Before "The Shoe," there was "The Suit"

I just spent some time today in the factory of the Turkish shoemaker who claims that it was his company's shoe that was thrown at George W. Bush and that his sales are now booming. Hard to verify his claims: the offending shoes have apparantly been destroyed, although I did see a group of men in the company's workshop feverishly making pairs of the shoe -- now renamed the "Bye Bye Bush" model -- for delivery to Iraq.

There certainly is a precedent for this intersection of politics and fashion (if that's a word we can use in connection with a very chunky, though suprisingly light, pair of shoes). In late 2005, Istanbul suitmaker Recep Cesur made headlines and then reaped a harvest of increased sales after Saddam Hussein appeared in a Baghdad court wearing a pinstriped Cesur suit. Cesur's sales skyrocketed in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, his suits now carrying with them the scent of power while making the statement that "I'm sticking it to the Americans" (or, more likely, to George Bush). During a visit to Cesur's Istanbul showroom, I even met an Iranian wholesaler who was snapping up Cesurs. The Iranians, who suffered terribly during the long war with Iraq in the 1980's, are no fans of Saddam, he told me. But a Cesur suit now had cache, he said. "If Michael Jackson drinks Coke, people will go to the supermarket and ask for Coke, not something else," he said.

You can read the article about Cesur and his suits here.

A Turkish Mea Culpa?

A group of Turkish academics and intellectuals have launched an online campaign that allows Turks to sign on to an apology for the "great catastrophe" that the Armenians suffered during World War I. The apology, now signed by more than 15,000, studiously avoids the "G" word, but it is being seen as another important step in making the Armenian issue less of a taboo in Turkey.

The tight social, political and legal limits that control the discussion of the Armenian issue in Turkey have slowly been expanding over the last few years, although frequently it has felt like a one step forward, two steps back kind of dynamic. This was painfully evident in the case of murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, whose insistent efforts to normalize the issue earned him three bullets in the back of his head.

The Armenian issue also seems to have a way of exposing an intolerant streak in Turkish society. A group of retired ambassadors, who are issuing their own counter-petition, have called the signers of the apology campaign "traitors." Canan Aritman, a member of parliament with the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), has upped the ante: after Turkish president Abdullah Gul refused to criticize the online apology, saying the signers had a right to post it, Aritman accused the president of being -- heaven forbid -- an "Armenian." "Investigate the ethnic origin of the president's mother and you will see," she said.

Gul quickly responded, saying all Turkish citizens are equal, no matter what their background. Just to be safe, though, he also added that both his mother and father come from families that have been Muslim and Turkish for "centuries." Good to know. (UPDATE -- Gul is now suing Aritman, for the symbolic sum of 1 lira, claiming a "heavy assault" on his "personal and family values, honor and reputation.") 

There have been calls for the CHP to censure Aritman. So far, the party has not done that. The MP, meanwhile, remains unapologetic. "If I had seen [Gul], I would have thrown a shoe at him," she was quoted as saying after her initial remarks were criticized. 

As an antidote to Aritman's mind-numbing blather, read Sahin Alpay's thoughtful piece in Today's Zaman about why he decided to sign the online apology.

Turkish Reforms in a Dangerous Stall?

Observers of Turkish politics have been noting for the last few years that Turkey's reform process -- mostly spurred by the country's European Union membership process -- has basically come to a halt. Now there are concerns that beyond a stall, Turkey may actually be backsliding on the reform front. Two recent reports, both well worth reading, make this very clear.

The first, by the International Crisis Group, says the next year will find Turkey's EU membership at the "make or break" stage. The comprehensive report lays blame on both Turkey and the EU for the current state of affairs, but also warns that Ankara's reform program has gone "off course."

The second report, by Human Rights Watch, gives a sense of what can happen when reforms stall. The well-documented report takes a look at the troubling recent rise in police violence in Turkey, much of it attributed to a law passed in 2007 which gave the police broader powers to use lethal force.

The Turkish government had promised 2008 would be the "Year of the EU," but then had to back off that promise when they were forced to deal with numerous domestic fires. Now we are being told that 2009 will be the new "Year of the EU," although only after local elections in March. We'll see. As these two reports make clear, though, waiting much longer to get the reform process back on track could be quite costly.

My Favorite Creationist

An article (pdf) by Salman Hameed in December's Science Magazine warns about the rise of Islamic creationism, which draws its inspiration from the American creationist movement. For those of us living in Turkey, the growing influence of Islamic creationism comes as no surprise. The country is home to Adnan Oktar (pictured above), whose deceptively named Foundation for Scientific Research is probably the main force behind the rise of creationism in the Muslim world, publishing popular books on the subject in dozens of languages  and sponsoring "scientific" traveling exhibits that purport to disprove evolution. 

You can read more about Oktar and his organization in an article I wrote for the Christian Science Monitor last year.

Cracks in the Ilisu Dam Project?

The Ilisu dam project in southeast Turkey has been one of the country's most controversial energy and infrastructure plans for years. The proposed dam, which would be Turkey's 2nd largest, would lead to the displacement of tens of thousands -- mostly Kurdish villagers -- and the flooding of Hasankeyf, a unique, historic town on the Tigris River. The Turkish government claims the dam is an important part of a larger plan to bring economic development to the struggling region, but locals believe the damage caused by the project will outweigh any of its benefits. 

The project might now be in danger. According to an article in today's English-language Hurriyet, some of the Ilisu dam's main financial backers -- Austria, Germany and Switzerland -- are considering pulling out of the project because Turkey has failed to meet certain criteria regarding the dam's impact on the environment and human rights. Turkey could still move ahead with building the dam without the three countries' loans, but their backing out would still be a major blow and an important victory for the dam's opponents.

I visited the area around Hasankeyf last summer and filed this report for Eurasianet, looking at the Ilisu project and the larger economic development plan for the region.

UPDATE -- The German government has now officially withdrawn its support for the Ilisu dam.

(Two children in Hasankeyf fishing in the Tigris River. The town, which contains ruins dating back to Assyrian and Roman times, would end up mostly underwater if the Ilisu dam project is realized. By Yigal Schleifer)

Working to Death in Turkey's Shipyards

The shipyards in Istanbul's Tuzla region have been booming over the last few years, turning Turkey into one of the world's leading shipbuilders. This has come at a cost, though, with injuries and deaths in the shipyards also on the rise. One of the main reasons for this is the increasing use of subcontractors to do most of the work in Tuzla, often times in violation of Turkish law. The use of subcontractors -- many of them poorly trained and paid -- gives Turkey its competitive edge, but advocates for the workers say its a system bound to produce more fatalities and injuries. You can read more about Tuzla's shipyards in this Eurasianet article.

UPDATE -- Jody Sabral, a colleague in Istanbul, has produced a short documentary about the working conditions in Tuzla for an Al Jazeera (English) program called "People & Power." You can watch the show here.

(Subcontracters in Tuzla's shipyards protesting during a one-day strike this past June. Many of the shipyards have been resisting the workers' efforts to unionize. Photo by Yigal Schleifer.)

Banned in Turkey, Pt. II

For those interested in reading more about Turkey's misguided internet censorship laws, a new report by Cyber-Rights.Org is essential reading. A PDF version can be downloaded here.

Also, a very interesting article in the New York Times Magazine gives some more details about Google's struggle with the Turkish courts over their YouTube ban and about the company's growing role in determining the limits of free speech.