Democracy on Trial

Our April 14 report on Turkey's judiciary coup d'état galvanized readers. One said, "It's hard to believe in Ataturk's antiquated values." Another wrote, "The court is acting in accordance with a democratically approved Constitution." A third criticized the West: "It does not want a strong secular Turkey."

The Will of the Turkish People
I am writing to respond to your April 14 article "Attack of the Judges." I'd like to express my deepest concerns about the indictment of the democratically elected Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey. I am critical of the Turkish judicial system for not respecting the choice of citizens who have decided that AKP should rule the country. There is a big conflict between the military and the AKP. The AKP has sponsored humanistic reforms by allowing free access for women with headscarves to universities and improving the political situation of the Kurds. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's policy will modernize Turkey and guarantee people freedom of speech as well as making life easier for dissidents and intellectuals. If granting equal rights to people independently of their religious beliefs is a crime, then I would prefer to be a criminal. Yet the Turkish elite is trying to bring the country back to our founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's ideology and the system of rigid secularism. It's difficult to force a diverse population to believe in Ataturk's antiquated values. These recent developments in the country's policy are terrain for tumult and chaos. The world's view of Turkey will be negative if the judiciary undermines a democratically elected party.
B. Emine
Graz, Austria

As a modern, secular Turkish woman, I would like to ask why the European nations never supported the secular public in Turkey while millions of Turkish people were on the streets protesting against the government. Instead, Europe has largely supported Recep Tayyip Erdogan while we were on the streets protesting against him and his party. Now the Constitutional Court, our highest authority, is working to prosecute the AKP and remove its clear threat to our secularism. And to our amazement, Europe is again showing sympathy to the AKP and interfering in our internal relations in the name of democracy. It would seem that Europe does not want a strong, secular Turkey. Its support of the AKP would allow Europe to continue to characterize Turkey as un-European. Otherwise, it would have supported us in our efforts to protect our secular Western system.
Defne Ozsayin
Istanbul, Turkey

I grew up believing that the western world was civilized and that Westerners told the truth. But now you are falsely accusing a democratic judicial court in Turkey of committing an undemocratic act. I advise you to think twice before you criticize secular Turkey. This court is acting in accordance with a Constitution that was democratically approved—in a general referendum of all Turkish citizens held in 1982, with more than 90 percent voting for it.
Ulker I. Smith
Ankara, Turkey

How dare you say those things about Turkish law. You should know that Islamists in Turkey are what racists are to Europe. You said nothing when Jörg Haider aroused controversy with his racist rhetoric and unflagging popularity in Austria. You should be ashamed of your double standards.
Ferda Ak
Istanbul, Turkey

China, Tibet and the West
I refer to your April 14 article titled "The Dark Side of the Olympics." I was astonished that in a story about China's alleged "crackdown" on Tibetans, you printed a picture of a monk being dragged away by the Nepalese police. Your mistake is typical of the Western media, which are biased against China. In your condemnation of the "crackdown," have you given any consideration to how the Chinese people are perceiving the Western media's portrayals of the Tibetan unrest? Large numbers of Chinese, including many in Hong Kong, believe that the West is using the Tibetan uprisings to demonize China and deny it its rightful place on the world stage. Moreover, when your correspondents accuse China of behaving more like a "tin-pot dictatorship" than a "budding superpower" in the local police's denial of regional protests, all you do is use outdated rhetoric and talking points from inept PR people. If you really know China, can you blame public-security officials in the interior for lacking modern PR techniques? How many of them would have received modern PR training or been tutored in the techniques of spin? Have you forgotten that China is a developing nation and has millennia of feudal, authoritarian rule behind it? How can you blame China for not becoming modern overnight?
Simon Chan
Hong Kong

Protests of the Olympic-torch relay are not the most effective way to communicate with China. In Chinese culture, loud voices are not effective in resolving conflicts. Furthermore, disrupting the Olympic-torch relay has drawn the attention of the world to Tibet. The distrust aroused by this incident between China and the West could be too high a price to pay. Young Chinese view the Olympic Games as an object of national pride won by persistent efforts over generations. It is a "coming-out party" to showcase China's economic progress and its opening up to the world. The symbolic meaning of torch protests is considered an intentional humiliation of China by the West, and not as a challenge to Beijing's Tibet policy. Finally, China needs a stable social environment to continue its development. The country has been open to the rest of the world for less than 30 years. The Olympic Games may be a good opportunity for the West to develop a greater understanding of China and could further open the door for progress and reform.
Timothy Yin
Shanghai, China