The new French war on religion

It's the title of a column (hereby linked) published on April 15 on Hürriyet on line. The article could be the usual attack by a Muslim to a Western country, but when a Turk attacks France the issue is always larger than that, and in this specific case the author, Mustafa Akyol, shows a remarkably moderate tone, he makes his point without shouting, and with a certain amount of criticism towards Turkey itself.

The issue is, ça va sans dire, as follows:

The burqa, the all-covering face veil, which is worn by very few women in France, is now banned by law. So, French policemen are fining veiled women, or, far worse, dragging them to their headquarters to admonish them about the right way of life.

And Akyol's point is:

Meanwhile the zestful president of the French Republic, Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, is enlightening us about the virtues of this ban. It is for upholding "French values of equality and secularism," he says. I bet it is. The problem is that those "French values" do not seem to honor the right be left alone from government interference. Alas, they even justify a tyranny, which mirrors that of the Taliban: while those Afghan despots force women to put the burqa on, their French counterparts force them to take it off.
Now, what you and I think about the burqa does not matter here. In fact, I am among those who believe that it is a bad medieval tradition, which has nothing to do with Islam, and should better be abandoned. So, if the women in that excessive veil asked my opinion, I would advise them to take it off, too. But advice is the furthest point that I, and anybody else, can legitimately go. We cannot use state powers to "liberate" those women from what they wear out of their genuine convictions – just like the fact that an ideological nudist cannot claim to forcefully "liberate" us from our shirts, pants and underwear.

The attack to Sarkozy goes even farther than that:

Mr. Sarkozy, whose il-liberalism is only matched by his arrogance, heralds even more fronts in this culture war. He says he wants “no halal food options in school canteens, no prayers outside and no minarets.” Just replace the word “halal” with “kosher” here, and the “minaret” with “star of David.” You will get the poisonous French anti-Semitism of a century ago – the times of Captain Dreyfus. The difference today is just the change in the composition of the hated Semites – now they are the Arabs, and, by extension, all Muslims.

For a country where anti-Semitism is a sort of taboo (you might end up being label as "anti-Semitic" just by criticizing Israeli's politics), this is quite a blow.

But here comes the real issue, the one that Turks are sick of having to swallow all the time:

We in Turkey very well know that this rampant Islamophobia in France is the main reason why the majority of French society is categorically against Turkey’s accession into the European Union. That’s why we are not terribly impressed by the French critiques of our democracy, such as Ms. Marland-Militello, the parliamentarian who questioned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on religious freedom in Turkey in Strasbourg early this week. Erdoğan’s rhetoric was indeed a bit harsh in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, or PACE, meeting, and a few of his arguments were really not convincing. But his reaction to the self-righteous and overbearing attitude Turks have being facing from some Europeans, especially the French, was understandable.

Here comes now the self-criticism, and the reason why every attack to France from Turkey, and vice versa is more like the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.

We in Turkey are also realizing these days that some of our misfortunes in the past century stem from our big mistake of taking France as a beacon of modernity. We imported the fanatically anti-religious laicite of the Third French Republic, which not only brought oppression to our believers, but also paranoia to our seculars. Similarly, we imported the assimilation-focused nationalism of successive French Republics, and were drawn into a madness that our Ottoman ancestors would have never dreamed of: banning languages and cultures other than Turkish. Hence we created our own “Kurdish problem.”

Read the rest of it here.

Turkey going nuclear: follow-up

It might seem a bit out of touch with reality, with all that's happening in Libya, to get back to the nuclear issue right now. But on one hand, the problem is certainly not solved, and it's only yesterday that <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/hundreds-protest-turkeys-decision-move-ahead-plans-build-20110319-075921-435.html">activists in Turkey and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1300561879_1">Cyprus</span> protested against Turkish government plans to build the country's first nuclear reactor</a>. On the other hand, I have a duty to update you on what I anticipated in my <a href="http://turkishdiary.blogspot.com/2011/03/turkey-going-nuclear-is-it-wise-after.html">previous post</a>. Fact is, the <a href="http://www.itamc.org/">International Tourism and Media Conference</a> in Bursa was canceled at the last minute.
The official reason given to us is as follows:

<blockquote>Many participants have very recently informed us that they could not come due to the ongoing problems in the Arab world and the tragic situation in Japan which keeps them buys at home.

Meanwhile we also thought that it would not be proper to hold a "tourism and media conference" while millions are mourning in Japan for the loss of possibly over 10 thousand people and decided to postpone our conference. </blockquote>
The real reasons, I was told by independent sources, appear to be linked with the current situation of journalists in Turkey, with arrests and the growing censorship situation condemned exactly by that <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0090+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN">European Parliament report</a> I quoted in the previous post.

Turkey going nuclear: is it wise after what happened in Japan?

I have just stumbled into this article:

Turkey reportedly plans to decide as early as this month the winner of a nuclear power plant tender. Japan had been seen ahead of its rival South Korea in the race.
As Turkey is also prone to earthquakes, the Japanese government and companies made a strong appeal based on their own quake-resistance technology. Although South Korea had enjoyed an early lead in the bidding race, Japan reversed the tide by signing a document with Turkey in December to cooperate in the development of human resources and other areas for the construction of nuclear power plants in Turkey.
But Friday's earthquake likely will cast a shadow over Japan's bid to take part in the Turkey project, sources said.

