Foreign journalists writing about Turkey like to focus on the most fundamental divide in Turkish society: the rift between religious conservatives and secularists.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Turkey is immersed in a profound social and political conflict between secularists, who have been in power since the republic was founded, and an insurgent Islamic-based movement that seeks to increase the role of religion in public life.
It is beneficial for Turkish democracy that not all religious conservatives are united under one banner.
I have been attacked in Turkey more for my interviews than for my books. Political polemicists and columnists do not read novels there.
It is well known that Turkey has more imprisoned journalists than any other country, but as a result of the chilling effect of these prosecutions on the press, many stories never make the news.
I know some really outstanding Turkish journalists, and have been pleased and honored to be able to join with them a few times in their courageous protests against state terror and repression.
I don't much care whether rural Anatolians or Istanbul secularists take power. I'm not close to any of them. What I care about is respect for the individual.
The discourse of the West and the attitudes of its leaders are important because they influence public debate in Turkey.
There's been quite a clear upswing in nationalist sentiments. Everyone is talking about it, in Turkey as well.
These political movements flourish on the margins of Turkish society because of poverty and because of the people's feeling that they are not being represented.
With the backdrop of its geostrategic location and historical ties with the Middle East, Turkey has an essential role to play for the stability, peace and social development of the region.
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