"Flags, veils and sharia
Jul 17th 2008 | ANKARA, KARS AND TOKAT
From The Economist print edition
Behind the court case against Turkey’s ruling party lies an existential question: how Islamist has the country become?
A MARBLE fountain held up by bare-breasted maidens in the eastern city of Kars is a source of pride for the city’s mayor, Naif Alibeyoglu. Yet last November the sculpture vanished a few days before a planned visit to Kars by Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Fearful of incurring the wrath of Mr Erdogan and his mildly Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), the mayor (himself an AKP man) reportedly arranged for its removal."
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