Opinions
The recent fight between Kemalo-Islamism and Civil Islam
İHSAN YILMAZ As I have written here before, Islamists imagine Islam as a complete and ready-to-use divine system, with concrete political, cultural, legal and economic blueprints. Their ideology is exclusivist and they are not open to negotiation, compromise or pluralistic viewpoints. Islamists do not pay much attention to civil society and always pursue the seizure […]
Questions for the government regarding prep school closure
BÜLENT KENEŞ What we have concluded after discussing the government’s plan to shut down prep schools for the past 12 days is that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is resolved to proceed with the plan. In this process we have understood that no argument about prep schools’ contributions to education, pedagogy, the principle of equal […]
At home and abroad, Erdogan shoots himself in the foot
On Wednesday, for instance, Erdoğan described members of the Hizmet movement, who are mostly inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, as an “opposing side” due to their opposition to the closure of prep schools. Erdoğan’s categorization sparked outrage, primarily because the movement has been known as staunch supporters of the government.
An open letter to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan
When it is necessary, making objections demonstrates honesty; approving everything is an indication of hypocrisy. So if all these people are saying that this is wrong, listening to them is not a weakness but a virtue. This is what the nation expects from you. Otherwise, it will take forever to heal the wounds that have been inflicted in their hearts. So is it worth it?
Reasons to be worried about Turkey’s direction
For the first time in the 11-year reign of the AK Party, I was truly concerned when Erdoğan last week said that the decision to shut down private prep schools was finalized despite heavy resistance from a significant portion of society. A government that could consider interfering with “freedom of enterprise” is grim enough.
Will the AKP lose votes in disagreement with Gülen movement?
It is very likely that the real purpose of the government is indeed to punish the Gülen movement. Many political observers disagree with such a claim however, AKP officials have not find any convincing argument that will convince conservative people that the government is not punishing the Gülen movement, a movement that has touched many lives among the conservative people in the heartland of Anatolia.
Erdoğan has to respect civil society
ŞAHİN ALPAY Colleagues and friends ask me, “What is the reason for the feud between the government and the Gülen movement and between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Fethullah Gülen?” This is, briefly, my response. In Turkey the demand for education is very high. Universities are unable to meet the demand and there are […]
Why Gülen movement teachings attractive to followers?
The Gülen Movement arose among pious men and women who wanted a modern interpretation of religion. In the dynamics of the transformation of the movement, the social milieu also played an important role. The movement became a spiritual refuge for those who searched for an interpretation where Islam was in harmony with modernity. The followers of the Gülen Movement do not describe themselves as a political movement.
Why is the Turkish PM Erdoğan having difficulty?
It may be surprising, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is boosting the polarization resulting from the prep school debate. Obviously, though, he is having trouble pursuing his goal. He took the time to give lengthy answers to reporters’ questions about the prep schools debate just before he flew to Russia and he directly engaged in polemics with the Gülen movement.
Turkish PM Erdoğan launches another war [in Turkey]
Turkey’s Islamic camp is more diverse than one would think. In fact, the traditions that Erdoğan and Gülen come from have almost always been distinct and different from each. The former has been more explicitly Islamist, at times anti-Western and anti-Semitic. The latter, the line of Gülen, which goes back to scholar Said Nursi (1878-1960), has rather stayed closer to center-right parties and have been more friendly to the West and also other “Abrahamic” faiths.
Rethinking the state-people relationship [in Turkey]
We all know that Turkey has to solve a number of critical problems to become a democratic, pluralist and transparent state that is ruled by law. It would be a good start to ask who is going to have priority in the country: Is it the people or the state? Once you put the people at the center, rather than the state, then you have to accept that no way of life can be imposed on people.
Prep schools and market rules
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government decided recently to close down preparatory schools, establishments that help Turkish students prepare for high school and college entrance exams. In a free market economy, whenever there is a demand for a good or service, its corresponding supply is created naturally; it’s that simple. However, the debate became furious and shifted into the political arena.
Closing prep schools as a new form of official tyranny
Thanks to the prep school system, with reasonable payments, the children of the “Black Turks” or “Mountain Turks” gain the chance to compete with the children of “White Turks” under equal standards. They, after graduating from good universities, become judges, teachers and academics and act as a catalyst in undermining pathological ways of thinking like labeling people as reactionary.
What is at stake is not prep schools [in Turkey]
Will Prime Minister Erdoğan really close prep schools down if he is bent on it? Why not? Although Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, speaking after a Cabinet meeting last Monday, tried to reassure people by announcing that the government will discuss the matter once more with the stakeholders involved, PM Erdoğan refuted Arınç once again by saying they would shut them down. Isn’t this sufficient in showing his resolve in this regard?
