European Institute

June 2013

Like millions inside and outside of Turkey, I spent the last three days and nights glued to my phone switching between my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Whilst local news channels showed a beauty contest, a couple of cooking shows and perhaps ironically a bunch of penguins, hundreds and thousands of people took to streets all over the country. You only knew the scale of the events if you were on the streets, or on social media or watched foreign news channels. It has been a distressing couple of days getting instant updates about which of my friends and family have been gassed, beaten or water cannoned – even some who wanted nothing to do with protests, but simply had errands to run. I have also had difficulties explaining to colleagues in Europe that no, the environmental movement is not that strong in Turkey and, yes, it was indeed a bunch of trees in a tiny park called Gezi (wonder) that sparked the protests.

June 2013

Contrary to popular belief, migration from Muslim countries is one reason why Europe is becoming more secular, not less.