Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Orwell’s 1984 comes to life in Erdogan’s 2015 Turkey - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Orwell’s 1984 comes to life in Erdogan’s 2015 Turkey

In his cult novel "1984," George Orwell described a dystopian world of people under constant government surveillance. In a letter to an American trade unionist, Orwell wrote he believed a society similar to the one he imagined could one day become a reality. The world we live in today may not be the exact nightmare the writer imagined, but it often fills us with fear that our lives are closely monitored. This may explain why "1984" has been back on the best-seller list in Turkey in recent years. Its popularity may surge even further after the country’s more than 50,000 mukhtars — leaders of neighborhoods and villages — were tasked with informing the government on fellow residents.

More:Orwell’s 1984 comes to life in Erdogan’s 2015 Turkey - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East