So, Turkey is going nuclear. Is it wise, knowing what just happened in Japan, a conscientious and prepared country? Turkey is one of the most seismic places in the world. While right now in France - the second biggest nuclear country in the world after the US - the discussion on the safety of nuclear installations is raging, the European Parliament on March 9th released a not-so-flattering report about Turkey where, among other things, it "Considers it regrettable that no progress has been made on limiting the immunities of Members of Parliament in respect of corruption-related offences", which sounds creepy, considering the role corruption often plays in tenders attribution. Even more creepy is the fact that Turkey has a long tradition as terrorism-striken country.

Will the Japan tsunami sweep away Turkey's dreams of nuclear glory? Will the civil society react? Or will the Turkish government just go on with its projects - just as it is doing with the GAP project in Southern-Eastern Anatolia -, ignoring the dissenting voices inside and outside the country, in the name of energy leadership in the region?

We'll try to understand it next week, at the International Tourism and Media Conference in Bursa, where we are going to meet, among others, the Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız. Keep following us.

Karayilan: "The EU and the US are responsible for the stalemate in the solution of the Kurdish issue"

This interview was recorded in North Iraq on March 23rd. Turkish Diary does not necessarily share the opinions of the interviewee. However, since we had a chance to look at the issue from a viewpoint different from the official ones, our duty as journalists was to take this chance and show it to our readers. We are confident they are smart enough to tell the difference between truth and propaganda.

The Qandil Mountains, in Iraqi Kurdistan. We arrived here expecting training camps and PKK fighters all over the place. We find houses, children playing, women who greet us - all we can say in Kurdish is rojbas, have a good day - and serve us rice and chicken, and a smiling representative of PKK, who, behind his glasses and thick eyebrows, explains us kindly in English what we are going to do. We are here to meet a "leader" - we were not told who, although we already imagine who that could be. After lunch, they bring us a bit further into the mountains. Here we do find young fighters armed with Kalashnikovs. And here is where we learn we were right - the person we are meeting is Murat Karayilan, top leader of the guerrilla.

In the last few years it seems your goals have changed, you are no longer a separatist group. Why are you still fighting?

You are aware that the culture, the identity, all the national rights of the Kurdish people have always been denied. There has also been violence and oppression against this people. Because of that, the Kurdish people decided to protect themselves through struggle, through arms. But since 1999, August 2nd, we have been trying to solve the Kurdish question through peaceful means, because we believe that the Kurdish question can be solved not through war but only through political means. It's a social problem, so there can be only a political solution to it. So our struggle right now is a political, democratic struggle. What we want is a political, democratic solution within the Turkish borders. Our motto is: "A democratic Turkey for an autonomous Kurdistan".

What is the model for this autonomous Kurdistan?

I have a number of examples. Spain, Scotland, Belgium... we can give quite a number of examples in Europe. Through dialogue we could take all these examples and solve the issue. We are not asking much. The question can be solved with positive side effects for everyone.
Another example is France, the first nation-based State. Turkey sees France as an example, but there are different practices in Turkey. Whatever the French government has do;nene for Corsica, all those rights, if given to Kurdish people, they will be accepted, there is nothing more.
the problem is that AKP today says that yes, there are Kurdish people, but in the meantime they say that within the Turkish people there's a Kurdish people. Other than that there is no Kurdish people. This means there are many ethnic groups in Turkey, but they are all Turkish. It's a way of playing with words. The assimilation policy that has continued for the last 86 years is still going on.

Since there are many examples of autonomy in Europe, do you think Turkey can be a part of Europe?

If there are changes in Turkey, why not?
We believe that the Kurdish issue is the main issue which can change Turkey democratically.
If Turkey changes its approach to the Kurdish issue, if it changes democratically... then why not?

The government has proposed constitutional reforms. What do you think of that?

These changes cannot bring democracy in Turkey, because of the mentality, of the approach, which is still the mentality of the 12 September 1980 coup. AKP is just having problems with the judiciary, and they are trying to overcome this. That's the only reason they are discussing the changes in the Constitution, nothing more than that. The mentality is the same, and this mentality cannot bring any democratic changes in Turkey.

But if the judiciary is less powerful, there will be no longer episodes such as the ban of DTP in Turkey. Isn't this positive?

It's not important at all. Of course it's positive, however for the Kurdish issue this has no relevance, because there will be no change on two crucial issues.
The first one is the 10 percent threshold in general elections. The second is the law on terrorism. For example, they give a lot of prison sentences to children. A woman can have a 7-year prison sentence just because she shouted certain slogans and carried a banner.
Erdogan is dealing with the problems they have, not the Kurdish people.

A few weeks ago Osman Öcalan said that if his brother was released and put to house arrest, PKK would disarm. Is this true?

That person has nothing to do with us, we do not have any relations at all, from time to time some people try to use him. So, it is not true.
Whatever that person said has nothing to do with us. At the beginning of February this year we proposed a road map for the solution of the Kurdish question in peaceful terms.
4 main steps need to be done:

• all the operations - military and political - have to be stopped
• since a lot of politicians have been arrested - some MPs, some mayors, members of the party, over 1.500 politicians - they have to be released
• we believe Abdullah Öcalan can play an effective role in the peace process, so he should be put to house arrest
• after these 3 conditions are fulfilled, the dialogue can start immediately

So, at that time, will the PKK disarm?

