Support Secular Turks

Something momentous is happening in Turkey right now. Most Americans, preoccupied with Iraq, may not be aware of it – or even care. Well, they should.

First, a brief précis for the uninitiated. During the past week, hundreds of thousands of secular Turks have been demonstrating in different parts of the country. They are protesting against the nomination of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as a candidate in the country’s upcoming Presidential election. Gul was nominated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Erdogan's supporters have spoken against restrictions on wearing Islamic-style head scarves in government offices and schools; and they support religious schools. His government also tried to criminalize adultery, before being forced to back down under intense European Union pressure; and some party-run municipalities have taken steps to ban alcohol. Secularists fear that if Gul becomes president, he could challenge the country's secular system. Gul is a pious Muslim, who made his career in the country's Islamist political movement.

So why is what’s happening in Turkey important to the US? Think about it. For a long time now, the Islamic fundamentalists – which include the militants currently fermenting a civil war in Iraq – have portrayed their jihad as a straight battle with the West. Islam versus Christianity; conservative moral values versus the cultural decadence of America and Europe. America and Europe are out to annihilate Islam. It is the sacred, moral obligation of the fundamentalists to take up arms, rid the world of the rampaging Crusader scourge and usher in a virtuous Islamic society – as decreed by Allah.

Now here comes Turkey, a hundred percent Muslim nation, protesting vehemently against the fundamentalists. The Turks are no Crusaders; they are devout followers of Islam. And they have experienced both versions of it, the traditional version – with sharia law and all its accoutrements – under the Ottomans: and the modern, secular variety – ushered in by Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk’s Turkey values civil liberties; it has taken the best of Western and Arabic traditions and melded them into a homogenous blend: one, for example, where simple enjoyments such as music and dancing are not regarded as an affront to Allah; and where a woman does not need to cover herself in a formless hejab to be considered a pious Muslim.

Yes, the Turks have sampled both forms of Islam; and the majority of them have consciously chosen the more progressive one. They are a direct slap in the face to the fundamentalists’ claim that Islam – or their version of it – is the only true religion; that they are doing the work of Allah.

Now the secular Turks are under siege – from an enemy America has become all too familiar with after 9/11 and Iraq. They need America’s support. Do not fail them. If the fundamentalists are allowed to win this battle, the dangers for the West will increase a hundredfold. This is the 21st Century Alamo – or it could be. If freedom is to continue to ring in Turkey, we need to take a stand.