2006年VOA标准英语-Turkey Debates Its Future

By Simon Marks
Istanbul
20 December 2006
 
watch Turkey report

Talks between the government of Turkey and the European Union have stalled over Turkey's refusal to allow Greek-Cypriot ships to dock in its ports. The Turkish government insists that it's still serious about seeking membership of the European Union, despite opinion polls that show support for the idea is falling inside the country. Turkey itself is now gripped by a debate over the country's future direction.  And as Correspondent Simon Marks reports from Istanbul, the future of its secularist² nature may be at stake.

 
Club entertainment is popular in Istanbul 
If you want to catch a glimpse of modern Istanbul, it helps to stay up past midnight. At one nightclub the lights go down and the burlesque³ floor-show is revealing. Some of the city's most successful businesspeople bring their families and friends here. The show goes on six nights a week... at least it does at the moment.

Club manager Gulsum Sami wonders how long all this can continue. "Turkey has been a democratic country since, I mean, over 80 years.  So it is too complicated to change it into an Islamist country.  But of course they... this is their dream.” 

"They" are the members of the Turkish government, led by Prime Minister Recip Tayipp Erdogan, who won election in 2003. Since then, the country's secularists have worried that the governing Justice and Development Party is intent on turning back the clock to the time before Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded modern Turkey on the constitutionally-guaranteed principle of separation between religion and the state.

 
Bedri Baykam
Bedri Baykam is one of Turkey's most prominent artists -- he's also politically active defending the country's secular¹ principles. He says, "There is no something called 'soft Islamist government.' "

He accuses the government of rewriting school textbooks to emphasize the role of Islam, campaigning to limit the consumption of alcohol and the enormous number of restaurants that serve it, encouraging young women to wear headscarves or take up the veil, and showing intolerance for nude⁴ and erotic artworks, from timeless classics like Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People", to Baykam's own post-modernism. "When you take a frog and put it in boiling water, the frog would jump out and you could not eat it.  So what you do is you take a frog and put it in kind of coldish, lukewarm water and you start heating the water very, very slowly.  And then the moment the frog realizes what happens, it's too late.  This is the example we give for what they're doing to Turkish society".

Defenders⁵ of the government take a different view. They argue Turkish society is demanding changes in the way the country is run -- but they maintain the changes are moderate, and not designed to undo⁶ Turkey's secularist nature.

Fehmi Koru is a columnist⁷ who's close to the government -- he writes for the newspaper "Yeni Safak". "There is no change in Turkey now, and in the time when this government came into power. Some people who are less religiously inclined, expected that this government would make great changes in our way of life.  But it hasn't been happening that way, actually"

 
Prime Minister Recip Tayipp Erdogan
There is a potential flashpoint ahead.  Prime Minister Erdogan may seek the presidency⁸ next year - Parliament will choose a new president in April.

And secularists, like retired⁹ Istanbul University professor Nur Vergen, are horrified¹⁰ at the prospect¹¹ of an Islamist becoming the country's head of state. "The civil society of Turkey, which is very unorganized, I recognize, should do everything possible, but everything possible, to prevent not only Mr. Erdogan, but anyone like Mr. Erdogan".

There is another force in Turkey constitutionally charged with defending the country's secular nature:  the Army, which intervened politically in 1960, 1971 and again in 1980.

The new chief of the General Staff has made speeches warning of the need to preserve the country's essential character.

And one retired general, Edip Baser, says if needed, the Army will act. "If the Turkish military considers, evaluates that there is no other way, and if the public opinion insists that there is no other way to protect it than [the] army to come in and protect it, in that case, in such case, [the] army certainly should do whatever is necessary."

As the night wore on at the Istanbul nightclub, revelers sang a Turkish version of the 1970s classic "I Will Survive". But whether their lifestyle will survive in Turkey without considerable drama is a hotly-contested issue.

1 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

2 secularist   

n.现世主义者，世俗主义者；宗教与教育分离论者

参考例句：

3 burlesque   

v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿

参考例句：

• Our comic play was a burlesque of a Shakespearean tragedy.我们的喜剧是对莎士比亚一出悲剧的讽刺性模仿。
• He shouldn't burlesque the elder.他不应模仿那长者。

4 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

5 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

7 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

11 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。