Why now? “Elif Şafak to pay compensation to Mine Kırıkkanat for alleged plagiarism

I could never like either Şafak or Kırıkkanat. Şafak is beloved by Western audiences. Kırıkkanat is as Western as Şafak, but she has this strong secular nationalism that is very hostile to Islam and some other local values or practices. Kırıkkanat is the symbol of Turkey’s old secular and Kemalist elites who lost power in the last decades.  Islamists frequently used her rhetoric as evidence of old elites’ alienness to the nation. In the meantime, Şafak and her comrades- so-called liberals- allied with AKP to promote a more democratic and pro-EU positioning in the early 2000s. However, Erdoğan later ditched them. After the coup attempt in 2016, some of the secular nationalists allied with Erdoğan in the name of fighting against the Gülenists. Not Kırıkkanat herself, but many of her comrades are now allied with Erdoğan. As old enemies become new friends, old friends are the new enemies. Elif Şafak is one of the new enemies, and now it is time to lose the trial in a Turkish court.  As you can see, I am not even discussing the content of the plagiarism allegations.

Elif Şafak to pay compensation to Mine Kırıkkanat for alleged plagiarism

Elif Şafak to appeal against ‘plagiarism’ verdict

Journalist Mine Kırıkkanat has emerged victorious in her legal battle against author Elif Şafak, accusing her of plagiarism in Şafak’s novel “Bit Palas,” allegedly drawing from Kırıkkanat’s work, “Sinek Sarayı.”