If the dialogue starts, this matter of arms can be taken as part of the dialogue, it can be discussed. We are not only 3 or 5 people, we are thousands of people, so what is the situation of this people going to be? How will the disarmament take place? On what conditions? Once the dialogue starts, we can discuss all these things there.

Öcalan is seen by Turks as a symbol of this war, of terrorism, so even if the government wanted to give him an effective role, it would be very difficult for them, they would meet a lot of resistance, so how do you propose to do that?

Such claims were already made before. For example, in South Africa, with the Mandela case, or for Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian case. But in the end if they hadn't spoken to Mandela, they wouldn't have solved the issue. The same happened with the Palestinian issue. Both Mandela and Arafat were seen as terrorists, terrorist leaders.
So, first of all Turkey has to change its language. Second, they have to make sincere steps, in order to solve the Kurdish issue. There is no terrorist leader, Abdullah Öcalan is not a terrorist at all. This is only a name given to the opposition.
Today millions of people - as you saw during the Newroz in Diyarbakir -shout "we are PKK". That's the reality, that's the approach of the people, and using other words, other languages is not going to help solve the Kurdish question.
But I don't believe the real problem is Turkey. The problem is Europe and the US. They are the ones who are affecting the solution period.

In what sense?

While the armed struggle was going on, the European countries never put our organisation's name in the list of terrorist organizations. But in 1999, we decided to change our strategy, Abdullah Öcalan at that time went to Europe in order to open a pathway for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish issue - as you know he has been to Italy.
At that time Mr D'Alema and the Italian government were approached frankly by Abdullah Öcalan. D'Alema even went to Germany to speak with Schroeder regarding the Kurdish issue and Abdullah Öcalan, he said Europe should make a conference on the Kurdish issue, but Germany didn't accept. After an international conspiracy our leader Abdullah Öcalan was illegally captured and given to Turkey. So at that time the European countries never approached the issue to solve it peacefully and democratically - they could, at that time, but they did not, and after 1999 our organisation made a declaration that as a new strategy we were going to find a peaceful and democratic solution.
After the declaration we made, we announced that we were giving up arms. The EU in 2002 put us in the terrorists list.
This period showed us that the EU does not want a peaceful and democratic solution of the Kurdish issue. And for all these years the EU has given support to Turkey, militarily and politically. The same occurred with the US.

All photos are ©Giovanni Sacchetti. For the full reportage visit his website.
For a video version of the interview, please contact Turkish Diary.

Turkey has place in a Europe of "liberté, egalité, and fraternité" says Pamuk

Turkey has place in a Europe of “liberté, egalité, and fraternité” says Pamuk - Literature : news, interview | euronews

He is not just the 2006 Nobel Literature Laureate.
Orhan Pamuk is also a symbol of Turkey’s struggle to be part of the EU.
In recent weeks, he has been travelling around Europe and the US to promote his latest novel, ‘The Museum of Innocence’.
Yet just as he was being honoured in France, where the Season of Turkey is underway, the Turkish High Court ruled that anybody who “suffered mentally” because of what Pamuk had said about the Armenian genocide could sue him for pain and suffering.
euronews met Orhan Pamuk at Villa Gillet, in Lyon.

Watch my interview on euronews

My interview to Nedim Gürsel on YouTube

Available also in 7 other languages (the original one is in French). If you are interested, just ask.

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.

A bit of science fiction?

So, let's talk about Turkey's future.
Let's start from today's news, from Hürriyet:

Turkey reveals new road map for EU bid
The Turkish government had prepared the draft of the third national program for the European Union in a bid to give new impetus to its accession process. Turkey had prepared its 400-page long national document, which consists of four parts, the government spokesman told reporters late on Monday. The program expresses the government's commitments for the next four years, Cemil Cicek added. Under the program, Turkey needs to introduce 131 new legislations, including constitutional amendments, in four years. Some of these legislations are aimed at strengthening the functioning of judiciary and other public institutions. Sabah daily said the cost of the national program is calculated at around 21.8 billion euros, and 20.4 billion euros of this would be needed to adopt the environmental standards of the EU. Turkey's EU process has been sluggish since the government lost its reform enthusiasm and was latter unsettled by political uncertainties. The Turkish government is expected to realize new reforms for the EU bid.

But what I really wanted to share with you is this article, published by Turkish Daily News two months ago, but that I have discovered only today. The subject is "The year 2026..." and here are a few of the fictitious headlines that amused me most. I invite you to read it all:

* Prime Minister Turgut Tayyip Erbakan, whose Justice, Welfare, Development and Felicity Party (ARKSP) has risen to power from the now-defunct AKP, said it was a grave injustice that the Constitutional Court ruled, once again, that the ban on the Islamic headscarf in public premises, including universities, should be maintained. Erbakan has protested that the court made its ruling without having consulted with the Holy Council of Imams.

* Crowds of Turks took to the streets in Istanbul and Ankara demanding broader cultural and political rights for the country's Turkish minority. The demonstrations turned violent after the police arrested 25 protestors for chanting pro-Turkish slogans.

