One of the
Muslim World’s Greatest Endeavors
By Siddique Malik
Louisville, KY
smalik94@hotmail.com
An amazing phenomenon is underway
in Turkey: Devout Muslims are striving to uphold
secularism. This phenomenon must succeed. Not
only would its failure be detrimental to democracy
in Turkey, a Muslim-majority country, but it would
lend credence to the notion that Muslims cannot
sustain democracy. This failure would further
widen the disparity between the Muslim world and
the rest of humanity at a time when there is a
crying need for this gulf to be bridged quickly.
The tragedy is that all threats to this noble
attempt are coming from within Turkey, especially
its army, whose only objective like the objective
of any army in the world, should be to reinforce
and protect the republic to which it belongs.
In 1923, General Mustafa Kamal took the helm in
Turkey by overthrowing the crumbling rule of the
last Ottoman Sultan, marking the end of nearly
seven centuries old religion-based dynasty. Subsequently,
Kamal ruled with an iron hand, until his death,
15 years later. During this time, he achieved
something that no other Muslim-majority country
had achieved. He established a secular state with
complete separation of religion and politics,
something that so far has not been repeated in
any other Muslim-majority country.
However, instead of inducing this transformation
through a process of dialogue, he resorted to
dictatorial decrees. Perhaps, he had no choice.
He was pitted against a bigoted and ignorant clergy.
There was no room for a dialogue with those who
had been instrumental in the genocide of Christian
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire and were still
drunk with self-righteousness.
Despite his dictatorial inclinations, Kamal succeeded
in setting into motion a process of political
evolution that survived his death. Today, Turkey
is the only country with Muslim majority in which
democracy and secularism are national values and
followers of all religions enjoy equal rights.
But there is a dark side to this apparently modern
outlook. In the name of protecting secularism,
Turkish army has developed an uncanny power, and
so far has overthrown four elected governments
and hanged one elected prime minister. There are
laws on the books of statue that would make you
laugh and cry at the same time. A writer can be
jailed for “insulting” Turkish traditions,
and women are barred from wearing a headscarf
to government offices. Any Turkish government
that wants to abrogate these laws is met with
stiff resistance from the army. This situation
is the secular equivalent of the neighboring Iran,
in which a gang of power-hungry clerics oversees
and regulates elected governments.
The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan – it was recently re-elected with
a thumping majority – is trying to quash
this deadly status quo. The prime minter and most
of his cabinet members are devout Muslims but
are committed to secularism, an example that Muslims
worldwide need to follow. This government has
triggered tremendous economic development and
initiated a dialogue with the European Union with
the purpose of making Turkey an EU member.
As a pre-condition to opening a dialogue with
Turkey over its possible admission to the EU,
the latter has given Turkey a list of freedom-oriented
objectives that it must achieve, and Erdogan is
working very hard to fulfill these requirements.
By the time Erdogan has achieved all these objectives,
Turkey would have become as open and pluralistic
a society as any modern country.
If Turkey becomes an EU member, the extent to
which this would help narrow the gap between Muslims
and non-Muslims every where, is absolutely mind-boggling.
Guess who is trying to impede Erdogan’s
efforts to enter the EU? The Turkish army. The
reason is obvious. If Turkey becomes an EU member,
its army would not be able to hold its selfish
sway over the government. The cabal of power-hungry
generals and their corrupt civilian cohorts would
no longer be able to retain their perks and privileges.
On August 28, 2007, Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul, was elected President of the Republic of
Turkey and sworn into office the same day. As
Erdogan’s foreign minister, Gul was the
architect of Turkey’s strategy to enter
the EU. He has repeatedly declared his commitment
to uphold secularism and the Turkish constitution.
Still, the army chief refused to salute the new
commander-in-chief because that later is a practicing
Muslim. The new first lady and Erdogan’s
wife were not invited to a ceremony because they
both wear a headscarf. How disrespectful to the
new president, the first lady, the prime minister
and his wife and in fact to freedom, democracy
and the rule of law!
While the European leaders have welcome a pro-West
Gul’s ascendancy, his own army and other
Turkish secular extremists are bent upon sabotaging
him and Turkey’s leap toward modernity simply
because of their personal interests which are
linked with the army’s continued ability
to manipulate elected governments.
With a simple act, America can send a strong signal
in favor of secular democracy in Turkey. Let President
Bush invite President Gul to the White House.
When the picture of the head of the world’s
strongest democracy, a secular Christian majority
country, standing next to the head of a secular
Muslim majority country along with their beautiful
wives, Laura and Hayrunnisa (wearing an elegant
headscarf), is beamed around the world, it would
put Turkey’s secular intellectual terrorists
to shame. It would boost the morale of pro-democracy
Muslims everywhere.
As I mentioned above, what Kamal did in Turkey
was mainly based on suppressive techniques. Consequently,
it gave rise to a cultist Turkish army that today
only wants to protect its own interests at the
expense of Turkey’s national interests,
totally oblivious of the historic role that Turkey
can play in bridging the world’s Muslin/non-Muslim
gap. The generals consider themselves modern but
are intent upon dragging Turkey toward backwardness.
On the other hand, the Gul-Erdogan government
is behaving like true democrats with a passion
to strengthen institutions of secular democracy.
This government’s efforts mimic those of
America’s founding fathers who were all
devout Christians but sowed the seeds of equal
rights and protections for the followers of all
faiths, and this is what made America great. When
and if this Turkish duo succeeds, it would have
made the world proud and set Turkey on the road
to glory. The history repeats itself and this
repetition was long overdue.
While the world is immersed in a fight against
Muslim extremism, it’s time to recognize
the dangers posed by secular extremists. An example
of a successful secular Muslim country is desperately
needed. For the sake of world peace and inter-faith
harmony, Turkish army generals must be put in
their place and President Gul and Prime Minister
Erdogan must succeed.
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