The Secular Elite vs. The Popular Islamists
Good news: Turkish Daily News published another OP-ED written by yours truly. The main subject of the column is the tension that exists between secularists and moderate Islamists. One of the major problems is – quite simply – that the two sides greatly distrust each other. Secularists fear that if they give up an inch, Islamists will demand a foot; moderate Islamists fear that secularists will stage a coup and oppose their wish to live according to their beliefs.
In the column I write:
The political challenge of today’s Turkey is to reconcile the secular system with Turkey’s Islamic nature. In other words, today’s political challenge is to allow people to live according to their religion, while at the same time protecting those who are either irreligious or who have a different interpretation of the Koran.
And that is the crux of the matter – change will in this regard come, if for nothing else than because conservative Muslims are gaining power and influence. A solution has to be found.
For those interested in Turkish politics, and more generally the question how to deal with Islamists, please head on over to Turkish Daily News.
5 Responses to “The Secular Elite vs. The Popular Islamists”
A question for you Michael, since you obviously know much more than I do about moderate Islam. Is the goal to achieve something like the Western Christian nations? I suppose that the ideal compromise is a place where each person is allowed their choice in matters of faith, with some basic rights being unquestioned and everything else up to each individual. Of course the point of conflict comes up inmediately, since a secularist and a religious person are likely to disagree on the exact point where personal choice ends and institutionalized rights and obligations begin. One easy example would be the separation of girls and boys in school, something I could see a Muslim wanting and a secular government not giving. Another would be the eternal headscarf debate.
In the end I think it’s going to be very difficult to reconcile both groups, since their vision for an ideal society is probably very different. Secularists want a secular society, where religion is at the most a personal affair between you and your God but where nothing is imposed or forbbiden soley on the base of a religious text. Islamists want a religious society, where at the most non-belief is tolerated but never ever encouraged and where the law reflects the religious belief of the majority. Compromise may be possible, but probably isn’t easy.
As I said over at vdG G, the secular elites will have to learn how to compromise if they really want Turkey to have a democracy. For the most part, we’ve managed the church/state separation in the US pretty well, so it’s certainly possible.
My prediction is that future developments may be out of the hands of today’s leaders. The masses will determine how far the Islamists go in minimizing the secularist paradigm.
Leaders are elected and are expected to reflect the wishes of their constituents. For clues to the futuee in Turkey’s governance, watch how the man on the street changes.
What about protecting religious but Non-Muslim Turks?
[...] Moderate Voices and Turkish Daily News have an article that argues that the large gulf between the secularists and AKP is caused by a lack of trust between the two segments of Turkish society. The secularists can’t believe that the Islamists won’t codify their beliefs into law and the Islamists can’t believe the secularists will allow them to practice freely. [...]