* As Trinidad and Tobago became the 129th country where denial of Armenian genocide has been illegalized, Turkey again strongly denied that the 1915-1921 incidents were genocide. The Foreign Ministry said that it would not allow weapons suppliers from Trinidad and Tobago to bid on Turkish defense contracts.

* As Fenerbahce lost 5-0 against visiting Milan in a European Champions League group match, fans raided the club's headquarters, shouting for the return of their legendary president Aziz Yildirim, who headed the club in the 2000s. Fourteen people were killed in a shoot-out.

* Separately, Greece and Turkey came to the brink of war once again as both countries claimed jurisdiction over a dolphin that was swimming in the Aegean Sea 12 miles off the Greek coast.

* Brussels has warned Ankara over a dispute concerning the 109th chapter of the accession negotiations. The chapter, exclusively devised for Turkey's entry talks, involves household kitchen standards and per capita cholesterol consumption. Meanwhile, Ankara has protested Brussels over its swift admission of 21 new member states, including Armenia and Kazakhstan.

Rehn: Fight is between extreme secularists and Muslim democrats

The European Union has for the first time announced that the fight in Turkey is between extreme secularists and Muslim democrats, declaring once more that a court case seeking to close the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is not in line with EU standards at all.

Read the story on Today's Zaman

EP committee welcomes Turkey's reform efforts

A European Parliamentary committee has welcomed recent legislative activities in Turkey and urged the government to speed up reforms, it said in a report approved on Monday.

The report, prepared by the Dutch MP Ria Oomen-Ruijten, "Welcomed the commitment of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan that 2008 is going to be the year of reforms," but said further delays of the reforms "will seriously affect the pace of negotiations."

The Foreign Affairs Committee adopted Turkey's 2007 Progress Report with 53 votes in favor of and to two against. The report will be put to a final vote at the general assembly of the parliament in May.

More than 250 amendments to the report were proposed ahead of the vote. In one of the amendments, the European Parliament expressed its concerns over the closure case against the ruling AKP and expectations that the Turkish Constitutional Court act in accordance with the Venice Commission guidelines on the prohibition of political parties.

Another proposal, however, urged the Turkish government to respect pluralism, secularism and democracy and to reach a compromise with political parties while passing the reforms.

Full story on Hürriyet

Laçiner: "Turkey's EU accession is first of all an ethical issue"

Do you like this article? Rate it on GroundReport.

I was in Istanbul on holiday, so I wasn't prepared for an interview. But when Aykan, a friend from Ankara, proposed me to meet Ömer Laçiner, it would have been a crime to refuse.

Laçiner is a writer, an editor, but first of all a socialist. One of those who had to live several years abroad as a political refugee in the past. He did so in France, that's why he speaks to me in French. Today, he's so respected in Turkey that even Zaman, a newspaper with Islamist sympathies, happens to interview him.

I meet him at Iletişim's, Orhan Pamuk's publishing house, where he's the editor in chief of the monthly Birikim. I forget to take a picture of him so I have to confess that the photo you can see here is stolen from some website. And, since I had no recorder with me, all I'm going to write now comes just out of my memory.

I haven't prepared an interview, so I tell him we are just going to have a friendly chat, and the beginning is quite embarassing. I have no idea where to start, but he expects me to do it. So, since I have met him because of my book, and my book is about Turkey's EU accession, I ask him his opinion on the matter. I don't know much of him, but Aykan has briefed me a little, so I already know he's in favour of Turkey joining the EU. I expect the usual list of advantages for Turkey and the EU and, maybe, the whole world, if the accession process will be successful. But he surprises me: "I think a real socialist is first of all an internationalist, so that's why I'm in favour of the EU accession". I'm not sure I have understood, so I ask him what kind of advantages would come out of it, but he says: "The issue are not advantages. There will be advantages and disadvantages. For me it's an ethical question".

I begin to like the man: for once I find someone who is simply coherent with his political positions, who doesn't just put pros and cons on a balance and then calculates what's best for their own interests. I could agree or not with him, but I surely could not help respecting him.

The conversation then gets easier, and I ask him questions about anything that comes to my mind: the present government, Kurds, the military... My first impression is confirmed.

About AKP and the present government, he doesn't believe in a secret Islamist agenda, but he also thinks sometimes they are not doing enough for the accession process. I tell him that once I met people from IHD, a human rights organization, in Diyarbakir, who said that reforms had been made too fast and judges can't keep the pace. I also evoke the past incoherences, when the government actually fuelled anti-EU nationalism, and he says: "This government is not going to go fast on reforms, because they are afraid to lose consensus. When nationalism rises, they slow down".

And about the judges: "There is a fight going on between the juduciary and the government. The problem is that many judges are very conservative". I evoke the Wordpress issue, and tell him I had to explain to someone that Wordpress was blocked in Turkey not by the government but by a court. Too many people think they are the same thing, but it isn't so.

And, of course, there is the "secularist-Islamist" issue. The night before, Aykan had tried to explain to me that... well, I stopped him by saying: "Yes, I know: it's just a fight for power". I'm not the naïve Westerner who believes it's a fight for ideas. Of course it has to do with the military progressively losing power. I ask Laçiner what are the economical issues, and he answers: "The military is the third or fourth financial force in Turkey". This explains a lot of things.

