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CM16: Turkey

Tahir Abbas is captivated by the complexity of Turkish politics and culture. Ahmet T. Kuru is unimpressed by the authoritarian tendencies of the current regime. Edip Asaf Bekaroglu struggles with the ambiguity of Turkish secularism, Sophia Pandya observes the battle between a Gazi warrior and a Sufi mystic, Yusuf Sarfati debates the headscarf issue, Charles Allen Scarboro takes us on a memorable tour of his Istanbul neighbourhood, Melek Saral scrutinises Turkey's relationship with the European Union, John Crofoot tries to save the historic city of Hasankeyf, Ken Chitwood takes Turkish politics to Cuba, Rebecca Soble spends a day in Dogubayazit, Aamer Hussein remembers his first visits to Istanbul, Peter Clark is transformed by his experiences in Konya, Nagihan Haliloglu is caught up in heritage wars, Abdullah Yavuz Altun dissects Orhan Pamuk's legacy, Ramazan Kilinc examines new works on Turkish nationalism and politics, Suzanne Mordue drinks and draws Turkish coffee and Merryl Wyn Davies finds Fry's Turkish Delight unpalatable. Also in this issue: a short story by Tam Hussein, Samia Rahman reads provocative stories by an emerging Pakistani writer, and our Top Ten Turkish Enchantments.

In this issue

Sun and the Shadow by Tahir Abbas

‘So, you are Pakistani?’ Almost every day, when I meet Turks for the first time, I am asked ‘where are you from?’ Almost ...

The False Promise by Ahmet T. Kuru

Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, most Turks preserved the belief, beyond a simple expectation, that one day they would have ...

The Ambiguity of Turkish Secularism by Edip Asaf Bekaroglu

Turkey defines itself, like most nations, as a miraculous and exceptional state. This uniqueness discourse inspires Turkish people to imagine ...

Turkey's Top Ten Enchantments

Being in Turkey can make people imagine that they are at the midpoint of the world, and in many ways there is no other place on earth that ...

Gazi Warrior vs Sufi Mystic: Turkey's Erdogan-Gulen Breakup by Sophia Pandya

'Yesterday, they stabbed us in the back. Tomorrow, they will stab their current colleagues in the back if they get the chance. I call on those ...

The Headscarf Debate: Recognition and Citizenship by Yusuf Sarfati

Turkish media called it an ‘historic moment’. Four parliamentarians from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) entered the ...

Memory and Forgetting in Istanbul by Charles Allen Scarboro

‘I remember,’ I say, thinking that memories belong to me as a person – after all – they are my memories. We act as if ...