Doha Debates Holds Special Session in Istanbul Today

Doha, January 12 (QNA) - Doha Debates will hold a special session in Istanbul, Turkey today that will discuss whether Turkey is a democratic model for the Arab world. The event held at Istanbul s Bogazici University will discuss the controversial motion: "This House believes Turkey is a bad model for the Arab World". The debate comes at a time when the region s Islamists, long banned by autocratic governments, have achieved significant electoral success in Egypt and Tunisia and are becoming increasingly assertive in other Arab states as well. Commenting on the upcoming debate, Doha Debates chairman Tim Sebastian said that with the Arab world in turmoil, many eyes are focused on Turkey. "The debate will discuss whether Turkey has found an effective balance between the Islamic world and the West? Or is it restricting the very freedoms that the new Arab states are trying to strengthen and protect?" Sepastian qouted by Qatari English daily (The Peninsula) as saying. Speaking for the motion are award-winning Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran and Lebanon s Hassan Mneimneh, senior Transatlantic Fellow for Middle East and North Africa at the German Marshall Fund. Opposing the motion are Sinan Ulgen, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels and a former Turkish diplomat and Aboubakr Jamai, award-winning Moroccan journalist, co-editor of the Moroccan news website lakome.com and non-resident fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University. (QNA)