But it doesn't explain why the rallies have stopped. It seems to me that everything got quiet, last Spring, after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Armed forces chief General Yaşar Büyükanıt. I ask him what they could possibly have said to each other, and he answers: "Who knows?", with that ironical smile you can often see on Turkish faces when they don't want to say too much. But he adds: "I think it's the election that has made all the difference: with such results, AKP and the government have got stronger. But maybe the military is just up to something, and preparing to counterattack. Nobody can tell".

So, I ask him if the Parliament "new entry", the Kurds, could make some difference and push for reforms, since they are strongly in favour of the EU accession. He looks disenchanted: "Unfortunately the Kurds don't have good politicians. The Kurdish issue is the most important issue in Turkey, but it is not the only one. And they only think of that, they don't have a wider agenda". After years covering the Kurdish issue, I can't but agree - although painfully - with him.

Gender equality and Islam in Turkey

Here is an interesting issue that highlights the complexity of the Islam-secularism opposition: women.
It is also one of the "hot"issues concerning human rights in the EU accession dossiers. Turkey is considered not to be advanced enough in the field. It is not wrong, actually. But the situation, as usual, is more complex than that.

The occasion to speak of this issue has been given to me by a Turkish Daily Times article, Gender equality given carrot and stick in ESI report, where we can read:

The European Stability Initiative (ESI), the Berlin-based think tank, launched a report on gender equality in Turkey last week. The report titled “Sex and power in Turkey” claims that gender equality in Turkey is largely a popular myth, which lays down the fact that legislation was reformed only recently to grant equal status to women.

The report distinguishes two periods in the history of the Turkish Republic when major improvements were made to the status of women: the reforms of Atatürk in 1920s and the period since 2001.

What strikes me in the second chapter is the last part: one of the two periods in the whole history of the Turkish Republic when women saw major improvements starts in 2001. Which, as you know, is the period when the Akp, the "Islamist" party, went to power.

Please don't get me wrong. I know I may look like a fan of Akp. I'm not. I mean, I'm fully aware of their many faults - not only in the last weeks - and I know they are far from being the solution to Turkey's problems. But I must recognise Turkey has made lots of improvements under their rule.

Now that I have made this point clear, let me go back to the subject of this post. A couple of years ago, in Istanbul, I met the leader of a feminist organization. One of the things she said that struck me most was: "There are two kinds of discriminated women in Turkey: those who don't want to wear the headscarf, and are forced to; and those who want to wear the headscarf, and are forced not to".

Of course, one could think that a headscarf is just a piece of tissue and that women have far worse problems to think of. But don't forget that Atatürk, just to abolish the fez, didn't hesitate to kill the men who wore it. For women who wear the headscarf, this may mean not having access to university. Or renouncing a political career. Is this fair?

Now, I have heard many arguments against the Islamic headscarf in public places. None of them ever convinced me, in Turkey or in France. While I heard women who are against the scarf but, in spite of that, think that the France law against it is one of the most stupid things the French government could have done. One of them is Nobel Prize Shirin Ebadi. I agree one hundred percent with them.

I won't go into details on this specific issue, I only want to point out that the "Islamist" party many are so afraid of is the one that, according to a European think-tank, has made the biggest improvements in the condition of women ever. Or, as the article says,

the reforms of the last two years have been “the most radical changes in the legal status of Turkish women in 80 years.”

I wish one could say the same of Italy!

“For the first time in its history, Turkey has the legal framework of a post-patriarchal society. The period since 2001 is the second period since the 1920s when the state has improved women's rights. Reforms to the Turkish Civil Code have granted women and men equal rights in marriage, divorce and property ownership.”

The credit, of course, does not go entirely to politics.

The report states that the recent reforms have come about in a very different way from those of the 1920s: “as the result of a very effective campaign by a broad-based women's movement, triggering a wide-ranging national debate.”

Knaus says that the changes in the last two years are spectacular and that they are mainly due to the active lobbying of women's organizations.

“What is even more significant is that in the past years, women's organizations have actually been able to affect the political process. The current government has been largely open to be influenced regardless of its conservative voters and agreed to change the penal code. Also, the Turkish media has visibly shaped the debate in recent years,” Knaus explains.

But the part I'm most interested in is the one titled Fears of Shariah not based on reality:

The ESI report also questions the fears of those who accuse the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for trying to introduce Islamic Shariah law in Turkey.

“There are some who fear that Turkey may be turning its back on its secular traditions. Some of the loudest voices come from Kemalist women, who insist that the rise of ‘political Islam' represents an acute threat to the rights and freedoms of Turkish women,” it says.

“There have even been calls for restrictions to Turkish democracy, to protect women's rights. Yet such ‘authoritarian feminism' is out of touch with the reality of contemporary Turkey and the achievements of recent years,” the report says.

Today, in 2007, Germany, the president of the European Union, is ruled by a Christian-Democrat government. Nobody objects to it. Italy was ruled by Christian-Democrat governments for half a century, and nobody ever had anything to object. It is also true that during the CD rule Italy made laws on divorce and abortion, and the church had little or no influence on politics. Today things are different: a law about civil unions (Dico, something similar to the French Pacs, but much less radical) is stuck in parliament because of the catholic lobbies. And it's only the tip of the iceberg. As an Italian, I'm convinced Italy has a bigger problem with secularism than Turkey.

