I'm Kind of Getting it Now About How Far Away Turkey Seems From Here, But ...
I still believe it exists, because I do remember I was there only a few days ago. Here's a piece I just wrote for Standpoint about why the world's perception of Turkey is often so distorted:
Turkey's Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials as the AKP, came to power in 2002. Journalists struggle to find the right catchphrase to describe the nature of this party, usually settling on something like "mildly Islamist" — to which the party's critics reply that this is like being mildly pregnant. The ensuing theological debate quickly crowds out what is perhaps the more important observation: whether this party is mildly Islamist or gravid with a mullahcracy, it is in its instincts, and in keeping with Turkish tradition, profoundly authoritarian. It is no different from other Turkish political parties this way. But the intersection of authoritarianism and Islamism, no matter the degree of the latter, is not giving rise to a sterling candidate for EU membership, whatever David Cameron might think. The fate of the Turkish media since the AKP came to power illustrates this point.
When Western journalists note in a casual aside that press freedom has experienced certain setbacks under the AKP, they are failing to do justice to the severity of this calamity and its ramifications for Turkey and the region. The calamity is exacerbated by the tendency of the foreign media to repeat, without scrutiny, the very idiocies peddled in the Turkish press, where the range of opinion on offer has become severely limited. The result is the growth of a grossly distorted and dangerous consensus about Turkey, here and abroad — to wit, that Turkey under the AKP has become more democratic and politically healthier, even if it is a bit up the duff with Islamism.
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Aug '10
Re: I'm Kind of Getting it Now About How Far Away Turkey Seems From Here, But ...
Turks are pretty generous, yes, and if they don't exactly get some funny ideas from the papers, the papers certainly make funny ideas available to them. I recall the accidental bombardment of a Turkish ship by the USS Saratoga in 1992. The very next day, a Turk proclaimed to me that the U.S. and Turkey were friends. And a Turkish newspaper - it probably was Zaman - suggested the American sailor directly responsible for firing the missiles, whoever he was, was of Greek ancestry. In that part of the world, they like their explanations simple.
May '10
Re: I'm Kind of Getting it Now About How Far Away Turkey Seems From Here, But ...
Breaking: Ms. B and Mr. L attempting a takeover of Prager show!
May '10
Re: I'm Kind of Getting it Now About How Far Away Turkey Seems From Here, But ...
What a pleasant surprise and a great interview! And Claire had a great plug for "Rickoshay." Actually, that will be the "plug that keeps on giving," because Prager is sure to replay that funny exchange in his end-of-week highlights tomorrow.
May '10
Re: I'm Kind of Getting it Now About How Far Away Turkey Seems From Here, But ...
Claire, if you're out there, re Turkey: I know you're confident that the AKP's days are numbered as the ruling party, but would that happy development be just a stray "vertical bounce" of a rock that is tumbling down a hill? That is, is the Steyn theory correct that, longterm, this is a demographic issue, where slowly but steadily the more Islamist-inclined countryside is outbreeding the secular city-dwellers? Is Mark over-simplifying? A "yes" would be a relief.
Edited on Aug 26, 2010 at 5:56pm