The Fading Dream of Europe

"In Turkey nationalism and anti-westernism are at the heart of political Islamists with an immense political power... who learned a lot from Turkey's Marxist-Leninists because nationalism and anti-westernism are at the heart of both..."

Orhan Pamuk: The New Life

Battle for Ataturk

"Turks are protesting a plan to build a new mosque in Istanbul's Gezi Park... where the historic Atatürk Cultural Centre will be demolished... Ataturk modernised and secularised the country, outlawed Sufi Islam, Westernised the Turkish alphabet... while today Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is increasingly Islamic and dictatorial...

The protesters are in fact mainly middle class pro-Western professionals, secular liberals, feminists and environmental and gay activists..."

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