VOA标准英语2009年-Turkish Voters Head to Polls, Sunday

Turkish voters go to the polls in nationwide local elections on Sunday, March 29. The predominantly Kurdish Southeast, and in-particular Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, is seen as a key for the ruling Islamic- rooted AK party. In the last general election they scored a surprising victory over the pro-Kurdish DTP, and are aiming to do better this round. But the DTP are fighting back by focusing on women rights.

Earlier this month at least 50,000 people gathered in the heart of Diyarbakir to commemorate¹ the birth of Mohammed. The meeting also saw strong condemnation² of Israel and Jews over the attack by Israeli forces on Gaza last January. It was largest religious gathering³ the city has seen in living memory. One of those attending was a man named Ahnet.

Every year he says, this meeting is getting bigger, in the past only a few villagers would come, but now most of the villagers are coming. He says people are again becoming more and more aware of their religion. With Islam he says, there must be unity⁴ so our number has to grow.

The predominantly Kurdish southeast had traditionally been amongst the most religious regions in Turkey. That was until the 20-year long insurgency⁵ by the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy. With the pro-secular PKK's influence in the last few years starting to ebb⁶ in the region, religion has slowly re-emerged.

The Tariqats go back centuries and are widely seen as an intrinsic part of Kurdish cultural life. In the last few years they have been expanding their influence by building schools offering free education and housing the poor.

They are now throwing their support behind the Islamic- rooted Justice and Development party, or AKP, which is making a bid to unseat the pro- Kurdish Democratic Society Party or DTP.

In the 2007 general election, the Tariqats helped the AKP party score a shocking victory over the DTP, pushing the party into second place. Now their goal is the control of Diyarbakir.

But the DTP's mayor of Diyarbakir, Osman Baydemir, is fighting back by focusing on women's rights in the region.

Visiting one of the women's centers set up by him, he is pushing the message that his party is one of rights and services. His campaign is targeting women in particular. Baydemir says women are crucial to his party.

He says one of ideological⁷ pillars of the party and local government is the rights of women. He says, we see that we are making the whole of society more free when we make women more active in social political and economic life. But he says, this does not mean we are against religion, which is what the AKP party is claiming. He says we respect everyone's right to their religious beliefs and people are now understanding this.

The party has made sure that women see their future tied to the success of the party by making it mandatory⁹ that it has a 40 percent quota¹⁰ for female representation.

One woman's view is typical of many.

She says the DTP is the only party that gives importance for the struggle of women for freedom and equality. She says her neighborhood is the biggest in Diyarbakir and it has a local woman as mayor and she is standing⁸ again. She says, I remember in the past when a religious party was last in power here, they shut down all the women's centers. It will be disaster for women if they come to power again.

Such accusations¹¹ are angrily denied by the AKP. The party claims it too is committed to improving women's representation.

As the campaining continues, tensions are mounting between the two parties. The DTP is accusing the AKP of trying to buy votes with free coal and food, while the AKP is accusing the DTP of intimidating¹² its supporters.

Abdurrahman Kurt is an AKP member of parliament for Diyarbakir. He worries the trading of sharp barbs¹³ between the two parties is part of a worrying trend.

"DTP or religious groups if they try to rule the other one according to their beliefs or ideology¹⁴ these kinds of differences will clash with each other. This is a danger that we have to think about it. I don't want our future to be created like this, because this is really big danger for this area. So the common way for creating a comfortable life for all sides of the society is to develop the democracy between all groups," Kurt said.

Whatever the result of this Sunday's poll, the deep divisions are expected to continue, with two powerful forces of secularism¹⁵ and religion set to continue to battle for control and influence. Analysts¹⁶ warn unless they can learn to live with one another, the region - which has already endured two decades of conflict - could face the prospect¹⁷ of a new confrontation¹⁸.

1 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

2 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

5 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

6 ebb   

vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态

参考例句：

• The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
• They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。

7 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

10 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

13 barbs   

n.（箭头、鱼钩等的）倒钩( barb的名词复数 )；带刺的话；毕露的锋芒；钩状毛

参考例句：

• She slung barbs at me. 她说了些讥刺我的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I would no longer uncomplainingly accept their barbs or allow their unaccountable power to go unchallenged. 我不会再毫无怨言地洗耳恭听他们带刺的话，或让他们的不负责任的权力不受到挑战。 来自辞典例句

14 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

15 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

16 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

17 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。

18 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。