the future of turkey | openDemocracy

Turkish freedom: a report from the frontline

Anthony Barnett

Turkey is a hinge country for the world's future: geographically bestriding Europe and Asia; bordering Iran, Iraq and the European Union; the historic ruler of the middle east; Muslim, but with a secular state; and a fast-developing democracy of 70 million people with a buoyant economy. But is Turkey a democracy?

Five columnists went on trial on 7 February 2006 in Istanbul's Bagcilar second criminal court – two of them professional journalists, the other three lecturers and writers – charged under Article 301 of Turkey's criminal code, which forbids the "public denigration" of both "Turkishness" and the country's institutions of government.

'Love me, or leave me?' The strange case of Orhan Pamuk

Murat Belge

Orhan Pamuk, the renowned Turkish writer, was charged in September 2005 for “publicly humiliating” Turkey and is currently awaiting trial. His compatriot Murat Belge explains how this son of Istanbul has become a scapegoat for a paranoid press, and looks at the wider implications for Turkish national identity.

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