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Atheists, the “Ultimate Other” in Turkey
By Nick Ashdown
ISTANBUL, Jun 24 2014 (IPS) - “Being an atheist isn’t something you can easily express in Turkey, ” says Sinem Köroğlu, a member of the Atheism Association, the first official organisation for atheists in the country. “It’s becoming more difficult with the current government as well, ” she adds.
Set up earlier this year in Istanbul, the aim of the Atheism Association is to give a voice and support to non-believers in Turkey, a country not known for its fondness of atheists.
Politicians in the religious conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been making hostile comments about atheists. Last year, a high-ranking member of the party, Mahmud Macit, used Twitter to attack “spineless psychopaths pretending to be atheists”, saying that they “should be annihilated. ” Prime Minister Erdoğan himself has also insulted protesters by calling them “atheists and terrorists”.
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http://www.ipsnews.net/ ... r-in-turkey/ |