Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Mustafa Akyol: Church and state in Istanbul

"no posty yet
Church and state in Istanbul.

By Mustafa Akyol
'Christian missionaries infiltrating our country! Islam is slipping out of our hands!' These words represent the epitome of a very hot debate in Turkey in recent weeks. What made them more surprising than ever was that they belonged not to a conservative Muslim, but to Rahsan Ecevit � the influential wife of Bulent Ecevit, Turkey's former prime minister and long-time guru of left-wing, secularist ideology. Nobody had heard Mrs. Ecevit worrying about the future of Islam before; instead, she used to speak about the 'threat' of it. "

More:Mustafa Akyol on Turkey on National Review Online