On Demand
Just the Facts: Secularism in Turkey
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Ivan Watson, NPR’s Istanbul Correspondent, talks about the protests in Istanbul, and the tension between Islam and secularism in modern Turkey.
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Dear Brian,
I just heard Ian Watson reporting from Istanbul.
It is very upsetting for me to see the same US foreign policy reflected on NPR, which seems to be bent on acting out a fantasy of creating some kind of "moderate Islamic Republic Paradise" in Turkey as some kind of example for other countries in the neighborhood, that have totally different cultures than ours.
"Secular" seems to have become an expletive. It is hard for me to explain how I feel because it seems so obvious what our problem with this attitude is. I am speaking as a totally unobservant Turkish woman. I believe in democracy for all, I do not care what anyone believes and how they believe and what they wear or do not wear but I also want the same freedoms extended to me. I do not want to have to apologize or made to feel uncomfortable about how I dress and how I do or do not cover my head and live my life. And believe me they have more to say about attire than just about head covering as you should well know by now. I do not want to serve as some example for Iran or any other problem country the US may have in mind. Why is this so difficult to see? The Muslim population in the US does not feel it has any say in how everyone else dresses and leads their lives. But they do here. I am writing from Istanbul and I just also heard the Leonard Lopate show about Nixon and Kissinger where Nixon says after the Allende affair that "this one does not show our fingerprints" or something to that effect. Well, the impications of that sent chills down my spine from this vantage point. (I am also a New Yorker.)
I was at the rally on Sunday against the army and the government and then witnessed the horrors of the 1st of May enacted by the same government. This was a very good example of where this government's interests lie: everyone was watching so they were on their good behavior on Sunday but on Tuesday, not-necessarily-observant working people and journalists can be teargassed and TV stations closed for all they care.
Turkey has a terrible rap and deservedly so in some aspects but this time the US has it all wrong.
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