Elif Shafak on Turkish-European connections

"Is it a curse or a blessing to live in interesting times?" asks Turkish writer Elif Shafak. She observes the current situation in her country, where Islamic democrats and undemocratic secularists are facing off. "In Turkey, modernisation has always been initiated and carried out by a political and cultural elite. Who represents the nation? The elite? The army? The conservatives? Each group sees itself as the sole representative of the state, without considering that the nation belongs to us all. Interestingly, the anti-Western hard-liners in Turkey and the anti-Turkish hard-liners in Europe have a lot in common. Both think Islam and Western democracy are incompatible. And both are against EU membership for Turkey."

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