Sent in by a reader:
The last two [weeks] I’ve been in Turkey and I got the impression the country’s going slightly back towards some sort of fundamentalism. It may not be as aggressive as others — yet — but Atatürk’s legacy may be slowly fading off. They do not seem interested in joining the EU anymore, since they think they can have a greater advantage if they play the role of transition zone between east and west.Anyway, all this to say that there is a Turkish book about Islamic terrorists killing the Pope in Istanbul that is becoming a best seller there. … This is the picture of a promo poster in a bookshop in old Istanbul taken last week (Sept. 15th, 2006).
Get the RSS
Comments to this entry
Chirol
September 20, 2006
8:41 pm
John Brown
September 22, 2006
3:29 pm
The Turks could obviously do with some lessons in behavioral psychology, but that's been the case since their debutante ball during the Reagan era, and is not to excuse the contribution that the attitudes (albeit very different ones) of Europeans and Americans have had in creating the mess. Things were different when EU accession seemed more feasible, Muslims (again, insofar as one's identity, not religion) weren't being internationally demonized, and their beloved Clinton was helping fellow Muslims in Kosovo and charming Turkish babies instead of invading neighbouring countries.
As for their horrible reading habits - relatively high illiteracy (far cry from pakistan though), bad schooling, ridiculous media... friends who work in publishing there are a pretty pessimistic lot. And although a literary history is slowly dawning, it's a far cry from what we Anglophones can boast of... I find this very depressing, but provided the West remains constructively engaged with Turkey, it will inevitably advance in a positive direction...
Elizabeth
September 22, 2006
7:15 pm
Have you seen the bestseller lists in the United States??? And that's hardcover.
Give me a break. People around the world have terrible taste, love to read about and watch murder ("sex and sadism", as John Steinbeck pointed out 40 years ago), and root for people like them. (In Turkey, that would be poor, with dreams of their fate being meaningful, though they probably don't have access to that through formal channels.)
Most of the people in this little town are still re-reading books about armageddon. Boast away, if you want, but I wouldn't.
Metin
October 12, 2006
5:28 pm
This is not an significant indicator of islamic terrorism supporters in Turkey.
By the way, if you visit Turkish bookstores, you would know the book called "Metal Storm" which is a fiction about a war between USA and Turkey...it was also a bestseller.
So, now can we say that "Turkish people want a war between USA and Turkey" ? Funny:))
http://www.aina.org/news/20050220125845.htm
http://antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=5362