Turkey

Sunday

Rose Asani

President Erdogan’s postmodern coup

‘Big theatre,’ the man who runs the shop downstairs said to me as I tried to buy a tin of tuna. Normally our exchanges are limited to a simple polite ‘hello, how are you, see you soon’. But this time he wouldn’t let me leave. He had something to say and I was his audience. He waved his arms about as the words flowed. He speaks no English, but through the Turkish I have learned and his hand signals I knew what he was trying to tell me. As if his words weren’t enough, he then began showing me the videos. I have seen some things in my time, but

Thursday

Timothy Garton Ash

Diary – 21 July 2016

These days, you only need to turn your back for five minutes and you’ve missed another horror. The Turkish coup may have been foiled by incompetence, Facetime and people power, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seizing the chance to consolidate his increasingly authoritarian regime. My friend Ayse Kadioglu, one of Turkey’s brave, embattled liberal intellectuals, compares the bombing of the parliament building in Ankara to the Reichstag fire of 1933 — not in the sense of being a put-up job, but as a pretext for strangling democracy. Our new Foreign Secretary needs to produce more than a rude limerick in response. In the last fortnight I have made my

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 21 July 2016

Home Theresa May made a speech in the open air in Downing Street after kissing hands with the Queen as the new Prime Minister. ‘As we leave the European Union,’ she said, ‘we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us.’ In her new cabinet Boris Johnson, the failed contender for the leadership of the party, was made Foreign Secretary, replacing Philip Hammond, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer in place of George Osborne, who was sacked. Amber Rudd became Home Secretary, replacing Mrs May, and Liz Truss became Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, replacing Michael Gove, who was sacked.

Elif Shafak

Turkey’s continental drift

In Turkish the word ‘yurt’ has two definitions. It means ‘place’, ‘land’, ‘territory’, ‘homeland’. It could also indicate a round, portable tent, the likes of which have been used by nomadic tribes for centuries. In my imagination I have always liked to combine the two definitions, wondering if motherlands could be just as peripatetic as their people. I know, for one, that no matter how itinerant I might have been all my life, it follows me like a shadow, this sad motherland of mine. Turkey’s many problems occupy my mind, crush my chest, weigh down my soul, invade my dreams. Not only me, of course. There are so many who

James Delingpole

Courageous Kemp

Before I set about reviewing Ross Kemp: The Fight Against Isis (Sky 1), I thought I’d have a glance to see whether other critics had been as impressed as I was. Clearly the flip groovester from the Guardian — who opened, inevitably, with a jaunty quip about Grant from EastEnders — had seen a very different documentary from the one I saw. Otherwise, he could not have failed to be moved by Kemp’s heartbreaking interview with the Yazidi woman from Sinjar who’d recently escaped from Isis. Her 10-year-old daughter squatted beside her — only survivor of the five children she had had when Isis captured her town. The eldest (11)

Tuesday

Alec Marsh

The war on Christians is extending into Turkey

Turkey’s President Erdogan is already facing international calls to respect human rights in Turkey following last weekend’s failed coup. Now he’s also being encouraged to champion the rights of Christians living in the country as well. The call is coming from the Anglican Church’s venerable man in Istanbul, Canon Ian Sherwood, who for 28 years has been chaplain of the British consulate there and priest of the Crimean Memorial Church in the city. ‘As long-centuries established Christians in Turkey we are alarmed at how life is evolving in Turkey,’ says Sherwood, who warns that the climate of tolerance has changed in the country, which is more than 99 per cent Muslim,

Sunday

Yvo Fitzherbert

Erdogan’s Islamist mobs know that their moment has finally arrived

Late on Saturday night, just 24 hours after the attempted coup, hundreds of supporters of President Erdogan swarmed into Taksim Square – the pulsating heart of secular, modern Turkey – to celebrate their victory with shouts of Takbir – ‘Allahu Akbar’, meaning ‘God is Great’. Already the story – so hard to piece together – was being put in stone by the AKP mob. ‘We are here to tell the world that we won, and we are the real Turkey. This is a victory against those traitor Gulenists.’ Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic cleric based in Pennsylvania, was once a key ally of Erdogan but relations have been fraught for several

