Though I find the predecesor before Gül even more interesting: Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Apparently he was the last secular president of Turkey. “During receptions at the presidential palace, Sezer refused to allow women wearing the headscarf to attend citing the laws on the separation of religion and state at the time; this resulted in the wives of Abdullah Gül and Erdoğan, Hayrünnisa Gül and Emine Erdoğan respectively, being barred from attendance. Erdoğan later said in public that he had ‘suffered a lot’ from Sezer.[3]” So he refused the wives of who would be his successors.
“During the 2014 presidential election, won by Erdoğan, Sezer openly refused to vote, citing the lack of a secularist candidate as his reason” Turkey has a strong secularist tradition and I really hope it returns sometime. Atatürk is still being celebrated, but do people still believe in his secular ideals?
If you’re not Muslim you’re mocked. Converting from islam is even worse.
And the ‘Progressives’ in center left parties got a weird case of being prejudiced and homophobic
And every 5 years there is a new Kurdish leftwing party, they keep banning them for cooperating with terrorists or whatever the real reason is
TIL: Abdullah Gül
Though I find the predecesor before Gül even more interesting: Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Apparently he was the last secular president of Turkey. “During receptions at the presidential palace, Sezer refused to allow women wearing the headscarf to attend citing the laws on the separation of religion and state at the time; this resulted in the wives of Abdullah Gül and Erdoğan, Hayrünnisa Gül and Emine Erdoğan respectively, being barred from attendance. Erdoğan later said in public that he had ‘suffered a lot’ from Sezer.[3]” So he refused the wives of who would be his successors.
“During the 2014 presidential election, won by Erdoğan, Sezer openly refused to vote, citing the lack of a secularist candidate as his reason” Turkey has a strong secularist tradition and I really hope it returns sometime. Atatürk is still being celebrated, but do people still believe in his secular ideals?
Atatürk is being used as a political gateway to Islamism… Somehow.
There are people who thoroughly believe in kemalism, but the modern CHP isn’t even kemalist themselves
Turkey also is weirdly prejudiced nowadays
If you’re not Muslim you’re mocked. Converting from islam is even worse. And the ‘Progressives’ in center left parties got a weird case of being prejudiced and homophobic
And every 5 years there is a new Kurdish leftwing party, they keep banning them for cooperating with terrorists or whatever the real reason is