Good news from Turkey
I spoke at length with Turkish officials last night. What is happening in Ankara is amazing. Crowds booed Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul—the ruling party’s representative at the funeral—and police corridors had to protect the ruling AKP ministers from the crowds. Journalists are also saying people screamed “Murderer” at the Prime Minister. The crowd even booed former AKP politicians who had defected from the party in recent months. Tens of thousands of Turks are rallying spontaneously in favor of secularism and liberalism. Some Turkish journalists are beginning to describe the events of the last couple days as Turkey’s 9/11. It has certainly been a wake-up call. I saw some faxes of Turkish papers yesterday carrying comments to the effect “We are not Iran.” Turkish papers are traditionally slow to take on the government because so many media conglomerate owners rely on state contracts for their other businesses. However, once the public mood shifts, the newspapers pile on. And that is what they are doing. Turkish security officials are investigating the assassin’s ties to the AKP and there are also some rumors—so far unconfirmed—that he had recently trained in Iran. People in Istanbul and Ankara are talking about early elections. It is unclear how long the AKP can continue to govern, or whether other political parties will want to ally themselves with the group in a coalition.
The other day we had some horrible news out of Turkey with the attack on the Turkish High Court. This response is more than encouraging.