Saturday

Rose Asani

Letter from Istanbul: how Turkey’s coup failed

‘A COUP! THERE’S A MILITARY COUP!’ That’s the first I heard last night about events in Istanbul. Since then, things unfolded at lighting speed. A curfew was put in operation, but many rallied against it and took to the streets – in defiance of the coup, it seems, rather than in support of it. I’m in Istanbul, but was been watching what’s happening via foreign media because that’s the best source right now. Outside, gunfire rang through the air. Some reports say 60 have been killed, with several hundred more seriously inured. President Erdogan had been holidaying in Marmaris, a southern coastal resort, when the tanks started to roll in to Istanbul. There were reports that

Thursday

Elif Shafak

Sleepless by the strait

In my novel Three Daughters of Eve, a well educated housewife with kids looks at her motherland, Turkey, and thinks: ‘They are not that different. My own life and this land of unfulfilled potentials.’ I wrote this novel in English first. It was then translated into Turkish by a professional translator, after which I rewrote it with my own rhythm and vocabulary. It’s a bit crazy, this constant commute between English and Turkish. There are things I find much easier to express in English — e.g. humour, irony, satire — and others I find easier to say in Turkish — melancholy, loss. The book is published in Turkey this summer

Wednesday

Rose Asani

Why the latest attack in Istanbul feels so much closer to home

‘Too close to home,’ is how most of my friends and colleagues in Istanbul described the attack at the city’s main airport. I feel the same. I fly in or out of Ataturk International airport a few times every month for work. I know its entrances and exits, the security barriers and shops, like the back of my hand. So when I saw the videos which emerged of the blast soon after, it’s like seeing the street I live on being blown up.  But I’ve been trying to work out why this attack feels more personal. Why it seems to have touched a nerve for me and so many other

Thursday

Kate Chisholm

Madeleine moments

I’d just heard (on catch-up) Jenny Abramsky (a former director of BBC radio) telling Gillian Reynolds (the esteemed radio critic of the Telegraph) why radio is so special to her: ‘It takes place in my head. It paints pictures in my mind. It talks to me as an individual. It surprises me. It stretches me.’ Then I popped down to the kitchen to make some soup for lunch, reached for the radio button and was hooked instantly as Jeremy Vine talked to a man who had lost his wife in a road accident when their child was just two. (Vine’s Radio 2 lunchtime programme on Monday was focusing on child

Wednesday

Melanie McDonagh

The collective amnesia over Turkey and the EU is astonishing

Just wondering: is there anyone out there who actually remembers supporting Turkish membership of the EU? Last night Sadiq Khan said the Brexit camp had been scaremongering with its ‘big fat lie’ that Turkey would join any time soon. (NB: Sadiq was a bit free with the ‘lie’ word; a generation ago, its use would have caused real offence; two generations ago he’d have been called out by the person he accused of being a liar. Ruth Davidson was more measured with her use of ‘untruth’.)  And Boris Johnson did look a bit abashed, though his retort (‘I am a Turk’) got lost in the exchanges. For he too was

Rose Asani

Istanbul’s European side is seeing its freedom eroded away

It was meant to be a relatively quiet event. A few fans gathering to take part in a global listening party in support of the new album by Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool. Instead what happened last Friday – and what followed over the weekend – has drawn attention to the changing nature of Istanbul. For centuries this Turkish city has been a melting pot of cultures. Two continents living side by side, separated only by the Bosphorus strait. It’s not unusual for Istanbulian’s to have breakfast on the European side, lunch on the Asian side, only to pop back to Europe for a night cap. And to the untrained eye this city is

