Comments on: The Secular Elite vs. The Popular Islamists

By: Checking the Power of Turkey's New President | Asking Tough Questions in Tough Places

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:26:36 +0000

[...] 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. [...]

By: Holly in Cincinnati

Holly in Cincinnati — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 01:06:54 +0000

What about protecting religious but Non-Muslim Turks?

By: domajot

domajot — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:12:57 +0000

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.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:46:29 +0000

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.

By: Lynx

Lynx — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:24:25 +0000

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.