EU’s soft power is defunct in Turkey

From Turquie Européenne:

At the end of last week, the think tank where I work in Brussels — the European Policy Centre — held a breakfast meeting with Turkey’s chief negotiator for the EU, Ali Babacan, at which he gave a presentation on “Turkey and the EU: Relations, Negotiations and Challenges Ahead.”

This was the first time I had heard Babacan speak in English for quite some time and I was impressed. He delivered an impressive and information-packed speech to a captivated audience of some 200 people. He then went on to answer numerous questions on many different issues, including regional development, climate change, foreign policy, the economy and relations with Cyprus. Could it be that he is being groomed to be the next foreign minister? I believe that it is a real possibility.

Babacan’s message was very clear — what happened in December happened and there is nothing anybody can do about it now, but the effects of the EU decision to freeze eight negotiating chapters continue to be felt in Turkey and recovery is not guaranteed. Although Babacan emphasized that Turkey would never be the party walking away from the negotiating table, he also said that the EU’s famous “soft power” no longer had any major effect in the country.

To my mind this is not really surprising given that a number of member states continue to repeat like parrots that Turkey’s negotiations are open ended, that alternatives should also be looked at. As Olli Rehn, European commissioner for enlargement, has rightly pointed out on many occasions, these people are doing more harm than good as they are creating a negative wave in Turkey towards the EU which has affected the relationship and the pace of reform. It is also particularly pointless when you bear in mind that in at least one member state — France — Turkish accession will face a referendum, leaving the final decision, for all intents and purposes, up to the citizens. Indeed, there are no longer any guaranteed places at the EU table given that after the accession of Croatia — probably in 2009 — all countries who aspire to be members of the club will have to face a referendum in at least France. Babacan emphasized that Turkey still had many, many reforms to do in many areas and that numerous reforms, already carried out, still needed to be implemented. He added that the only way forward was for the reform process to be owned by the people.

The AK Party aspires to remove all “taboos” from Turkish society. This was one of Erdoğan’s goals when he created the party. The time he spent in jail during his time as mayor of Istanbul for reciting a poem gave him a taste of Turkish justice and more particularly the stranglehold on freedom of expression. Pressure for change on such sensitive issues very much linked to Turkey’s nationalistic past has to come from within. Although it is totally unacceptable to see academics, journalists, writers and others marched back and forth to the courthouse, the necessity for change has to come from the hearts of the Turkish people and not the EU or the US.

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Cyprus row halts EU-Turkey talks

Talks between the EU and Turkey over Cyprus have broken down without agreement, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has said.

EU officials have said that a failure to break the impasse could lead to the collapse of Turkey's EU membership bid.

The EU had given Turkey until 6 December to open its ports to traffic from Cyprus, whose government Turkey refuses to recognise.

"An agreement could not be reached," said Mr Tuomioja in Tampere, Finland.

Finland holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of the year.

Mr Tuomioja was speaking after holding separate meetings with the Turkish and Cypriot foreign ministers - Abdullah Gul and George Lillikas.

He said no new talks had been arranged and the EU would have to decide where this left Turkey's membership bid.

"There will be consequences," he said. "Business as usual cannot continue."

Read the rest of the article on BBC News

Journalists Without Borders ranks Turkey 100th in "media freedom"

According to the Paris-based media organization "Journalists Without Borders," Turkey ranks 100th in the world in the arena of "freedom in the media." A list published yesterday by Journalists Without Borders puts Finland, Iceland, Ireland, and the Netherlands in a tie for first place in this category. Other noteable placements on the list were Armenia, which ranked immediately before Turkey at 99, and Denmark, which gained notoriety for the caricature crisis earlier in the year: Danish media ranked 20th. The US was ranked at 56th, while North Korea came in last at 168.

Full article (Hürriyet)

See also:

• A prize affair - Orhan Pamuk, the French parliament and the Armenian massacres (The Economist)
• Freedom of expression and the European Union (Zaman)
• Pamuk is not invited for the October 29 (Sabah)
• All eyes turn to observe trial of Sumerian expert in Turkey (Hürriyet)
• French Radio Halts Broadcasting in Turkish (Zaman)
• TÜSİAD invites Armenian businessmen to Istanbul (Turkish Daily News)
• Freedom of speech under continuing attack in Turkey (IndyBay)

Progress Report Leaked to Greek Cypriot Press

Parts of the European Commission (EC) progress report, to be revealed on Nov. 8, has been reportedly leaked to the press.

In a draft of the report published in the Greek Cypriot press, there is strong emphasis on Turkey’s recognizing the Greek Cypriot administration.

The Greek Cypriot Philelefteros newspaper published Turkey EU Progress Report, claiming it had obtained the draft from Markos Kyprianou, Greek Cypriot member of the EC.

Though the document has some “disturbing” points, it is “considerably pleasing” for Greek Cypriots, the newspaper said.

The draft report is said to “have mentioned Ankara’s Emergency Plan on Cyprus, referred to the issues on direct trade and removing of isolations and praised Turkey’s constructive attitude on Cyprus.”

