is coming to Turkish movie theaters this weekend: “Hür Adam,” or The Free Man. It is a biographical drama of Said Nursi (1878-1960), a significant character whose life captures some of the most interesting themes of Turkish Islam – and its resistance to Turkey’s self-styled, authoritarian secularism.

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Davutoğlu’s Dangerous Idea

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 28th, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

Last Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu spent three hours with a few dozen journalists to give an overview of his much-debated strategic vision. The press, naturally, captured the newsiest lines: Turkey was willing to mend ties with Israel, and Ankara was willing to continue to work with Tehran to find a solution to the latter’s nuclear crisis.

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What The PKK Really Wants

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 25th, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

The “Democratic Society Congress,” a pro-Kurdish initiative with obvious sympathies for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, held a meeting in Diyarbakır last weekend. After some discussion, they released a “draft text for autonomy,” which outlined their political demands.

All hell broke lose in Turkey, with many commentators condemning the “separatism” of the PKK and its political wings. Yet I saw the problem not in “separatism,” but something else.

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Toward A Truly New CHP?

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 21st, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

Turkey’s main opposition, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, had its “extraordinary convention” in Ankara last weekend. The crux was the new messages of the party’s new leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, and the new people he brought into the party. And, although I found many of Kılıçdaroğlu’s themes unconvincing and uninspiring, I still found it assuring that the CHP is at least trying to change.

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Imagine There Is No Religion

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 17th, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

Among the hundreds of comments these pages receive everyday, categorically anti-religious comments are quite abundant. Religion, for those commentators, is the source almost all evil in the world.

Faith in God, they say, led to religious wars and inquisitions in the Middle Ages and it leads to terrorism, male-domination or communal bigotry today. Accordingly, unless humanity trashes out all religions – first Islam, but ultimately all of them – we will not be able find peace of mind.

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A Murder and A World Without Islam

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 15th, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

Something terrible happened in Istanbul last Saturday. A newly married couple was shot dead in a car, only 10 days after their wedding. The police arrested the bride’s older brother as the suspect. The man confessed the crime and said that he had to kill his sister and her husband for her treason to the community – for this was a Christian-Muslim marriage the bride’s family strongly opposed.

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Brutal Police Versus Vulgar Protestors

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 10th, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

Two nasty episodes of “student protests” took place in Turkey in the past week. And they showed that both the Turkish police and the Turkish protestors need to learn some manners.

The first episode was in Dolmabahçe, Istanbul, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting with rectors of universities from all around the country. A large group of students gathered outside, claiming a right to join the meeting, for they “had a word to say about the future of universities.” The police blocked these unwelcome guests, and they tried to force their way in, with sticks in their hands.

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How ‘Islamist’ is the AKP?

Written by Mustafa Akyol on December 3rd, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

One of the interesting documents on the WikiLeaks archives is a political assessment by U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson, made in 2006. The U.S. diplomat focused on the debate about the “Islamism” of the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and came up with a sober conclusion. “AKP critics can only muster circumstantial evidence of an AKP Islamist agenda,” he noted. “[The party’s] record to date describes a center-right, conservative party with Islamic roots that has modestly advanced … Westernization and modernization.”

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The World After WikiLeaks

Written by Mustafa Akyol on November 30th, 2010

[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]

So, who said government officials are dull, dry and boring people whose prose would only make you wish to sleep? Some American ones, at least, can be quite sharp, witty, and slangy – as the whole world have learnt by now thanks to the WikiLeaks exposé.

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