BAD FOR SECULARS = GOOD FOR US:

A watershed in Islamic history: Victories for the rule of law and moderates in Pakistan and Turkey will marginalise the Islamists in the region (Whit Mason, July 25, 2007, The Australian)

LAST weekend brought a double dose of that rare commodity, great news from the Muslim world.

First, in Pakistan, a resounding triumph for the rule of law; then in Turkey, a thundering victory for temperate, thoughtful democracy over fearmongering and jingoism.

On Saturday in Pakistan, the Supreme Court demonstrated true judicial independence virtually for the first time in the country's 60-year history when it reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, nemesis of Pakistan's "progressive" military dictator, General Pervez Musharraf.

Then on Sunday, Turks delivered the biggest electoral triumph in 50 years to the Justice and Development Party, a political movement that demonstrates the possibility of transcending the apparent tension between being devoutly Muslim in private and progressive and democratic in politics.

These two events mark a watershed in the modern history of the Islamic world: both are principled popular rebellions against military elites whose will has traditionally gone unchallenged.

Turkey: Democracy affirmed (International Herald Tribune, July 24, 2007)

The impressive re-election victory by Turkey's conservative Muslim ruling party is a tribute to the growing maturity of that country's politics and an inspiration for the cause of democracy in the broader Muslim world.

Voters rightly rejected the claim asserted by the traditional military-secular establishment that there is any fundamental incompatibility between democracy and Islam. Instead, they rewarded a party that has given the country its most competent and successful government in recent decades. That is exactly how democracy is supposed to work.

Unfortunately, in Palestine we're helping the secular military to thwart popular Islamic democracy.

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Feminism, Turkish-style: Opportunities for women in Turkey have expanded under the conservative AKP party )Senay Ozdemir, July 25, 2007, LA Times)

[S]ince 2001, Turkey has undergone enormous political and social improvement. There is plenty to criticize about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but more feminist organizations have been founded under the AKP than during any part of Turkey's 80-year democracy. These women's organizations were smart: They got their issues on the national agenda just as Turkey needed to show the EU that it was making progress on human rights.

As a result, finally, men and women in Turkey have equal rights concerning marriage, divorce and property ownership. For the first time, the law says explicitly that women have autonomy over their own bodies. Before this change, women belonged to their male relatives or husbands. Turkish feminist Duygu Asena, the granddaughter of Ataturk's personal secretary, died a year ago but, happily, lived long enough to see this profound change in the law. Her women's magazines and newspaper columns were an inspiration to a generation of Turkish women. She was the first to dare speak the word "orgasm" in public, and she shocked Turkey with her 1987 book, "The Woman has No Name," excoriating marital oppression.

While Westerners wring their hands about secularism, they miss the larger point: Turkey is getting more and more democratic. The lively public debate leading up to the election illustrates the progress that was already visible in legislation, media, employment and politics. Fifteen years ago, few people argued politics or took a public stance for one party or another. Now everybody is free to do so.

Yes, a party led by religious conservatives remains in power. But my expectations of progress for Turkish women remain high. The mentality is changing there -- across the secular-religious spectrum. Religious women may not be associated with feminism, but they now use the same laws to gain access to schools, universities and the media. Even if they wear head scarves, shouldn't we encourage them in these pursuits? Aren't religious women allowed to be ambitious? Isn't that pure democracy?

I see similar changes in mentality among men, who want to benefit from the nation's economic boom. Economic necessity and the desire for more freedom (mobility, property) are bringing men around to the idea that women can work and earn their own income. Highly educated Turks in particular are proud of their successful wives and supportive of their careers. They're learning about successful women from the source: 50% of Turkish professors are female. So are 57% of senior managers, those who run banks, private industry and museums.

The "liberation" of women is just a function of the democratic ethos and technology.
Blair avoids Hamas on Mideast trip: In his new post as envoy, he met with Israeli and Palestinian officials. He plans to return in September (Louise Roug, July 25, 2007, LA Times)

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Tuesday with Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Jerusalem and the West Bank but avoided Hamas officials on the second day of his initial visit as the new Middle East envoy.

"I think there is a sense of possibility, but whether that sense of possibility can be translated into something, that is something that needs to be worked at and thought about over time," Blair told reporters.

There's no possibility of meaningful progress if you ignore the popular government. Indeed, it's likely to be counterproductive, since it insults the Palestinian people.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 25, 2007 9:17 AM