Full article (Zaman)

See also:

• EU finally delivers 38.1 million euros in aid to TRNC (The New Anatolian)
• Poll: Turks' trust in EU waning (Abhaber.com)
• Turkey EU Progress Report Open to Future Revisions (Zaman)
• Turkish Foreign Ministry Reacts to Barroso (Zaman)
• Turkey running short of time on Cyprus (The New Anatolian)

Yegen: "A new campaign of assimilation has started". An interview by Turkish Diary

Last April an Italian newspaper published an interview to Mesut Yegen, an ethnic Kurdish sociologist from METU University in Ankara. It was a selection of questions from a wider work. Turkish Diary publishes today the full interview.

Last January, when we first met, you spoke of a new assimilation campaign that the Turkish State, according to you, was about to launch. What did you mean?

There are new campaigns which are organised by a sort of cooperation between the State and the NGO’s. These campaigns are called “Girls off to school” or “Father send me to school”… never mind the names, the aim is to go to the Kurdish provinces and find girls who are not being sent to school because of traditional reasons. There are many families in the rural areas that don't send their daughters to school, but this is mostly, as I said, because of traditional reasons, like girls getting married too early, at 14 or 15 years, etc. So it’s not because Kurds are sort of opposing the policy of assimilation or Kurds do not want to be educated, it's something very common in many parts of the world. So the Turkish State, to my knowledge, has now realised that the Kurdish identity is being reintroduced through such women or such girls. That is to say: the Kurdish language is being taught by those Kurdish women who cannot speak Turkish, or who have not been sent to school in the past. So they are trying to change this situation. They’re sort of obsessive about this fact. Many NGO’s and other State partners go to these provinces and try to persuade parents to send their daughters to school. For me this is a new campaign of assimilation.
But let me say something. I said this is a new campaign of assimilation, but within a particular context. The Turkish State in general feels, believes that Kurds could be assimilated into Turkish. They say: “Ok, there is no discrimination against Kurds, it’s not important for the Turkish State whether you’re Kurdish or not, if you agree to get assimilated into Turkish you’re being treated as other Turkish citizens”. So you can read it from this point of view. And I can read it from this point of view too, I’ve no problem. As I said, I’m putting this contention within a particular context: in the last three years State officials and the ordinary people began to have some doubts about the possible Turkishness of Kurds. People began to feel that Kurds are not so good people, they have a sort of collaboration with the United States, they are inside other foreign powers, so these doubts have become quite common with regard the Kurds.
So although the Turkish State has formally believed that Kurds could be assimilated, that Kurds could become Turkish, nowadays it began to have some doubts, but on the other hand these new campaigns indicate that those doubts are not that strong yet.
I’m 100 per cent sure that this is not only a gender question. We cannot think that the Turkish State is involved in that issue because it wants to take care of Kurdish girls, this is not the only issue. As I said, the Turkish State has realised that the Kurdish identity is strong or is being reproduced and it wants to see an end to this situation.

And what is your evidence for that?

Sometimes facts speak for themselves. There are Kurdish girls over there who cannot speak Turkish and they’re taken to school. Look, assimilation is not a devil. When I say this there are people who get offended, but it’s not a devil. All the nation States have employed the policy of assimilation. This is not a special campaign, the Turkish schools themselves are means of assimilation. Look at me: I am Kurdish and I have been assimilated to Turkish. Why? Because I couldn't go to a Kurdish school since Kurdish schools are not allowed to be, and we were sent to Turkish schools and we were assimilated into Turkish. It’s obvious, all the nation States employ such a policy, and I really don’t understand why people get offended when I say that. Assimilation works in every single aspect of our everyday lives. If you admit that there are Kurds over there who have their own language etc., and if you don’t let them to reproduce their culture, and if you open some spaces for that to get assimilated into Turkishness, it’s obvious that you’re assimilating these people. Look at the Italians, or look at France: in the 19th century only 20 percent of French people spoke proper French, now it’s 95 percent. And I say that it’s something normal, but people get offended.
This women issue, this gender issue is important, you know. People take it as if I was sort of opposing this idea of sending girls to schools. Of course this is nonsense, this is ridiculous. From a normative point of view I said this many times. If the option is between not going to school and being assimilated into Turkish, I’d say: Ok, go and get assimilated into Turkish. I have no problem with that.

The problem is that Kurdish culture is not allowed to reproduce.

Exactly. This is the problem. And I’m just pointing to a fact, a pure objective fact.

How do you interpret the recent events in Diyarbakir?

