06-13-2008, 02:13 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Turkey in turmoil </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Erdogan pushes his Islamist agenda
Turkey is in a state of crisis. <b>The recent decision of Turkey's top constitutional court to strike down a bitterly contested law pushed through by the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party, which would have allowed women to wear Islamic headscarves, or hijab, in universities, has sparked a political war of sorts</b>. But to suggest that the current situation could have been avoided would be naïve. For, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his fellow Islamists in the AKP were fully aware of what they were getting into when they cussedly insisted on using their parliamentary majority to end the ban on hijab in universities. To that extent, Mr <b>Erdogan and his party were, and remain, eager to show off their political might by riding roughshod over secular sentiments. </b>Mr Erdogan has been preparing for this battle for years. Although he did not force the headscarf issue in his first term, after last year's showdown with the secular Army over the presidential election and his subsequent victory in a general election, he is now sufficiently confident of achieving his party's goal of ridding Turkey of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's legacy and thus paving the way for another Islamic state to emerge. Being the world's only Muslim majority secular democracy, Turkey has a unique position in global geopolitics. Since the days of Ataturk, it has been the only country in a region dominated by various shades of Islamism that has actively separated religion and state, shunning political Islam. In that respect, it is the only Muslim majority country in the world that bears testimony to the idea that Islam can coexist with a modern democracy. It is this that has made generations of Turks look towards Europe rather than West Asia.
But now a reverse trend is in motion that threatens to drag Turkey back to the days of the Ottoman Empire. The Islamist forces that had been so far kept under check by the country's secular establishment have finally gathered enough clout, through subterfuge and disingenuous means, to reintroduce those very things that Ataturk stood up against. Although Mr Erdogan and his cronies insist that their attempt to legitimise the hijab is aimed at "protecting human rights", it is really the thin end of the edge. The implications of the headscarf issue go well beyond Turkey's borders: <b>They are intrinsically linked to pan-Islamism and not entirely devoid of a larger message to Muslims living in other secular societies</b>. There are two ways of dealing with the unfolding crisis. The West, which views Turkey as a strategic ally, could let Mr Erdogan know that his party is going back on its pledge to give up radical Islam and thus crossing into dangerous territory. Second, the Turkish judiciary could step in and put a halt to Mr Erdogan's revanchist politics. For the moment, the judiciary has acted well and must remain firm.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Erdogan pushes his Islamist agenda
Turkey is in a state of crisis. <b>The recent decision of Turkey's top constitutional court to strike down a bitterly contested law pushed through by the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party, which would have allowed women to wear Islamic headscarves, or hijab, in universities, has sparked a political war of sorts</b>. But to suggest that the current situation could have been avoided would be naïve. For, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his fellow Islamists in the AKP were fully aware of what they were getting into when they cussedly insisted on using their parliamentary majority to end the ban on hijab in universities. To that extent, Mr <b>Erdogan and his party were, and remain, eager to show off their political might by riding roughshod over secular sentiments. </b>Mr Erdogan has been preparing for this battle for years. Although he did not force the headscarf issue in his first term, after last year's showdown with the secular Army over the presidential election and his subsequent victory in a general election, he is now sufficiently confident of achieving his party's goal of ridding Turkey of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's legacy and thus paving the way for another Islamic state to emerge. Being the world's only Muslim majority secular democracy, Turkey has a unique position in global geopolitics. Since the days of Ataturk, it has been the only country in a region dominated by various shades of Islamism that has actively separated religion and state, shunning political Islam. In that respect, it is the only Muslim majority country in the world that bears testimony to the idea that Islam can coexist with a modern democracy. It is this that has made generations of Turks look towards Europe rather than West Asia.
But now a reverse trend is in motion that threatens to drag Turkey back to the days of the Ottoman Empire. The Islamist forces that had been so far kept under check by the country's secular establishment have finally gathered enough clout, through subterfuge and disingenuous means, to reintroduce those very things that Ataturk stood up against. Although Mr Erdogan and his cronies insist that their attempt to legitimise the hijab is aimed at "protecting human rights", it is really the thin end of the edge. The implications of the headscarf issue go well beyond Turkey's borders: <b>They are intrinsically linked to pan-Islamism and not entirely devoid of a larger message to Muslims living in other secular societies</b>. There are two ways of dealing with the unfolding crisis. The West, which views Turkey as a strategic ally, could let Mr Erdogan know that his party is going back on its pledge to give up radical Islam and thus crossing into dangerous territory. Second, the Turkish judiciary could step in and put a halt to Mr Erdogan's revanchist politics. For the moment, the judiciary has acted well and must remain firm.
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