Free Republic

For decades his picture dominated Turkey, piercing blue eyes staring from hoardings, keeping watch over city streets and army barracks. Schoolyards echoed every morning to his oath: "Happy is he who can say 'I am a Turk!'" Now that oath rings out no more and the image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular republic, seems for some to be retreating into the shadows, victim of a new ruling class they suspect of cherishing a new more 'Islamic' Turkey. Turkey's "Kemalists" flinch at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan advising women on the number of children they should have, fostering restrictions...

Yes, the enforcers of the Turkish state, those guardians of Kemalism, are once again thrown into a panic because the people they have officially denied and repeatedly attempted to silence for a little over eighty years still have voice. In case you don't know, I am talking about the recent panic over the Kurdish satellite TV channel, Roj TV. Turkey has been applying pressure to Denmark so that it will shut down Roj TV, because of Turkish claims that it has ties to a "terrorist" organization, the PKK. The US has also began attempting to pressure Denmark on behalf of...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Moderate Islam or Fata Morgana? and freemuslims.org Speaks Out.There is good news to report: The idea that "militant Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution" is finding greater acceptance over time. But there is also bad news, namely growing confusion over who really is a moderate Muslim. This means that the ideological side of the war on terror is making some, but only limited, progress.The good news: Anti-Islamist Muslims have found their voice since September 11. Their numbers include distinguished academics such as Azar Nafisi (Johns Hopkins), Ahmed al-Rahim (formerly...