"No reason to panic," say Dietrich Alexander. "In a democratic decision-making process Turkey has loosened its ban on headscarves. The country has thus liberated itself from the constraints of an anachronistic piece of legislation brought in by Kemal Atatürk more than 80 years ago and thus become a little more honest in its search for a national identity. ... Nevertheless, it would not be good if Prime Minister Erdogan's conservative-Islamic governing party were to use its comfortable parliamentary majority to take further steps perceived by secularly-oriented Turks as breaking taboos -- such as introducing a ban on consuming alcohol in public, favouring graduates of religious Imam-Hatip schools or prescribing prudish regulations for bathing attire. After all it is important for the government to remain on good terms with the country's urban elite." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Religión, » Turquía
Todos los textos disponible de » Dietrich Alexander

"After the vote, 100 000 people demonstrated in Ankara to protest against the measure, seeing it as an attack against secularism. Attitudes that reveal a division in the country between two different worlds," notes the Lisbon daily. "What's in the balance here represents much more than a story about the veil in a country between two continents, where enthusiasm for Europe has diminished considerably as Brussels imposed a series of successive obstacles and reports. It's for this reason that the EU cannot watch what's going on in Turkey from a more or less neutral perspective. On the contrary, Europe must encourage those who struggle for modernity." (10/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Religión, » Europa, » Turquía

"The state has the right to forbid its employees to wear religious symbols, but it does not have the right to expect female students as 'customers' of the university to remove their headscarves when they enter the campus. This piece of fabric cannot bar admission to higher education," writes Helmar Dumbs. "The dangers are elsewhere, for example in the mounting reports that Erdogan favours civil servants whose wives wear the 'turban.' This is what undermines the foundations of a state that is officially neutral on religion. For how secular is a state whose religious authority even interferes in Friday sermons? De facto Islam is the state religion in Turkey, while the Christian Churches are subjected to official harassment. This is not the separation of state and religion, it is total control of religion by the state." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Turquía
Todos los textos disponible de » Helmar Dumbs

Cyrill Stieger thinks there are more important issues to be decided in Turkey than headscarves. "The notorious Article 301 of the penal code, which punishes 'denigration of Turkish identity,' must be abolished if Turkey wishes to become a modern democratic state. The Alevite religious minority still does not have a right to hold its own religion classes, and Kurdish schools are not allowed to teach in Kurdish. ... Until the recent abolition of the headscarf ban in universities no major reform projects have been implemented since EU accession talks began in October 2005, and that despite a clear power situation in parliament. ... It is not the headscarf issue that decides how Islamic, democratic or nationalistic the governing party is. Only once Turkey has a new constitution will it become clear what Erdogan really wants and what direction Turkey is going in." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Turquía
Todos los textos disponible de » Cyrill Stieger

Coining the term 'iWar' to refer to hacker attacks on consumer and political websites, researcher Johnny Ryan argues that a period of sustained internet piracy is on the horizon. "The advent of iWar reflects the powerful trends that have dominated the first decade of the 21st century: the spread of the internet, its empowerment of individuals, and the relative decline of the power of the state to control the communications infrastructure. ... iWar might be used by powerful nations to apply pressure on weaker adversaries in a modern form of 'gunboat diplomacy', by non-state actors to leverage its convenience and potency in assaults on nation-state infrastructures, or by sovereign states using non-traceable, privateer-style 'outriders'. A new age of anarchy and piracy that will both serve and undermine the interests of power is in prospect. The need both for security counter-measures and adequate legal frameworks to meet this threat is pressing." (06/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Medios de comunicación online, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Johnny Ryan

Following a fire in a block of flats in Ludwigshafen in which nine Turkish tenants died, a heated discussion has begun in Germany about how Germans treat Turks - the country's largest ethnic minority. During his visit to Germany, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan also became involved in the debate. "Things have built up to this," declares journalist Zafer Sanocak on the debate. "Anyone who believes the fire in Ludwigshafen is the sole reason for current German-Turkish tensions is wrong. The controversy about building mosques, the Marco case, the endless discussion about integration, forced marriage and honour killings are all issues that have helped make the Turks a stigmatized minority in Germany in recent years. And it has also created a German majority that defines itself by distancing itself from this minority. ... There is deep mistrust between many Germans and Turks. Ultimately the conflict is between religions, cultures and ethnic groups and not between inidividuals and viewpoints." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Migración, » Integración, » Minorías, » Alemania
Todos los textos disponible de » Zafer Senocak

A demonstration of support for Ayaan Hirsi Ali took place in Paris on February 10th. French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy used the opportunity to call on France to naturalise the former Dutch parliamentarian, and to give her European-sponsored security. "Isn't it the soul of Europe, its profound identity, its heritage that is in the balance when she pleads ... for a society where the theological-political link that modern Europe was built against is finally broken ? It's hard to find anyone more European today than Ayaan Hirsi Ali. And it is difficult, even more difficult, to do this with the idea of a great European disowned definitively by her spiritual homeland. Look at this European who intends to pursue the fight for the fundamental values of Europe, forced to leave the continent and permanently exile herself in the United States. This will be more than paradoxical, it will be absurd - and more than absurd, a bad omen." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Religión, » Filosofía, » Francia, » Holanda, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Bernard-Henri Levy