Thursday

Rem Korteweg

Don’t panic! Turkey won’t be joining the EU anytime soon

The Leave campaign sees the EU-Turkey accession talks as a reason to drum up fears about migration. In fact, it is a red herring. True, David Cameron may have previously been one of the most vocal champions for Turkish EU membership, even if during the referendum campaign he said that Turkey will not join ‘until the year 3000’. But despite his apparent contradiction, he is right about one thing: Turkish membership is a long way off. So what do the accession talks look like as they stand? They are made up of 35 chapters in all but so far only one chapter – on science and research co-operation – has

Wednesday

James Forsyth

The Andrew Neil Interviews: George Osborne tried to deal with the Turkish question

PODCAST: Listen to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss George Osborne’s performance: In a feisty interview with Andrew Neil, George Osborne has just declared that Turkey is not going to become a member of the EU. Osborne said that ‘Turkey has gone backwards’ since 2010 when David Cameron voiced his enthusiastic support for it joining the EU. He then went on to say, ‘Is it going to be a member of the European Union? No, it is not’. I suspect that Osborne’s intervention won’t end the Turkish issue in this referendum campaign. It is, after all, still official government policy that Turkey should join the EU at some point. But

Tuesday

Rose Asani

President Erdogan’s views about women should terrify European feminists

As I entered my 30s I remember thinking how lucky I was. I had a successful career, owned property and was enjoying life as a singleton. Many of my friends were already married, some with children, but the desire wasn’t quite there for me. I wasn’t ready. Now as I march towards my 40s, I’ve embarked on a new life in Turkey. I’m still single, childless and successful. I’m happy, but apparently I shouldn’t be, as according to the country’s President, I have behaved in the wrong way. On the eve of Ramadan, the Muslim Holy month, President Erdogan gave all women something to think about during the fast. Addressing

Monday

James Forsyth

Vote Leave has brought out its Turkish weapon

Vote Leave feel that they now have the momentum in this campaign. The three polls out today all have them ahead. Inside the Leave camp, they think that it is their focus on the possibility of Turkey becoming an EU member that is, in part, responsible for this apparent shift in their favour. So, in their official referendum address, which will go to 40 million people, Vote Leave is going big on the question of Turkish accession. The leaflet — which you can see here — has a map on the back showing how if Turkey joins, the EU would border both Syria and Iraq. Now, I can already hear

Sunday

Douglas Murray

Another week of EU dishonesty, reviewed

After last week’s featherweight entrants, we were onto some seriously heavyweight fibs this week. In truth there were only two contenders in this week’s EU dishonesty stakes. The first was Jeremy Corbyn’s lacklustre attempt to explain why after a lifetime’s Euroscepticism he is backing ‘Remain’. Here is how the BBC captured the excitement of Corbyn’s speech: ‘The Labour leader said the EU could “deliver positive change” on issues ranging from mobile phone charges to clean beaches and protecting bees.’ Gosh. Well sign me up. Of course all the brightest and most honourable members of the Labour party – Frank Field, Gisela Stuart, Kate Hoey – are campaigning for ‘Leave’. But

Saturday

Tom Goodenough

The Spectator podcast: Hillary’s America | 21 May 2016

To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. What should we expect from a Hillary Clinton presidency? The Democrat frontrunner is now the firm favourite to win the White House, assuming that she can defeat her Republican rival Donald Trump. But what would her victory mean for America? In his Spectator cover piece this week, Christopher Buckley says one of Hillary’s prevailing characteristics is her ability to bore. He also argues that Clinton’s politic shapeshifting over the years may have enabled her to stand the test of time, but it’s also

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 19 May 2016

Home In the Queen’s Speech, the government made provision for bills against extremism and in favour of driverless cars, drones, commercial space travel and adoption. It proposed turning all prisons into academies or something similar and consolidating British rights while reducing the power of the House of Lords. The watchword was ‘life chances’. Boris Johnson MP said that the EU was an attempt to recover the continent’s lost ‘golden age’, under the Romans: ‘Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically.’ For his part, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that in the event of Britain leaving the EU, ‘Putin would be happy. I suspect al-Baghdadi [leader