‘Europe is like a bicycle, it falls down if it does not move on’

The above sentence belongs to the founder of the EU, the Belgian Paul H. Spaak. The picture that was portrayed on Sunday in the EU Parliament brought to my mind this sentence first.

The high increase of overwhelming nationalist parties along with the extreme rightist’s nature of Islamophobism both become prominent in locomotive countries of EU like France and baffled the center which argued the idea of Europe. Moreover, not only France but also England as well as Germany achieved significant breakthroughs. They turned upside down the balance in the EU parliament. Furthermore, as the chronic problem of Europeans, but in fact what must be read as a political estrangement, which is the greatest argument of Europe, that the more the democratic participation is fostered the more unwanted results become and portray quite an ironic situation. DEVAMI>>>…

Posted under Düşünce, English, Siyaset

After the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and the overthrowing of their dictators, it did not come off surprising that Libyans were encouraged to go for a kind of revolution that was unique to themselves.

At any rate, people were quite frustrated with the Kaddafi administration, which had seized the authority through the revolution that a 27-year-old military officer led. The Kaddafi revolution taking a shape from bottom to up held in a set of various hierarchically illegal networks. DEVAMI>>>…

Posted under English

Unless Soma becomes a turning point for discrepancies, which occur in principles, honesty, conscience, consistence, promises, responsibility, values, justice, then talks regarding all those won’t go beyond temporary emotions or political anger, which will become an unquestionable, pretentious drama show. DEVAMI>>>…

Posted under English

Our media perception meets a new type of violence. The ‘black violence’ that arises from Black Africa took its place among the world news. Boko Haram, who is responsible for the assaults that partly targeted Christians and partly Muslims was in fact made to be a potential criminal involved with Al-Qaeda. DEVAMI>>>…

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As the Turkish local elections approach, everyone can see the rising of tensions and excitement. After all is said and done and the election campaigns come to an end, the politicians then choose to ignore the extreme language used during the elections. Should they take this extreme talk seriously, all political relationships would have to be severed. DEVAMI>>>…

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The West’s nightmare has become true – Russia has annexed Crimea. As much as this may appear to be the result of a popular consensus, it is very obvious that Russia is now laying the bricks of its strategic plan one at a time. DEVAMI>>>…

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Rougly three hundred years after the Andalusian city of Granada fell, another Muslim land also fell victim to an invasion. In 1784, Crimea was invaded by Russian forces on the command of Catherine II.

This was the first loss of Ottoman territory in Europe that had always been Muslim land. Indeed, the Ottomans had been defeated in Europe before, but those defeats occured in lands that the Ottomans had militarily conquered and continued to host a strong non-Muslim population afterwards. DEVAMI>>>…

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The Spanish government has recognized the right of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain after the fall of Granada in 1492. This move will be applauded as an act of justice, albeit a late one.

However, the real reason behind this act has nothing to do with this. When Granada fell to the Catholics in 1492, Andalusian Muslims and Jews signed an agreement with the victors to guarantee their religious rights. Two years later, the Catholics broke this agreement with the Jews and expelled them from their homeland. Many Sephardic Jews then took refuge within the Ottoman Empire. DEVAMI>>>…

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While the massacres in Syria continue, the Geneva peace talks seem like nothing more than an attempt to buy time. After the extended Geneva II talks entered the second round, so far there have been no agreements beyond bringing the two sides to the negotiation table. However, diplomatic efforts continue to bring about a positive result. Nonetheless, the talks have been left to raw diplomacy, as the representatives of the two opposing sides have seemingly given up. DEVAMI>>>…

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In the Muslim world today, one of the most fundamental dilemmas experienced by Islamic movements is being caught between the concept of being, in a traditional sense, a religious community, and in a more modern sense, a political party.

Previously I had touched on the example of the Pakistan Jamaat-i Islami movement, and how it had gone through similar phases in their relationship with politics as Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. DEVAMI>>>…

Posted under English