"AKP same with Christian democrats in EU"

In an interview with the A.A, Dr. Roy, who is currently in Davos city of Switzerland to attend the 33rd World Economic Forum meetings, said on Saturday, "the United States needs to recover its relations with Turkey. There are two reasons of it. The first reason includes Turkey’s well-known strategic position, its role in the NATO, its stance towards Iran, and its relations with Israel and Caucasus. The second reason is that the United States needs Turkey since it wants rise of moderate Muslim countries against radical Muslim countries."

Noting that Washington had relied on the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, Roy stressed that he considered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s scheduled visit to the United States an important opportunity of recovering relations.

Describing the AKP government as ‘democratization of Islam’, Roy said that the AKP had reached the same point with Christian democrats in Europe.

"Although Prime Minister Erdogan was loyal to Islamic ideology twenty years ago, he has changed now. Therefore, I do not agree with concerns of secular circles. This change of defenders of Islamism is achieved as a result of democracy in Turkey. It proved superiority of democracy," he said.

Upon a question about the United States policy towards the Islamic world, Roy said, "the United States does not have a policy to attack on the Islam. Its target is to make a difference between good Muslims and bad Muslims in line with its own views. The United States needs Turkey to this end. Washington wants to recover its relations with Turkey and considers Prime Minister Erdogan’s scheduled visit to the United States an important opportunity. There are two reasons of it. The first reason includes Turkey’s well-known strategic position, its role in NATO, its stance towards Iran, and its relations with Israel and Caucasus. The second reason is that the United States needs Turkey since it wants rise of moderate Muslim countries against radical Muslim countries."

When asked, "the crisis of motion between Turkey and the United States was experienced during the political power of the AK Party. The crisis played havoc with bilateral relations. Do you think that the U.S. administration has still relied on the AK Party government?" Roy said, "yes, definitely. First of all, the government acted clearly. And secondly, the armed forces was also opposed to dispatch of soldiers to Iraq. Therefore, the United States does not accuse Prime Minister Erdogan. Even U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz criticized the armed forces for failing to put sufficient pressure about dispatch of soldiers to Iraq."

When asked, "what does AK Party symbolize for fundamentalist Islamic organizations like Taliban?" Roy said, "according to fundamentalist organizations, there is not any difference between Erdogan and Ecevit. These organizations do not accept moderate Islam."

Responding another question, Roy said, "the AK Party is a symbol of democratization of the Islam. The AK Party has reached the same point with Christian Democrats in Europe. When we compare Prime Minister Erdogan and Prime Minister Wolfgang Stoiber of Bavaria state of Germany, we will see that they shared many affinities. Both of them are conservative. They have been advocating free market economy and technology. They share the same views about family and religious values. They want state and religion to be kept separate from each other."

When asked, "Prime Minister Erdogan announced during the Jeddah Forum that he was opposed to joint Islamic market. However, this was one of the main policies of Necmettin Erbakan. What do you think?" Roy said, "Erbakan has still been loyal to an ideology. He could display pragmatic attitudes in politics, but there is not any change in his ideology. As for Erdogan, he is a pragmatic leader since he acquired important experiences during his term in office as mayor of Istanbul."

Upon a question about Prime Minister Erdogan, Roy said, "according to my point of view, Prime Minister Erdogan has changed. People, especially, politicians, change. Because, they have the opportunity of observing the changes in daily life and society. I believe that the gap between secularists and former defenders of Islamism in Turkey would diminish in the course of time. If Turkey had not been a democratic country, Prime Minister Erdogan’s ideology would have never been changed."

When asked whether or not reforms and changes in Turkey would affect the other Muslim countries, Roy said, "I do not believe in domino theory. An Islamic state was founded in Iran, however, Turkey has adopted democratic system. Democracy can process only after developing deep roots both in society and history of that country. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the founder of modern Turkey. However, you cannot apply Kemalism in the other countries since strict secularism is considered a kind of dictatorship like in Tunisia, Iraq under rule of Saddam Hussein and Syria. Therefore, priority for the Muslim countries should be democracy instead of secularism."

Dr. Roy has been acting as an advisor at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1984. He has been responsible for social issues at the Paris-based French National Center for Scientific Research. He wrote books such as "The New Central Asia", "The Failure of Political Islam" and "Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan".