On July 24, 2013, a “Letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey” was published as an ad in the British…
Beyond religio-secularism: Toward a political critique
Justice and Development Party (AKP)
Occupy Gezi, beyond the religious-secular cleavage
The protests in Turkey started on May 27 with a modest resistance movement against the destruction of Istanbul’s Gezi Park…
An excursion through the partitions of Taksim Square
Taksim Meydanı. Partition Square. Although it has taken on potent new resonances in recent days, the name of Istanbul’s throbbing central…
A tale of two flotillas
Given the close relationship, globally, between religious political action and religious charities, it should come as no surprise that there…
Human rights in the era of the AKP
For human rights advocates in Turkey, all political alliances are necessarily alliances of convenience. The reasons for this are myriad,…
On Turkish laicism
In a somewhat surprising move, Turkey's Constitutional Court announced today in a very close vote its decision to not ban…
Turkey’s coup by court
Running like a geological fault beneath Turkey is a long-standing split between the popularly elected government and the state. The…
The rise and fall of the AKP
Later this week, the Turkish Constitutional Court is expected to hand down a decision that will determine the fate of…
Does tolerance require struggle?
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im's erudite and thought-provoking book Islam and The Secular State provides a clear-sighted argument made from within the…
Beyond the headscarf
Last March, the Chief Public Prosecutor of Turkey's High Court of Appeals opened a closure case against the ruling Justice…