« Live blogging on Ward Churchill press conference | Main | Terri Schiavo's lessons for us »

March 24, 2005

The buzz of the book biz in Turkey

shows that Mein Kampf is the page-turner that all the best Turkey for Turks hoi polloi are snapping up

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkish bookshops have a best seller, but some of them are hesitant about giving it too much display. ...

Lina Filiba, executive vice president of Turkey's 25,000-member Jewish community, called it "disturbing."

She said price and media attention were major factors, but also pointed to a "worrying trend" of anti-Semitic publications such as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" being sold even in bustling department stores.

"Metal Storm" by Orkun Ucar and Burak Turna, a novel imagining a war between Turkey and the United States, is Turkey's top seller. Conspiracy theory books sell well and the press is extremely critical of the United States and Israel.

Filiba tied the phenomenon to the European Union's Dec. 17 decision to open membership talks with Turkey, a move long sought by Turkish governments but unpopular among those who fear it will expose their country to permissive European influences.

"I think there's an increase in anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-foreigner feeling that has paralleled Dec. 17," Filiba said.

Posted by Darleen at March 24, 2005 02:36 PM

Comments