A dozen years ago, europeans looked to turkey and thought they saw a country becoming more like them, embracing Western Values and on a long term track to eu membership. But today, well, europe sees authoritarianism, conservatism, and repression embodied in the all powerful figure of president erdogan. My guest is elif shafak, the turkish novelist and writer who lives much of her life in london. Does the west get anywhere close to understanding turkeys complex culture and politics . Elif shafak, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. When you write of turkey today, i wonder what emotions draw you . Would it be anger or sadness or incomprehension . I think there is a lot of sadness. I feel sad. I feel worried. So much is changing in turkey and so fast. I think speed is important with many things that are happening, with a bewildering speed which almost prevents time to stop and analyse because Something Else happens next week and so it goes on and on. I am very sad when i look at the direction
A dozen years ago, europeans looked to turkey and thought they saw a country becoming more like them, embracing Western Values and on a long term track to eu membership. But today, well, europe sees authoritarianism, conservatism, and repression embodied in the all powerful figure of president erdogan. My guest is elif shafak, the turkish novelist and writer who lives much of her life in london. Does the west get anywhere close to understanding turkeys complex culture and politics . Elif shafak, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. When you write of turkey today, i wonder what emotions draw you . Would it be anger or sadness or incomprehension . I think there is a lot of sadness. I feel sad. I feel worried. So much is changing in turkey and so fast. I think speed is important with many things that are happening, with a bewildering speed which almost prevents time to stop and analyse because Something Else happens next week and so it goes on and on. I am very sad when i look at the direction
Im stephen sackur. A dozen years ago, europeans looked to turkey and thought they saw a country becoming more like them, embracing Western Values and on a long term track to eu membership. But today, well, europe sees authoritarianism, conservatism, and repressionm embodied in the all powerful figure of president erdogan. My guest is elif shafak, the turkish novelist and writer who lives much of her life in london. Does the west get anywhere close to understanding turkeys complex culture and politics . Elif shafak, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. When you write of turkey today, i wonder what emotions draw you . Would it be anger or sadness or incomprehension . I think there is a lot of sadness. I feel sad. I feel worried. So much is changing in turkey and so fast. I think speed is important with many things that are happening, with a bewildering speed which almost prevents time to stop and analyse because Something Else happens next week and so it goes on and on. I am very sad when i l
And in other news, life on the moon. 0r, kind of in a moon of saturn. Possibly. But should we even be looking for Extra Terrestrials . Hello. Gbu as B Massive 0rd Nance air blast, or moab. Its a huge bomb. And it was dropped in afghanistan earlier today, aimed at the tunnels used by the Afghan Branch of so called Islamic State. The americans have never used a conventional weapon this powerful in combat, and given everything that has been happening in us foreign policy, it is no wonder that everybody is trying to work out what it means. Now, dont fall for some of the hyperbole its huge, but it would take more than a thousand of these to make one hiroshima. But does it tell us something about the willingness of the us military to flex its muscle in the world . Im joined by our diplomatic editor mark urban. As a bomb, is this a big threshold through which the world has passed today . Im not sure. The rafs grand slam that was dropped in world war ii was just slightly below this in size. Th
And the latest World Surf League event. Lets return to the referendum in turkey. This result means president erdogan could be in power until 2029. Earlier in his career, mr erdogan said, democracy is like a bus. When you come to your stop, you get off. Evidently, his stop is some way down the road. And even before this result, he was a giant of turkish politics. In 2001, he founded thejustice and Development Party of the akp, and Development Party, or the akp, as we often call it. He became Prime Minister in 2003 and then president in 2014. That was a year after nationwide protests at the alleged authoritarianism of his style of government. There was International Condemnation over the governments response to the protests. Then lastjuly, there was the attempted coup, and a widespread crackdown has followed. While all of this has been playing out, turkey has taken in hundreds of thousands of syrian refugees. Its also experienced an increase in terrorist activity, primarily conducted by