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Erdoğan rejects ‘Malaysia’ charges, moderate Islam

see also Malaysia or Egypt?

Today's Zaman - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has responded to claims that ongoing efforts to rewrite the Turkish Constitution would undermine secularism and turn Turkey into an Islamic country like Malaysia, saying such arguments are aimed at weakening his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) after his landslide election victory on July 22.

"In the past, they used to say Turkey will become an Iran. Once they understood that this would not work, they began to look for other ways to undermine the AK Party. And now they say Turkey will become a Malaysia," Erdoğan said, after receiving a question at a conference at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank, on Thursday. He then turned to Richard Holbrooke, who was also addressing the panel, and said laughingly that Holbrooke "had a role in this." Smiling, Holbrooke said he was sorry for his role and added that Turkey is neither an Iran nor a Malaysia.

In remarks following Turkey's July 22 elections, Holbrooke cited Turkey and Malaysia as two examples of "moderate Islam" that the US and Europe wanted to see nourished in the Islamic world. The remarks sparked a heated debate in Turkey over whether the AK Party's resounding victory and the new constitution efforts would put Turkey on an Islamic path akin to that of Malaysia. The debates reached a peak when Şerif Mardin, a respected sociologist, said he could not say for sure that Turkey would not turn into another Malaysia.

Erdoğan said the "moderate Islam" thesis that fed the concerns over Turkey turning into a Malaysia was not credible, repeating his long-held argument that "there is no moderate or immoderate Islam; Islam is Islam."

The prime minister, who is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, also met with his Malaysian counterpart, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, for 15 minutes. There was no statement from the prime ministers after the meeting, but Badawi, faced with insistent questions from Turkish reporters on whether Turkey would become another Malaysia, was puzzled. In response to questions, he explained his country's economic success and remarked that Malaysia was a modern country when he was questioned on women's rights and the headscarf.

Efforts to rewrite the Constitution are being met with skepticism in Turkey, where critics of the government say some of the proposed changes, such the one that would lift the headscarf ban in universities, are meant to undermine the country's secular system.

Erdoğan said Islam prohibits the imposition of beliefs and whether people practice their beliefs or not. "Those who exercise their beliefs cannot and should not intervene in the way those who do not practice live, and vice versa," Erdoğan said.

He assured that the secularism as defined in the current constitution would be protected in the new constitution. However, the prime minister also said politicians should not be attacked because their wives want to wear a headscarf in line with their beliefs. Erdoğan's wife, Emine, wears a headscarf, as does the wife of President Abdullah Gül, Hayrünnisa. Mrs. Gül has been absent from most official ceremonies to avoid run-ins with military commanders, who see themselves as guardians of the secular republic and avoid receptions hosted by Gül and his wife.

Labels: Luar Negeri, Turkey