Overnight they were told to change their dress, their language. Their religious ways were dismantled. Societies without that trauma could not care less how people dress," Fırat told the paper on the life-changing revolutions of the 1920s in Turkey. Many figures, mainly from the Republican People's Party (CHP), slammed Fırat's remarks, accusing him of being an enemy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's revolutions while Fırat, at a press conference on Monday, complained that his words have been distorted and taken out of context, which gives a historical background to the revolutions. Criticism of Fırat also highlighted how some circles in Turkey have a restrictive belief in freedom of expression.Sabah's Ergun Babahan, talking about Atatürk's revolutions, explains that these revolutions were the climax of efforts to "modernize" Turkey, which had been going on for two centuries. "They were not only social revolutions, but also a project to create a nation, a kind of social engineering, an effort to create a new society from head to toe because they aimed to create a modern, educated and industrialized society out of one which was backward and unindustrialized," clarifies Babahan. In consideration of these, he agrees with Fırat in that it was impossible for these revolutions to not produce traumas in some segments of the society. That is why, he stresses, political movements that do not produce traumas and do not shake the society, are called "reforms" rather than "revolutions." Referring to the harsh criticism Fırat has drawn for his remarks, Babahan points out a general problem with freedom of expression in Turkey. "Everyone in Turkey is against the freedom to express an idea they disagree with, but they continue to demand the freedom to express their own views. As we internalize democracy I hope we will have the chance to discuss such issues in a productive manner," remarks Babahan.
Muharrem Sarıkaya, another Sabah columnist, affirms Fırat's right to freely express his views and sociologically analyze the effects of Atatürk's revolutions on the society; however, he says that his remarks are highly prone to be read differently at a time when his party faces a closure case over charges of "being against a fundamental principle of the Turkish Republic."
