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TURKISH PROGRESS
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1201610951 68825203.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Jan 30 2008
Turkey's long struggle to build a liberal society is one of many baby
steps forward and back. So it was Monday.
First, one backward. Atilla Yayla was convicted and given a 15-month
suspended sentence yesterday for daring to suggest that the one-party
secular regime imposed by "this man" -- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk --
wasn't "progressive." For expressing himself, Mr. Yayla fell afoul of
a little-known 1951 statute against insulting the long-dead founder
of modern Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government promises to clean
up Turkey's statute books. The 1951 law is one of about three dozen
that restrict free speech, among them the infamous Article 301, which
broadly forbids insults against "Turkishness." Parliament yesterday
was expected to begin amending 301, until the ruling Justice and
Development Party (or AKP) announced the latest "delay" in two years.
The government says this tactical retreat was necessary in order to
lift the ban on wearing Islamic headscarves in public universities.
This particular limit on free expression is one of the most contentious
issues in Turkey, pitting an AKP rooted in Islam against the secular
establishment in the civil service and military. Last year their
dispute nearly brought on a military coup, only to get resolved by
early elections that the AKP won in a rout. In a welcome change,
the AKP is finalizing a compromise on the headscarf with the secular
opposition MHP party. Pushing an amendment to Article 301 now, the
AKP says, could put this deal in jeopardy.
To achieve his stated goal of opening up Turkey, however, Mr. Erdogan
will have to stand up to the ultranationalists who use Article 301 and
other means, sometimes violent, to stifle free speech. His government
last week did take a brave and important step forward by arresting 13
ultranationalists who allegedly were plotting to incite armed revolt
and murder the Nobel-laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk. (Two years ago,
Mr. Pamuk was charged under Article 301.) Police are also investigating
whether the group was behind the 2006 murders of Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink and an Italian Catholic priest.
Like Kurdish and ultranationalist terrorists, al Qaeda can't stand the
thought of a democratic and liberal Turkey able to reconcile itself
with Islam and modernity. Prosecutors yesterday began interrogating
25 suspected al Qaeda fighters who were captured last week while
allegedly plotting bomb attacks across Turkey.
Mr. Erdogan has his work cut out for him, and yesterday shows that
progress won't always be smooth. Should the Prime Minister take
the necessary steps to make Turkey a truly free society, he might
yet have an ally in Mr. Yayla. The professor leads the Association
for Liberal Thinking in Turkey. Its goal is to find a middle ground
between Islamism and Ataturk's state-imposed nationalism.
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1201610951 68825203.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Jan 30 2008
Turkey's long struggle to build a liberal society is one of many baby
steps forward and back. So it was Monday.
First, one backward. Atilla Yayla was convicted and given a 15-month
suspended sentence yesterday for daring to suggest that the one-party
secular regime imposed by "this man" -- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk --
wasn't "progressive." For expressing himself, Mr. Yayla fell afoul of
a little-known 1951 statute against insulting the long-dead founder
of modern Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government promises to clean
up Turkey's statute books. The 1951 law is one of about three dozen
that restrict free speech, among them the infamous Article 301, which
broadly forbids insults against "Turkishness." Parliament yesterday
was expected to begin amending 301, until the ruling Justice and
Development Party (or AKP) announced the latest "delay" in two years.
The government says this tactical retreat was necessary in order to
lift the ban on wearing Islamic headscarves in public universities.
This particular limit on free expression is one of the most contentious
issues in Turkey, pitting an AKP rooted in Islam against the secular
establishment in the civil service and military. Last year their
dispute nearly brought on a military coup, only to get resolved by
early elections that the AKP won in a rout. In a welcome change,
the AKP is finalizing a compromise on the headscarf with the secular
opposition MHP party. Pushing an amendment to Article 301 now, the
AKP says, could put this deal in jeopardy.
To achieve his stated goal of opening up Turkey, however, Mr. Erdogan
will have to stand up to the ultranationalists who use Article 301 and
other means, sometimes violent, to stifle free speech. His government
last week did take a brave and important step forward by arresting 13
ultranationalists who allegedly were plotting to incite armed revolt
and murder the Nobel-laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk. (Two years ago,
Mr. Pamuk was charged under Article 301.) Police are also investigating
whether the group was behind the 2006 murders of Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink and an Italian Catholic priest.
Like Kurdish and ultranationalist terrorists, al Qaeda can't stand the
thought of a democratic and liberal Turkey able to reconcile itself
with Islam and modernity. Prosecutors yesterday began interrogating
25 suspected al Qaeda fighters who were captured last week while
allegedly plotting bomb attacks across Turkey.
Mr. Erdogan has his work cut out for him, and yesterday shows that
progress won't always be smooth. Should the Prime Minister take
the necessary steps to make Turkey a truly free society, he might
yet have an ally in Mr. Yayla. The professor leads the Association
for Liberal Thinking in Turkey. Its goal is to find a middle ground
between Islamism and Ataturk's state-imposed nationalism.