{"id":2069,"date":"2007-05-24T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-25T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2007-05-24T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-25T03:00:00","slug":"in_turkey_democracy_and_secularism_collide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/05\/in_turkey_democracy_and_secularism_collide\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish elections: In Turkey, democracy and secularism collide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n
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Seeing red (Photo: Miguel Carminati)<\/div>\n

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This week\u2019s deadly blast<\/a> in the Turkish capital of Ankara may or may not have been related to the recent tensions between Army-backed secularists and the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his \u201cmildly Islamist\u201d Justice and Development Party (AKP), but you\u2019d never know it. The country has been rocked<\/a> by mass protests of up to 1 million in recent weeks, sparked by a decision by Erdogan to nominate his Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, for the post of President. Among the reasons implied \u2013 his wife wears a hijab<\/i> (\u201cMy scarf covers my head, not my brain,\u201d she says). <\/p>\n

Gul backed down after the Turkish army \u2013 responsible for four coups<\/a>, ostensibly to protect secularism \u2013 issued a thinly-veiled threat<\/a> by e-mail on April 27th warning that further action could be taken. After opposition parties boycotted a parliamentary vote for Gul (who said he would uphold secularism<\/a>), Erdogan responded by bringing forth<\/a> the November general election to July 22nd, where Gul may still be a candidate and the secularists will have their knives out. <\/p>\n

For a military that prides itself on preserving contemporary Turkish founder Kemal Ataturk\u2019s secularism and modernity, the sight of a democratically elected government is challenging it openly with more<\/i> democracy is both ironic and dangerous. \u201cThis will be the most important election we\u2019ve had for decades,\u201d said<\/a> one observer in Ankara. \u201cAnd it is taking place in a very polarizing situation.\u201d When it comes to Islam, Turkey is experiencing the democratic paradox feared by the US and others: more Islam voted into a government by democratic means.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, those who push for more democracy in the current crop of autocratic Muslim countries should have no trouble with it. But as the electoral victories of Hamas (in Palestine) and the resurging of the Muslim Brotherhood (in Egypt) show, the political and socio-economic complexities often promote a \u201creligious\u201d party more than religion itself. Like Hamas, the AKP was voted in (though with only 34% of the vote) as a response to corruption in the ruling secular parties. But under pressure from the secular elite, the AKP has always been forced to wear their Islam lightly. <\/p>\n

As a result, the new political conflict is a war of subtleties. Although many in the AKP are pious Muslims supported by provincial Turks, they have been keen to demonstrate their modernity through a surging economy, good relations with the US, an absence of sharia<\/i>-based initiatives, and patient negotiations with the EU on potential membership (something the military finds itself against<\/a>). Even though elements of Islam have increasingly found their way into public life<\/a>, there is scant evidence that the new prosperous middle class as a whole wants to substitute expression for coercion. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, Turkey\u2019s fate lies with the willingness of the military to carry out its threat<\/a>, something even its many supporters are reconsidering. The AKP and its supporters have a chance to demonstrate an Islamically oriented government that respects secularism, religion (er\u2026 all<\/a><\/i> religions) and power-sharing with its adversaries. But there isn\u2019t much time to persuade a tense and divided electorate.<\/p>\n

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Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

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