Economy trumps religion in Turkey

The ruling Islamic-rooted party won a landslide victory Sunday, raising more questions about the future of Turkey's officially secular state.

from the July 24, 2007 edition

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"The electorate [did] not take the arguments that Turkey's secularism was at serious risk seriously," says Ilter Turan, a political analyst also at Istanbul Bilgi University. Opposition parties that "pursued the strategy of ideological polarization based on secularism now will see that people are more interested in issue-based, pragmatic politics."

It was a "major misjudgment," says Mr. Turan, because five years of AK Party rule "did not provide sufficient evidence that these people are out to build a religious state."

Voters displayed all of Turkey's varied political stripes with an 80 percent turnout during scorching weather Sunday, and indicated their wish for stability. In the secular Istanbul stronghold of Bakirkoy, voters warned that an AK Party victory would bring unrest. It "will bring chaos to society," says Haluk Dogan, a sales manager and CHP voter who warned of this "radical Islamic agenda."

"Difficult days are waiting for us," says Omer Kormaz, a car salesman and opposition supporter. "It is impossible, Turkey will never be like Iran. But in the hands of this government, they will try."

But AK Party supporters, now numbering almost half of Turkey's voters, counter that such fears are overblown. They note that past AK efforts to loosen restrictions on head scarves and other changes have stopped.

"I defend secularism, but secular people are not on the same side as us," says Ahmed, who only gave his first name. "For example, if a Muslim person wants to go to university wearing a head scarf, [secularists] do not allow it. Which one is democracy, I ask you?"

And those freedoms are what have caught Turkey's secularists in a bind: where to draw the line when weighing democratic rights against secular tradition?

"Turkey will become a radical Islamist country" frets Sevtap Guru, a sales consultant in Bakirkoy, whose designer sunglasses sport a twisted snake design. "If this [AK Party rule] continues, we will become Arabistan."

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