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Strittmatter, Kai
5 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Turkey needs 15 more years
"The accession process will take another 15 to 20 years," writes Kai Strittmatter in the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung on the new EU Progress Report on Turkey: "In 15 years Turkey will not be the Turkey it is today. It will grow far faster economically than all other EU countries. And we may be confident in the steps it is taking toward true democracy. That the country is 'structurally unfit for accession' as a member of the [conservative] CDU said on Wednesday, is nonsense. At the same time, a positive outcome of the EU talks is anything but in the bag. The old, undemocratic elite no longer has the power to shape the army, the bureaucracy or the judiciary - but it still has the power to sabotage. Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan and the Turkish democrats need all the help they can get, and Europe must not withhold its support."
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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Domestic Policy, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Europe, » Turkey
Elif Shafak on the lively literature scene in Turkey
Turkish writer Elif Shafak will discuss literature in Europe with her Catalan colleague Baltasar Porcel at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Sunday. Next year Turkey will be the fair's Guest of Honour. In an interview with Kai Strittmatter she talks about the complexity of her home country: "Of course it's unfortunate that authors and journalists are put on trial in Turkey and that my book was brought to trial, but Turkey is more than that. Turkey is a country with a tremendous diversity in voices. Our literature scene alone is bubbling with energy. But there are so many clichés about Turkey. Sometimes I get the feeling we're not exotic enough to be interesting; not important enough to be part of your literature. We still live in a one-way world: new publications in French, English and German are published very quickly here. But what about the other way round? Very little. We read much more of your literature than you read of ours."
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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Literature, » Europe, » Turkey
All available articles from » Elif Shafak
Abdullah Gül elected Turkish president
Kai Strittmatter describes how Gül's opponents eventually ran out of arguments and have been left with only one flimsy complaint: Hayrünnisa Gül's headscarf. "A bearded man with a wife who wears a headscarf - and not even loosely in accordance with long-standing Turkish tradition but tightly bound under her chin so as to completely cover her hair and neck. The army hasn't missed a single opportunity to depict this as the worst possible scenario from its point of view. But what about the rest of the country? As far as it's concerned this is a step further towards normality. In a recent poll conducted by the liberal newspaper Milliyet, 70 percent said it made no difference whether the president's wife wore a headscarf or not. Almost as many say it doesn't matter that the president is religious. They still trust Gül to protect Turkey's secular constitution. Gül's opponents will watch the couple's every move, waiting for them to make the slightest mistake. However the past few years under the AKP government have illustrated how superficial their old dress code really is. All of a sudden it was the moustachioed devout who were the more open-minded and the purported secularists in their fine suits who were the diehard conservatives."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Turkey
Turkey's disillusionment with the EU
At a meeting in Ankara the EU has called on Turkey to push forward its stalled reforms. Kai Strittmatter reports that the demand has met with the bitter ridicule of liberal and pro-European Turks in particular. He goes on to explain that the EU has lost much of its appeal for Turkey. "The turbulence in the country, the wave of nationalism, the restrictions on civil rights, the return of the military to politics - it's no coincidence that all this has gone hand in hand with a sense of disillusionment regarding the EU, Angela Merkel's blunders and the anti-Turkish rhetoric of Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2005, Turkey was promised fair negotiations; now it sees this promise called into question day after day."
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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Turkey
Will Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan run for President?
The registration period for all candidates who want to run in the presidential elections due to be held in two weeks' time began today. It remains unclear whether Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of the national conservative AKP will run, but a group of opponents to his candidacy is already forming. Erdogan's AKP has its roots in the Islamic milieu, and many fear that his election would mean the complete Islamisation of the country. According to Kai Strittmatter, the "real battle line" runs elsewhere: "The Kemalists [opposed to the candidature of Erdogan], the self-appointed heirs of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic, are the old elite in Turkey. They, having controlled and plundered the state for decades, now fear they could be pushed out of power and deprived of their sources for good. ... It's remarkable that it's by no means only conservative Muslims who are backing Erdogan's AKP, but also Istanbul entrepreneurs, the Liberals, the pro-Europeans and the Turkish minorities. They all point out that Turkey has never been as open and democratic as it is today, after four years of AKP government." Strittmacher points out that it would therefore be wiser for Erdogan not to stand for President and let one of his allies run instead."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Turkey
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