[Dean's World] Ali Eteraz: Turkey, Dean

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Posted by Ali Eteraz:
Turkey, Dean
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1164926848.shtml


   Dean [1]writes about Turkey:

     Modern Turkey is a good nation in many respects but the lack of
     religious freedom there is deplorable.

   I am not sure which religious freedom Dean is talking about here. I
   think he means that women cannot wear scarves and certain institutions
   are militantly secular.

   However, regardless of that (and of how they treat the Kurds, which
   does need to be addressed), Turkey is doing exceptionally [2]well:

     I'm up for work and I am listening to some random British sounding
     guy on the Radio (BBC World Update) talking about the Pope in
     Turkey and after talking about the Pontiff they actually discuss
     some meaty issues. You can listen to the program here, goodluck
     figuring out how, I get it on the Radio. But here are some
     interesting points made by some Turkish think-tank:

     9% of Turks favor Shariah, 91% favor a non-Shariah state.

     Yet, 2/3 of the country is "Islamist" and 1/3rd "more secular."

     Yet the "Islamists" are "not fundamentalist."

     Secularists and Islamists work together without conflict. They
     marry each other.

     In fact, the "Islamist" parties don't consider themselves Islamic,
     so much as Conservative. They are known as Conservative Democrats.

     Most people want to be part of the European Union.

     Headscarf wearing is down from 71% to 65% over the past few years.
     Yet, the common perception is that headscarf use is up.

     Turkey has defined its economic development an "Islamic Duty" and
     is shooting up the International Monetary Fund rankings.

     As to the Pope, 3 Turks said:

     a) I'd like to see him here.

     b) I don't want him here because of his speech.

     c) I'd like to see him here because it's good for tourism.

     They talked to some kids at Bosphorous University. They say the
     word "family" like how Borat does. One engineering girl said that
     Turkey didn't need the EU, and Turkey was not European, it was
     Turkish Identity, and they could construct all of these things like
     democratic identities on their own. She said that Europe was trying
     to assimilate Turkey. The BBC guy then said "but you look
     European!" She said that her attitude was different because she is
     concerned that to become part of the EU, Turkishness would become
     something different. Another student jumped in and said that Turkey
     could use the Human Rights values of the EU. He also said that
     being part of the EU won't change Turkish traditions. Then the girl
     jumped in and she said that the EU wanted Turkey to accept the
     Armenian genocide by force. Damn, this girl talks too much. The
     other guy jumped in and said that the EU was a good opportunity for
     Turkey to make money. That's my man. "If you do not create
     technology, you can't construct an economy."

   And here is an [3]excellent Diary about more stuff on Turkey. See
   especially the link to the Prospect article. It essentially argues
   that the Turks are picking up where the Ottomans left off (as Heads of
   the Muslim World), except this time in fashion that merges secularism
   and Islam.

   The reason I think that Turks can pull this off is because the Ottoman
   system always had two systems of law: the religious, and the Sultanic
   (which wasn't really religious but based on what he and his advisers
   wanted).

References

   1. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1164895144.shtml
   2. http://eteraz.org/story/2006/11/29/2576/0909
   3. http://eteraz.org/story/2006/11/30/65244/913