Thursday, September 04, 2008

EU boosts Turkish secularism

"EU boosts Turkish secularism

By Hakan Altinay and Kalypso Nicolaidis

The question of whether European Union officialdom has taken sides in the ongoing clash between 'secularists' and 'Islamists' in Turkey is of profound current concern. Many in the first camp seem to believe so, citing as evidence the way that one EU representative after another dismissed the grounds of the indictment denouncing Turkey's ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (Justice & Development Party / AKP) as the 'focal point for anti-secular activities.' Europe seems to have become, according to some of these secularists, the great co-conspirator in Turkey against secularism - the very European value the founders of the Republic sought so passionately to affirm."

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