Secularism and democracy

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When I recently met a Christian Democratic German in Brussels, he ignorantly told me, ‘Turkey can’t be an EU member, because you close churches in your country. Christians can’t worship freely.’ I was shocked by this nonsense. I tried to tell him that there was no such thing, that all the way back to the Ottoman era Turkey has enjoyed an atmosphere of multi-religious tolerance. I asked him to come see this tolerance with his own eyes and experience it for himself, but I couldn’t convince him. Actually I’ve heard such views from Europeans several times.

When I recently read a statement of German Ambassador to Turkey Wolf Ruthard Born in the Vatan daily, I realized that my concerns were not misplaced. ‘Turkey is a completely different world for Europe,’ he said, ‘from its religion to the societal roles of its men and women, to its clothes and traditions. A harsh, intolerant Islamic understanding… this is what we are afraid of.’ This is how Europeans see what the AKP calls ‘conservative democrat,’ an extremely mistaken and artificial formulation. Added Born, ‘Turkey isn’t a secular democratic country. Its state structure is secular, but Muslim as well. People still lead their lives according to religious rules, as do politicians.’ Everybody favoring a ‘conservative democratic’ identity should read these views very carefully. The AKP’s mistaken obsessions, such as ‘Turkey playing the role of a moderate Islam regime’ would be valued more by the West, will prove a great obstacle for us. A modern, secular and democratic identity cannot be proven by delivering speeches in public squares and making promises to foreign statesmen behind closed doors. Our opponents only care about whether our actions fit our words. They take immediate note of any discrepancy. If Erdogan and his friends really want to raise Turkey to the ‘level of modern civilization,’ they should assimilate the principles and revolutions of our secular democratic republic.”