Flying in the wrong direction

摘要

Consider two examples from the many worrying recent events in a country that aspires to membership of the European Union. In Diyarbakir, some 80 Kurdish children face as many as 24 years in prison for taking part in violent protests after the funeral of four PKK separatist rebels on March 28th. Their lawyers say most were beaten and tortured. The second is the arrest in Fatsa, on the Black Sea coast, of a local leader of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party on charges of insulting Ataturk, after an officer saw him chew gum as he laid a wreath before a statue of modern Turkey's founding father.