Europe, secularism, Armenia...

Hopefully I'll be able to get back here with some original stuff in the near future. I have a few interviews I did in Cyprus and in Turkey, but I still have to transcribe them, and it's a hell of a work.

In the meantime, I still monitor the web for interesting subjects. Today, I want to propose you two articles.

The first one is from OpenDemocracy, a very interesting website I discovered thanks to Nicholas Whyte:

Why the European Union strengthens Turkish secularism

Many Turkish secularists are becoming ever more critical of the European Union. They should think again, say a group of prominent intellectuals led by Hakan Altinay & Kalypso Nicolaidis: for there are seven ways in which Europe can still be an agent of Turkey's secularist progress.

Read the article.

The second story I want to show concerns Armenia's invitation to the Turkish President Abdullah Gül to watch the football match between the two countries in Yerevan:

Meanwhile, in Armenia, football

Well, and also Turkish President Abdullah Gul is coming to visit.

It’s hard to overstate how bizarre and awesome this is. But first, some context. This visit is happening because of three things: football, local politics, and war.

Read the rest of it.