Islamic Ideology
Welcome verdict by Turkish courtAll that has been avoided and the hope now must be that Prime Minister Erdogan can get on with more serious issues — the economy, the need for further reform, the bid to join the EU and terrorism. He himself says that he wants to reach out and heal divisions. That is a statesman-like and encouraging response. No one, however, should imagine that the ruling is a complete victory for him: This may not be the end of the story. In what must be seen as a compromise (several of the judges wanted the AKP banned), the Constitutional Court has acted like an old fashioned policeman who lets a suspect go free but with the warning that if caught again he will be arrested. The court evidently believes the AKP does have an Islamist agenda but for the sake of political stability has decided not to act now, but will keep an eye on it and move to block any policies it considers “Islamic” (it has already blocked the lifting of the ban on the hijab). That was clear in the warning from the court’s president, that the AKP study the ruling and “get the message.” The belief that the AKP is a nest of fundamentalists intent on turning Turkey into an Islamic state is, of course, ridiculous. As has been pointed out time and again, in any other Muslim country it would be seen as so moderate as to not be Islamic at all. What the AKP is a modernizing party that reflects the culture of the Turks, an overwhelmingly Muslim people who, despite 80 years of secularist onslaught, remain insolubly attached to their faith. Erdogan has lived to fight on, but the court ruling is going to make his job more difficult.
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6:38 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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