Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The city where Turkey's republic lost its way

"The city where Turkey's republic lost its way

Published: 27/6/2007 | Last Updated: 27/6/2007 00:45 London Time

If anywhere in Turkey ought to be an opposition stronghold, it is Sivas. This city of 350,000 people on the high Anatolian plateau, 450km east of Ankara, was the base from which Ataturk's republican revolution spread to the rest of the country nearly 90 years ago. A ­slogan in gold lettering beside a statue of the nation's founder, just off the main square, says: 'The republic began here.'"

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