ninme

The Times - A very Turkish coup? It may already be under way, by Amir Taheri

Mr Erdogan himself is an enigma. He gives the impression of a genuine democrat who believes that religion is a private matter. And yet he sent his daughters to university abroad because they were not allowed to wear the hijab at Turkish universities. His wife also wears the hijab. The hijab that the Erdogan womenfolk wear, however, is not the traditional Anatolian kapali (headscarf) that peasant women have always worn. Theirs is the type associated with political Islam since the 1970s.

I wonder where “abroad” is.

Update:

Speaking of giving impressions of being a genuine democrat who believes religion is a private matter…

The Corner - re: Turkey Chute, Michael Rubin

Well, we will see. On November 16, 1978, while still in France, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gave a press conference. The Guardian reported that he said, “I don’t want to have the power of government in my hand; I am not interested in personal power.” Lots of Western-leaning Iranian women supported Khomeini, because they believed his promise that he was interested in democracy, not power. Needless to say, he lied. The same women regretted their support once Khomeini solidified his grip on power, but by that point, it was too late. Let’s hope for the best; it may very well be a bumpy ride.

The Corner - Islamosuckered, Mark Steyn

Michael, you’re right to remind us of all those Iranian secular socialists and accommodationist middle-classes who thought the Ayatollah was an unusually stern face on an otherwise conventional popular uprising. The intellectuals who accompanied him back from exile in Paris were mostly dead or fled within a couple of years.