Marvine Howe -- Turkey today: a nation divided over Islam's revival
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Great discussion of important issues in Turkey.

Howe spends much of the book analyzing the conflicts between
secularists and Islamists , but also gives a lesser amount of space
to the divisions over the Kurds and the Armenians, as well as
Turkey's attempts to enter the European Union (and its rejection).
You will also find a bit of information about recent art and
literature in Turkey, but even there, she is most concerned with
differences between secular artists and Islamic ones.

The secular vs. Islamists issues are complex and difficult to work
out.  Howe comments on the "headscarf wars" in detail.  Some of us,
for example here in the U.S., are inclined to react with "what's
the problem; let them wear what they want".  But, in a country like
Turkey, with an overwhelming majority of Muslims and many of those
politically well organized, we can see how secularists and
non-Sunni Muslims (the Alevi community, for example, which has a
sizable minority in Turkey) would feel threatened.  As Howe
reports, these are issues which draw thousands into the streets for
rallies on both sides.  It is hard not to believe that Turkey would
be a theocracy were it not for the willingness of the military to
step in to block that or to threaten to do so.

About the Kurdish problem, Howe is among those we believe that (1)
there no hope for a military solution and (2) that the Kurds must
be given some amount of freedom to express their cultural identity. 
Again, it's easy to see another view, especially a view in which
the PKK is seen as a terrorist organization and is supported by
some neighbors with bad intentions (Iran and Syria) and in which a
separate Kurdish state is ominously in the future.

With respect to Turkey's desire to enter the European Union, now
that some countries in the EU have recently had so much trouble, in
part because of the restricted options imposed because their
currency is tied to the Euro (think Greece and Ireland), perhaps
some Turks will feel less of a desire for that.  They might be
feeling a bit lucky not to be tied into that regime and the
austerity measures that it can impose.

One additional issue, also covered briefly by Howe, is the wide
disparity of wealth and poverty and the extremes of modernity and
backwardness among Turkey's population.  Turkey has citizens who
are *extremely* rich; but there are also masses who live in extreme
poverty, both in Istanbul's slums and in rural areas in eastern
Anatolia.  And, on one hand, Turkey has many people who are wired
and on-line and computer savvy and constantly using cell phones, and
on the other hand many who are just barely living on the grid.

If you want to learn about Turkey, its politics, and the country's
significant issues, this book is an excellent place to start.  I'd
like to read an account of the more recent political events,
especially those related secularists and Islamists, but hopefully I
can get that from another source.

12/10/2010

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