This is a complex issue, and I should say we cannot show one single reason for such big developments, but I have a kind of assessment. I think two issues concurred. The first issue is that all the main players involved in the Kurdish question have decided to change their position or have decided to change this state of course between 1999 and 2006. Ocalan was captured in 1999 and afterwards PKK declared a ceasefire. For 6 or 7 years it worked. Now what I’m seeing is that all the main players – the Turkish State, the government, and PKK – are getting ready to change their position.
PKK realised they could not continue on these conditions, because on one side there are some other Kurdish groups who are getting strong now in Turkey, some more traditional groups let’s say, on the other side the European Union declared PKK a terrorist organization, which means in Europe it’s not going to be that easy for PKK anymore to collect money, to organise Kurdish resistance etc. Besides, it’s not easy for a military organisation like PKK to keep people together if you do not continue to fight. So all this pushed PKK to change its policy. This is the first issue.
Regarding the Turkish State, I see this: the Turkish State has now realised that the Kurdish identity is stronger than ever before. The Turkish State or Turkey has always had this Kurdish question but nowadays it’s an entirely different issue. The feeling of “we-ness”, the feeling of “we are Kurdish”, this feeling of Kurdish identity, as I said, is stronger than ever, and the Turkish State has now, as I said, come to a point that he says: we should stop this process, otherwise in ten years we’re going to have a Turkey in which we have almost two nations and this is something which cannot be tolerated by the Turkish State. In order to tolerate such a situation, it’s obvious that you have to employ very huge reforms, not the ones that have already been employed as a result of the pressure put by the European Union, you know this small scale of reforms: Kurdish courses, broadcasts in Turkish only half an hour a day and with subtitles, no school etc.
So if the Turkish State does not interfere with this situation, now we are going to have almost two nations in the future, and this of course, it’s not a bizarre thing, but the State governing Turkey cannot cope with that, so the Turkish State, as long as I understand, has decided to give an end to this situation, so what I’m saying is that the issue is not only to remove PKK and, as we all know, PKK basis are mostly in Iraq, in Northern Iraq. I don’t know the exact figures, but PKK has 5 or 6 thousand militants and only 1.500 or 2000 are inside Turkey, while the others are in Northern Iraq. That means PKK is not such a big issue. The big issue is the fact that Kurdish people are more conscious than ever, they are more sensitive towards their own identity than ever. So as I said the Turkish State realised that it has to give an end to this situation.
I don’t know if it can succeed, if it’s going to achieve it, but this is what they’re trying to do. This is what I feel.

Do you think that all this is provoked by what is happening in Iraq?

Sure. Iraq, and European reforms. The Kurdish Identity or this idea of “we-ness” is stronger now because of mainly three issues.
One is the European Union, now the Kurdish people, consciously or unconsciously, feel that the Turkish State may not employ policies of violation - or massive violation - anymore. The European Union would not allow the Turkish State to resort to such policy. I don’t know if it’s a correct feeling, but this is how people feel.
So the European Union is one thing and of course Northern Iraq is the most important thing. This is the first time in the history of Kurds that Kurds have an authority which is run by themselves and, besides, the image of Barzani is kind of a mythical image. It’s very important for any Kurd. Because the members of Barzani's family have been fighting for almost 80 years, since 1920s or 30s. And no other family has been this much identified with the Kurdish struggle. There have been many sort of heroes côte à côte in Kurdish history, but no other family has been that insistent on promoting Kurdish ideals. So it’s an important myth.

You said three issues…

And of course the other thing is that PKK has been quite insistent in Turkey, it has been fighting for twenty years. PKK, HEP, HADEP, DEP, all these parties also have been quite influential in sort of saving and developing this Kurdish identity.

Do you see a solution to this situation?

I don’t think a peaceful solution is likely in the near future. What I see is that, as I said, the Turkish army and the Turkish State are getting ready to launch a new campaign, a military campaign. I think Turks are trying to persuade Kurds that they are not going to be let to go any further. And I feel that another conflict is going to begin, and I’m not sure how Kurds are going to react to this kind of situation.
As far as I see, their reaction is not going to be the same than before. If for instance a war against the civilian people begins again, I think people are going to react. Do you remember the situation in 1990s? Some Kurdish leaders were murdered but the killers were not known. If this begins again I think the Kurdish people are going to react. So this is another issue. I can foresee that the Turkish army is going to begin another campaign but on the other hand I cannot be sure about the possible attitude or possible response of Kurds. Anything can happen. Kurds can decide to forget everything that they have earned until that time or they can sort of revolt.

And do you think the European Union could do something?

It can do. I mean, this is what I wish, but I don’t know. I think it all depends on international strategies. Iran can be the most important part of the issue, because, as far as I understand, it’s obvious that the United States are going to do something. I don’t know what’s going to be done, I don’t know the form, but something is going to be done, it’s obvious.
I think the United States is searching for help and is asking Turkey to be an ally on that issue, but I’m not sure whether the Turkish government or State is ready to give this help. This is an important part of the issue. If one day we see that the Turkish State, the Turkish army or the Turkish government say that it’s ready to give a hand to the United States, that day I will understand that the United States has opened the space for the Turkish State to suppress the Kurdish revolt or resistance not only in Turkey but in Iraq. So this is the worst scenario.
I’m not sure whether it’s going to happen or not, and I’m not sure what Europeans would do if this happened.

This would be very complicated, because The US supports Kurds in Iraq.

Yes, it’s very complicated.
And I don’t know if the Turkish State would for instance ask the right to suppress the Kurds in Northern Iraq, and I think this is impossible, I think the international community would not allow it.

And is there a link with the new wave of nationalism which has been going on?

Oh yes, what has dramatically changed is that the Kurdish question has always been a question between the Turkish State and the Kurdish people or the Kurdish resistance, while now it has become a question which is going on between the Kurdish people and the Turkish people too. This is something new in the history of the Kurdish question. And it’s something very dangerous. I’m receiving like a hundred emails every day talking of all these hate speeches about Kurds. And of course this is the other part of the issue. If a campaign is launched against Kurds in Kurdish parts of Turkey, we don’t know what can happen in the rest of Turkey. We have already received signs of possible clashes - like a lynch episode - happened in many parts of Anatolia, Trabzon, recently in Sakarya...