Turkey entered 2008 with a long-standing headscarf and a new YouTube ban. The headscarf issue was resolved in February, but the YouTube ban would last another year.
The debate on secularism and freedom of belief, sparked by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech about the headscarf "even if it were a political symbol”, extended far beyond lifting the ban.
The Ergenekon trial also began that year, purportedly aimed at safeguarding democracy against coups. Over time, as political dynamics shifted, many were arrested, including retired generals, and Kuddusi Okkır became the first Ergenekon prisoner to lose his life.
While the military's influence—long seen as the guardian of secularism—was being challenged, the AK Party faced a closure case on the grounds of being "the focus of actions against secularism", once again thrusting the definition and boundaries of secularism into the heart of the national debate.
"The Religion and Democracy Conference” that year also sought reasonable answers to complex questions: Could religious communities serve as instruments of democratisation rather than hindrances? What control mechanisms, methods, and means were necessary? How were religions themselves undergoing transformations?
Though Turkey has secularised rapidly over the past 30 years, the debate surrounding these issues remains quite alive today.
1 – On the first anniversary of Hrant Dink’s murder, hbs Istanbul commemorated him with a workshop organized in his name. (hbs) 2 – Ulrike Dufner (standing on the far left) with our newly appointed project coordinator Yonca Verdioğlu (seated on the right) and Nükhet Oğan (seated on the left) after lunch with Ecolarship fellows. (hbs) 3 – The year hbs Istanbul’s rural development program began. Guests who travelled to Kars for the Organisation and Cooperation in Local Development meeting join in a halay after a busy day. (hbs) 4 – These were complicated times in the world of technology. On one hand, the rapidly approaching Web 2.0, the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, Spotify entering our lives, Facebook becoming well established, and years-long YouTube bans in Turkey... It was a time when we accessed a video platform through tunnels, while the Metrobus was inaugurated. (hbs) 5 – Banu Yayla (standing on the right) at the Religion and Democracy Conference during her first month in the hbs office. She is still the backbone of our office. (hbs)