"The blizzard of controversy that has attended the Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks about the 'inevitability' of parts of Islamic law being introduced in Britain has thrown a rare spotlight on this country's existing sharia councils", writes journalist Ayesha Khan. "The erroneous caricature of sharia as synonymous with stoning or flogging is a million miles from the reality in Britain. The councils' judgments have no statutory basis in law, with participants abiding by rulings voluntarily, and the vast majority of cases concern relatively unremarkable divorce applications. ... The process of female divorce (khula) women go through can seem unfair. ... And yet for all that, a great number of women who feel religiously or culturally inclined still prefer a religious divorce to a civil one. Indeed, to outlaw the sharia process would make it nigh on impossible for some women to get a divorce of any kind whatsoever." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Religión, » Integración, » Minorías, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Ayesha Khan

The Romanian goverment has issued an emergency decree allowing the agency in charge of the secret service (Securitate) files to continue its work. In the future, however, the agency will only publish the files and it will be left up to the courts to decide whether someone acted as an informer. Mircea Kivu comments: "The agency was created to tell the public which holders of and candidates for public office worked as informers for the Securitate. Now the agency no longer has a right to say who was an informer and who wasn't. ... If we have to wait for the courts to decide how extensive collaboration with the Securitate was then this is doubly absurd. Not only will wolves sit in judgement over the sheep, but the process will take just as long as the trials for corruption. Because any outcome will be put off until after the elections." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Mircea Kivu

The outcome of the Czech presidential elections is still unclear. Neither the incumbent Václav Klaus nor his challenger Jan Švejnar have succeeded in a winning majority support among the parliamentarians and senators. What is more, the electors have spent more time discussing electoral procedures than the political visions of the two candidates. Political scientist Tomáš Lebeda comments: "Optimists who were expecting a dignified and correctly staged election campaign must be shocked. But sceptics who had predicted that the elections would not run without tussles must be equally shocked. Events at Prague Castle exceeded the pessimistic expectations of even the most cynical observers. ... Nothing is sacrosanct to the Czech parliament. Even when it comes to electing a head of state it is not capable of behaving with dignity." (11/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » La República Checa
Todos los textos disponible de » Tomáš Lebeda

As Cyprus heads towards its presidential elections on February 17th, the daily questions the advanced age of the candidates. The incumbent president Tassos Papadopulos, aged 74 years, is expected to win. "The presidency is a very demanding job, which requires a constantly focused mind, the ability to cope with continuous pressure, to juggle a big range of responsibilities and to work long hours. ... A politician should be at the peak of his powers to lead a government. ... It may be true that with old age comes a degree of wisdom, but other less desirable things come as well, such as falling energy levels, dogmatism, extreme conservatism and in many cases health problems, which could seriously hamper performance and judgment. ... While it may be comforting for the older generation to have a president who uses a discourse it is familiar with and who shares its fear of change, this prevents our society from making any big strides forward." (10/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Chipre

Paul de Hen, the Brussels correspondent for the Dutch weekly, ponders what the French EU presidency, which begins July 1st, will look like. "The governments of the EU members are judged by their collegues on the quality of their presidency: can they succeed in making a mark all while avoiding defending only their national interests? Do they give the smallest and newest EU members as much value as everyone else during meetings? ... European wisdom dictates that these small countries will often do a better job than the bigger ones. They generally have fewer interests to defend, and they know from experience how important it is to allow everyone a chance to speak. The last time that France took its turn at the presidency of the EU, it was during the second half of 2000. And in collective memory, that presidence left a particulary disastrous image." (08/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Francia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Paul de Hen

An English-language entry on the prophet Muhammad in the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, which showed Medieval images of the prophet, prompted massive protests in the Islamic world on account of the Islamic ban on images. "Religion should not be used for blackmail," the newspaper writes. "The whole thing is absurd. As the Danish Imam Abdul Wahid noted, images of the prophet have a long tradition in the Muslim world. ... It would be good if more moderate Muslims were to speak out openly about reactionary attempts to use blackmail. Ultimately these are what really hurts Islam, because they carry the risk of casting this religion in an unsympathetic or absurd light." (10/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Dinamarca

A study that considered the possibility of selling art from public collections in France was submitted to the Minister of Culture last week. Sophie Cachon lauds the report's negative conclusions. "We can easily imagine that the Mona Lisa or other classics of painting are untouchable, but we ignore the destiny that could befall other works, believed to be cluttering up the storerooms. ... At what price should they sell the pieces that are rarely displayed ? Have they thought about doing the same thing with the rarely-read books in the National Library of France ? ... The [report's] conclusions are far from being favourable to this idea, judged by its author as 'a little iconoclastic.' ... A Museum is first and foremost the sum of knowledge sedimented by time. A sort of long memory, living and evolving, totally incompatable with the short term and the world view that it imposes." (06/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Exposiciones / Museos, » Política Cultural, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Sophie Cachon

As Ireland will be the only EU country holding a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, journalist Vincent Brown attempted to obtain a copy of the document. "I would like to do my own evaluation of the Reform Treaty, and would like to understand it - but how could I do so if there was not a copy of the treaty ? ... I was told that our democratically-elected politicians could tell us citizens what the Reform Treaty was about, and on the basis of what they told us, we could vote. ... Just think of the sheer outrageous arrogance of our betters who want us to go into the ballot boxes sheepishly and vote Yes to a treaty that we cannot possibly understand from the documentation they have made available. ... [How] are we expected to approve a treaty that affects our Constitution without being able to understand what it is about, other than by trusting the word of these arrogant trick artists ?" (10/02/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Constitución de la UE, » Irlanda
Todos los textos disponible de » Vincent Browne