In praise of fundamental "laicité"

Darcy had long had an abhorrence of religion in public affairs. He finds the sight of ostentatious church-going on the part of Mr Blair to be wrong; the direct line to God that Mr Bush has installed in the Oval Office has somehow led to extreme errors of judgement; and he is not convinced that Mr Erdogan and his party are the best future for Turkey. That is not to say that he does not credit Mr Erdogan and the AKP for much better leadership than Turkey has otherwise recently enjoyed. It is just that Darcy finds the idea of a Prime Minister who faints during Ramadan both sad (for the man himself) and bad governance.

Darcy is not the most fluent of wordsmiths. Nor does he necessarily know the ins and outs of Turkish politics as well as he would like. Therefore, Darcy will today quote from two articles that have appeared in the press recently and which he believes best reflect the situation.

"Most recently, six men described as Islamic militants were arrested in the United States on charges they plotted to attack New Jersey's Fort Dix army base and “kill as many soldiers as possible.” One of the men, a Turk, said: “It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away… or I die, it doesn't matter. I am doing it in the name of Allah.” Could that Turk belong to the secularist group Ms Berlinski views as anti-Zionist and anti-western? Which political party would he probably vote for in Turkey? CHP? Here are a few more questions: Was it the same anti-Zionist secularists who murdered the priest Trabzon, the judge in Ankara? Was it the secularists who bombed banks, synagogues and the British Consulate in Istanbul? Was it them who tortured and killed Christian converts in Malatya last month? Was Hrant Dink's murderer a secularist? Who arson attacked and killed 33 people in Sivas in 1993? How many people ... have been attacked in Turkey for not fasting during Ramadan? How many people, if any ... have been attacked for fasting during Ramadan? How many people ... have been attacked for drinking alcohol “in Muslim neighborhoods?” How many people, if any ... have been attacked in Turkey for NOT drinking alcohol? Do secularists kill in the name of secularism? ... Is there, anywhere in the world, a concept called as “secularist terror?” Is there a concept called as Islamic terror? Assuming these questions are given honest answers, what explains the difference in the answers?Of course, Mr Erdoğan and his men disapprove of violence in the name of Islam. But there would be a very thin line between violent Islam and “Muslim democracy” when the latter becomes the dominant ideology of an unstable, unpredictable and young populace."

The second quote is from another article by the same author.

"Let's begin with the number three of the AKP, Bülent Arınç, a man of many troubles these days. Before the presidential race (or, was it a race or an appointment process?) began, Mr. Arınç said that eventually a “religious president” would best fit Turkey. Assuming what Hüseyin Çelik, education minister, publicly said after the military's demarche –that secularism meant the state being at equal distance to all religions— is true, could Mr. Arınç possibly have meant a religious Christian or Jew as Turkey's next president? Mind you, he did say a “religious person,” not a “religious Muslim.” But of course he meant a religious Muslim!

Is the presumably unbiased parliament speaker, number two in the state protocol, really at equal distance to all religions? Would he really be content if a good, tax paying, religious but non-Muslim citizen of Turkey were elected president? A pious Orthodox or a Jew? A protestant Turk, for example, like the ones murdered in Malatya?

Has Turkey not been permanently criticized by both of the European Union and the United States for limiting religious freedoms of non-Muslims during the AKP's governance since 2002? Ah, liberal reformers who merely want religious freedoms and democracy in Turkey… Which party, by the way, crafted and legislated the famous Article 301, which brought, among others, Hrant Dink, under the spotlight until a lunatic murdered him? Was it the MHP? The CHP? Or was it not a party but the autocratic military?"

Darcy has learnt one thing in Turkey. That political labels do not always carry across borders. He is therefore fully in support of Mr Berkdil and not those who, together with creationism, believe in the AKP's sudden zeal for a separation of church and state.

Links to the full articles at The Turkish Daily News. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=72920 and http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=73287