“If we are going to attack Mr. al-Bülhamid, we need to ask about his roots,” said Gökçek, a former Ankara mayor.
Sinan Ulgen, a senior fellow at the Carnegie European Think Tank, also noted this trend. “The Abdulhamid issue is a re-imagining and re-conceptualization of the Islamist fantasy of the republic’s narrative,” he said.
More broadly, Jürgen does not believe that the furor over the volleyball player is polarizing the country, and believes that most Turks enjoy success in the sport on the international stage. Ta.
After being attacked by an online commentator who identified himself as King Abdulhamid II, Karakurt posted a photo of himself saying, “Stop it, Abdulhamid.” | Yuri Cortes/AFP via Getty Images
“Although there is clearly a division between secularists and conservatives in this country, I think Turkish society in general is proud of the success of the volleyball team. I don’t think so,” he said.
Still, he stressed that extremists have been speaking out louder and using more extreme rhetoric since the election, and that the Turkish government’s silence has emboldened them.
Last week, Istanbul’s governor issued a statement banning the consumption of alcohol in public places, sparking a backlash from the secular world, which perceived an attempt to impose an Islamic lifestyle without legal basis. The governor’s office was then forced to retract its statement, saying there had been no decision to ban alcohol.
“The government did not try to protect one of the country’s most famous athletes from attack or prevent further actions by a group with extremist intentions,” Jürgen said.
“And this is also a political decision.”
