Quote:
Originally Posted by Lev
Common man, do you actually believe your fairy tales, the Erdogan government is a puppet, they make it sound that Turkey is secular on the surface, while deep rooted nationalism thrives in the country. By nationalism, I don't mean hardcore Islamic views, I mean the "Pan-turkic" ideology, where Turkey stretches from Europe to Asia and only Turks live in it. These are hardcore views and ideologies that is threatening to engulf Turkey into deeper extreemism. I, mean look at the penal code 301, which basically will put you in jail if you insult Turkey or "Turkishness". How do you think Hrant Dink died, was it because of one secluded incident? There is much more you don't know.
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Eh... wtf?
No, the Erdogan government is not a puppet. It's an annoyance to the Turkish secular nationalists, and it's Islamist background is a potential source of future conflict.
Yes, Turkey has a strong secular tradition. And no, that does not contradict in any way with it's admittedly deep-rooted nationalism. (
*)
Yes, there are some radical nationalists who plan to take over the world. There are many more who would like to do so, but realize that it's not going to happen. Most of those, however, do intend to keep Turkey a strongly nationalist state, and will gladly imprison, kill or torture those who attack (their idea of) Turkey.
Likewise, there are some radical Islamists in Turkey, who plan to turn it into a purely Islamic state. There are many more who will settle for as much Islamism as they can get. Some of those are non-nationalist Turkish Islamists, some are nationalist Turks as well as Islamists.
While the law you are referring to is relatively new, Turkish nationalism is not. Likewise, the case of Hrant Dink is clearly not isolated. Just look at the many human rights activists who have been threatened, imprisoned and even murdered for (peacefully) raising the issue of Kurdish rights.
The point I am making is that Turkey is not moving in a single, clear way. There are several factions within Turkey with radically different and incompatible goals, and just lumping them all together is deeply misleading at best.