SECULARISM IS STATISM:

The threat is secular fundamentalism (Mustafa Akyol, May 4, 2007, International Herald Tribune)

It is no secret that Islamic fundamentalism is a threat to democracy, freedom and security in today's world, especially in the Middle East. Yet the same values can be threatened by secular fundamentalists, too. Turkey's self-styled laïcité, a much more radical version of the French secular system, is a case in point.

The American model of secularism guarantees individual religious liberty. The Turkish model, however, guarantees the state's right to dominate religion and suppress religious practice in any way it deems necessary.

This devolves from the veneration of the state as an end in itself, an entity to which all other values may - and must - be sacrificed.

Mingled with this is the hostility felt by the Turkish secularist elite toward religion generally. Influenced by the European anti-religious movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it views religion as a pre-modern myth, one that must be extinguished for modernity to blossom.

The outcome of this mindset is an authoritarian strategy: Political power is to remain in the hands of the secularist elite. Thus the "secular republic" equals the "republic of seculars" - not the republic of all citizens.

It's hardly a coincidence that the Euros are cheering on the coup, The EU is also ‘firing bullets’ at Turkish democracy: The Turkish army is not alone in seeking to override the democratic process in Turkey in order to get the right result. (Chris Bickerson, 5/03/07, Spiked)

Whether or not one agrees with the secular values defended by the army in its intervention into Turkish politics, there is little doubt that the army’s fear of Islamisation in Turkey betrays its deep hostility towards the principle of popular will as the foundation of political authority. Undermining the authority of the parliament means degrading the will of the people. Defending a set of values by passing over the heads of the Turkish population should be condemned for its elitism. It represents an attempt to remove basic issues of society from open political debate. It was, as Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said, ‘a bullet fired at democracy’.

Yet it is difficult to listen to the commentary from Western European observers, and particularly from EU officials in Brussels, without being struck by the hypocrisy. Intervention in Turkish national politics is hardly the preserve of Turkey’s own secular military elite. It is a routine practice of the EU itself.

Indeed, the whole idea of ‘democratising Turkey’ through the process of allowing it to accede to the EU rests upon an assumption similar to that held by the Turkish military: that left to their own devices Turkish politicians are unable to keep on the democratic straight and narrow. The logic of EU enlargement as a democratising force proposes that countries need an external prop, something which can direct national elites and keep them in check. As others have argued, today Bosnia Herzegovina is the most ‘European’ country of all: it is nominally independent but in practice the authority of government decisions rests upon whether or not they conform to EU standards (4). The carrot of EU membership is a far greater intervention in Turkish politics than anything the military has mustered.

MORE:
Turks Find Much to Like In Ruling Party: Practical and Religious Concerns Underline Annoyance With Elites (Anthony Shadid, 5/04/07, Washington Post)

Like the other poor, shoddily built settlements that swathe Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, Umraniye is part of the constituency courted by the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose populist, religiously resonant politics appeal to the millions of migrants who have flocked to cities prospering in Turkey's economic boom.

As Turkey approaches general elections July 22, among its most decisive in years, those voters will be pivotal to the success of the ruling Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials AKP, or the AK Party. Religion is part of that appeal, but conversations here indicate that the allure is shaded in gray. Since the party took power in 2002, many residents say, it has managed to cultivate a reputation that steers between the extremes of religion and nationalism, project an image of relative effectiveness and style itself as an underdog vying with the establishment.

"All the parties steal in Turkey, and I'm sure the AK Party will steal, too. I know that, but at least they're dealing with the people," said Ergun Yalkanat, a 36-year-old factory worker. "They've managed to extend their hands to the people's conscience."

One of the most secular of Muslim nations, Turkey is wrestling with a social transformation brought to the fore by this month's crisis over the ruling party's choice for president and the coming elections. Analysts say the secular, Westernized elite that claims the legacy of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is facing the rise of a more religious, conservative and often rural class seeking a place in Turkey's hierarchy, its voice often articulated by the ruling party. Critics say the AK Party has yet to play its hand: Fully enshrined in power, it will promote political Islam and chip away at secular freedoms. Others view the party's ascent as inevitable.

"It's a vehicle for modernization of the unmodernized," said Dogu Ergil, a political science professor at Ankara University.

Or in the words of Rahime Dizen, relaxing near trees on a grassy hill in Umraniye with her friends, gingerly sewing a border for a brown head scarf embossed with a floral pattern: "We were sitting in mud before."

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 4, 2007 7:14 AM