The New Turkey | Granta

  • Published: 01/05/2014
  • ISBN: 9781783780310
  • Granta Books
  • 258 pages

The New Turkey

Chris Morris

Updated since the decision to begin Turkey’s admission to the European Union. Turkey is a country in a state of flux, swept along by an extraordinary process of change. In the last few years, a series of far-reaching political and economic reforms has swept away much of the old order which ruled the country for so long. Some people call it a second Turkish revolution. But resistance to reform remains strong. Pressure for change has come from ordinary people fed up with the old ways; it’s also been motivated by the dominant issue of Turkish political life – the long pursuit of membership of the European Union. And yet Turkey remains a mystery to many outsiders; a complex country hard to understand. It’s secular and Muslim, Western and Eastern, democratic and authoritarian, all at the same time. This book examines the potential and the problems of the new Turkey, and the expectations of the people who live there, drawing on first-hand interviews and observations gathered over several years.

Chris Morris points out the paradoxes the nation faces ... a striking portrait of a nation in transition ... a timely and important book

Daily Telegraph

Cuts a brisk and lucid way through the great themes of Turkish life today ... For those who still think Europe should define itself by whom it can exclude, not whom it can embrace, The New Turkey is an eloquent nudge in the ribs

Guardian

A fine new book by the BBC's Chris Morris, The New Turkey, gives an expert and colourful overview of this ferment

Independent

The Author

Chris Morris covered Turkish affairs for the BBC for over eight years, first as Turkey correspondent based in Ankara and Istanbul and then as europe correspondent based in Brussels. He is now world affairs correspondent and based in London.

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