Turkish taboos perpetuate immaturity | Ayşe Kadıoğlu
from World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Ayşe Kadıoğlu
The protection of ‘Turkishness’ has gone too far. To heal the wounds of our dark past, we need debate and deliberation
Growing up under the spell of taboos is a debilitating experience. It can imprison one’s mind in a state of infancy despite the inevitable physical growth of a person. As the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana says: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” When I understood the magnitude of these words, I was already an adult enrolled in graduate school in the US.
Turkey?s Taboos
from Kamil Pasha by Jenny White
An excerpt from Ayşe Kadıoğlu?s heart-felt essay in The Guardian (here) about the frightening taboos that mould the Turkish mind and daily practice. These taboos (and others) are at the heart of my forthcoming book, Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks (Princeton, November 2012). I too felt that these nationalist taboos, rather than the threat of ?Islam?, were Turkey?s major destabilizing factor. Until they are dealt with, Turkey?s enduring sectarian and authoritarian impulses will continue to endanger democratic and liberal advances. (As Taha Akyol also recently warned here.)
Hopes to Revive the Christian Area of Turkey
by By SUSANNE GÜSTEN
Robert Tutus, a Syrian Christian who left Turkey for asylum in Germany, hopes to keep the Syriac language in Idil alive.
Turkish Artist Brings Audience Into the Process of Performance
from NYT > Turkey by By SUSANNE FOWLER
Kutlug Ataman has created a performance piece that melds fabric art with theater, and audience with performer.
How much ICT do Turkish schools need?
from Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news :: Columnists by KLAUS JURGENS
A few weeks ago Education Minister Ömer Dinçer spoke at the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) about a new social studies textbook for the younger generation that the chamber had had commissioned with the approval of the ministry.
Tentative UNESCO lists 38 Turkish sites
from Hurriyet Daily News
Thirty-eight sites in Turkey are included in the tentative list of World Heritage sites by the World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Signs of a slowdown
from Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news :: Columnists by SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL
The publication of data by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) last week contained two pieces of news, one bad and one good. Let?s start with the bad news.
The new investment incentive package
from Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news :: Columnists by CENGİZ AKTAR
On Jan. 1 the government began implementing a new investment stimulus package. Ever since investment stimulus Law 5084 was adopted in 2004, an increasingly regional incentive policy has begun to emerge. The new package is doubtless the most comprehensive and detailed of its type in the history of the republic, and it is clear that much work was put in to refine the stimulus for greater investment techniques. What?s more, it is clear that some lessons have been learned from previous exercises. Let us hope that this one augurs well for the future.
Turkey: Preserving Kurdish Culture Through the Power of Music
In a sunny courtyard in the city of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey, an audience listens intently as Mihemede Nenyasi sings of love, war and intrigue.
Anatolia Agency to broadcast in Kurdish
from Hurriyet Daily News
The Anatolia News Agency is planning to broadcast in Kurdish, its director Kemal Öztürk said yesterday as he announced the agency?s 100th anniversary vision
Second bridge collapse shows rising negligence in Turkey
from Hurriyet Daily News
A second section of Zonguldak?s Çaycuma Bridge fell down yesterday during demolition work that was necessitated after a portion of the bridge collapsed April 6, dropping vehicles and pedestrians into the swollen creek below.