France and Turkey: Denying Muslim women their rights since no one can remember when!

A brief glance at any Turkish newspaper printed in the last six or seven years shows that one of Turkey’s most pressing internal problems is the split between the country’s so-called “secularists” and so-called “Islamists.”

To grossly oversimplify the situation: the “secularists” dogmatically follow the ideals of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. They believe that religious symbols should be banned from the public sphere, and they believe that the AK Party of Tayyip Erdogan secretly wants to turn Turkey into an Islamic state. They think the headscarf — known in Turkey as the turban – oppresses women.

The so-called Islamists are led by the Erdogan and the AK Party. In reality, they do not advocate an Islamic state. They do believe that headscarved women should be allowed to attend public universities and enter government buildings. In short, they call for an American-style of secularism.

 

Islamic revolution in Turkey?

A new article in the Economist reiterates the British magazine’s support of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). The AKP is facing closure by the Constitutional Court due to allegations that the party is serving as a “center of anti-secularist activity” (for more info, click here)

The Turkish prosecutor… cites newspaper articles and interviews to justify an otherwise unsubstantiated claim that the party is employing “dissimulation” to bring in sharia law. That is not good enough. Not only do Mr Erdogan and the AKP insist vehemently that they uphold the secular state; they are also supported by a six-year record of economic and political reform, more rights for minorities and women, and the start of membership talks with the European Union. The AKP government has, in short, been both more liberal and more successful than any secular predecessor.

The Turko File could not agree more.

While the AKP is far from perfect, it has not committed serious crimes against secularism. Rather, the AK Party is trying to move Turkey toward the American understanding of secularism (complete freedom of religion) and away from the traditional Turkish understanding of secularism.

Much of this can be explained by semantics. In fact, the word “secularism” is a mistranslation when talking about the Turkish system. Turks use the world laiklik, which comes from the French laicite. Laicite implies state domination over religion and the elimination of religious symbols from the public sphere. It’s an ideology that privileges the state over the individual.

Of course, there is a very small possibility that Turkey’s alarmed secularists are correct and the AKP is secretly trying to create an Islamic Republic via the ballot box. If this is the case — and I really don’t think it is — Turkey still does not have much to fear. The vast majority of Turks do not support the institution of Shariah law. In fact, polling data shows that Turks are much less tolerance of mixing religion with politics than Americans are.

In 2006, 34% of Americans believed that America’s laws should be derived from the Bible. A 2006 poll conducted in Turkey found that only 9% of Turks support rule by the Quran. In short, the Turkish people will never support an “Islamic revolution” carried out by the AKP. The AKP knows this. Like any political party, it cares about staying in power. Thus, there is little chance they will institute Shariah and alienate 91% of the Turkish public.