Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

No more Turkish delight

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • No more Turkish delight

    World Magazine
    April 6 2014


    No more Turkish delight

    Turkey | The hope for Turkey as an anti-Sharia beacon for the Muslim
    world is fading quickly

    By Marvin Olasky

    For most of the 20th century Turkey was the great hope for yanking the
    Muslim world out of Sharia law. Mustafa Kemal, Turkey's 1920s-1930s
    autocrat, took as a new last name Ataturk, which means "father of
    Turkey"--and he truly was the progenitor of a country that kept
    Islamists at bay. His secularist vision, with the assistance of
    Turkey's army, stayed dominant until 2002.

    Just before April Fools' Day, though, two developments--one political,
    one military--dashed the slight hope that remains. The political story
    began 12 years ago when Recip Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development
    Party (AKP) took power not on an overt Islamist program but an
    anti-corruption one. Prime Minister Erdogan since then has used salami
    tactics--one slice at a time--to cut out the Ataturk legacy and edge
    back toward traditional Islam's union of mosque and state.

    Erdogan's administration has also displayed the cronyism that he
    deplored when in opposition, and some secularists predicted that
    elections on March 30 would curtail the prime minister's power.
    Exactly the opposite happened: The AKP won big, and Erdogan is now
    likely to become Turkey's first directly elected president this
    summer, a triumph that would allow him to rule for another decade and
    stomp on the little bit of religious liberty that remains.

    We see you've been enjoying the content on our exclusive member
    website. Ready to get unlimited access to all of WORLD's member
    content?
    Get your risk-free, 30-Day FREE Trial Membership right now.
    (Don't worry. It only takes a sec--and you don't have to give us
    payment information right now.)

    Absolutely! Sign Me Up!
    Forget the Trial ... Make Me a Member!
    Already a Member? Login Now

    The military development also reflects Turkey's growing Islamism, and
    it has international implications. Syrians in the northwestern part of
    their country reported at the end of March that jihadist rebels
    fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are
    receiving help from Turkish tanks and anti-aircraft fire. The
    jihadists attacked villages inhabited by Alawites, the Muslim sect of
    the Assad family, and others that are home to Armenian Christians.

    Thousands of Christians had to flee, seeking refuge in nearby hills or
    the coastal city of Latakia. One pastor told World Watch Monitor about
    desecrated churches and pillaged houses. Churches were sheltering 600
    families, with local charity groups providing food, mattresses,
    blankets, and clothing. "Turkey is hosting jihadis," said a Syrian
    Muslim humanitarian worker (name withheld to protect his life). Those
    fighters reportedly include Chechens, Tunisians, Turks, and Arabs.

    Turkey is a member of NATO, and the United States has a massive air
    base at Incirlik, just 130 miles away from the area of border
    fighting. Armed military conflict between Turkey and Syria could
    severely escalate the Syrian war, forcing a NATO intervention. But
    Erdogan seems intent not only on re-Islamizing his own country but
    supporting neighboring jihadis.

    Time magazine put Mustafa Kemal on its March 24, 1923, cover: He was
    the great Muslim hope. In 1924 Kemal said, "The religion of Islam will
    be elevated if it will cease to be a political instrument, as had been
    the case in the past." In 1925 he declared, "The Turkish republic
    cannot be a country of sheiks, dervishes, and disciples." The
    following year he closed Islamic courts and created a European-style
    penal code.

    At the rate Turkey is marching back to its future, the 100th
    anniversary of Kemal's directives may bring their complete unwinding.
    What's happening in Turkey is part of a long-term trend that might
    better be termed an ooze. A decade ago many Americans hoped that a
    democratic Iraq would join Turkey in providing liberty and justice for
    all. The "Arab Spring" brought similar hopes regarding Egypt. But
    ancient traditions backed up by dictatorial religion are hard to
    topple, and those forecasting the growth of freedom in Muslim
    countries may have to follow those words by saying "April Fools."

    --with reporting by Mindy Belz in Beirut; for more on Turkey, see
    "Turkey's U-turn" in this issue.

    http://www.worldmag.com/2014/04/no_more_turkish_delight

Working...
X