I realize we've had our troubles with the Turks, but it's very heartening to see them so adamant about a secular government.
Posted on 04/30/2007 11:34:48 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Hundreds of thousands of secularist Turks took to the streets for the second time in two weeks yesterday after a dramatic intervention by the military in an attempt to stop Abdullah Gul becoming the first Turkish President with an Islamist past.
Demonstrators in Istanbul carried blood-red national flags and posters of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of a secular Turkey. Banners read: “Sharia (Islamic law) shall not rise to the Presidential Palace.”
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Number was actually over 1,000,000 (from updated reports).
Having an islamist in power would be disastrous, both for Turkey and for the U.S. and the rest of the world.
I realize we've had our troubles with the Turks, but it's very heartening to see them so adamant about a secular government.
Mark Steyn argues that an Islamist Turkey is nearly inevitable, with Islamist-friendly Anatolia having dramatically outbred cosmopolitan Istanbul for decades.
What about chances of a coup?
Don’t know, but the military draws from the broader society, so if the society becomes more Islamist, the military eventually does too.
With the notable exceptions of Syria and Libya, the majority Muslim nations of the Mediterranean shores seem to have a certain sanity that’s lacking in other such places. They actually have anti islamist majorities and deep seated protective strata willing to do whatever it takes to keep from going down the Islamonazi road. If the choice is between a coup and Islamonazi briggands in Ankara, let there be a coup.
Turkey does have it’s compliment of the fairer sex, indeed .... :)
Awesome. Now if only we could keep people here from pushing for a government based on their religious beliefs.
I’m not sure the military is there yet. They were and still are worried about an independent Kurdistan but the generals were not vocally opposed to Iraq invasion.
>>>Islamist-friendly Anatolia
Anatolia is far from an Islamist-friendly area.
Far-eastern Turkey with the Kords is, but Anatolia is fantistic. I love it there.
Considering the fact that 99.8 percent of Turkey are Muslims and .2 percent are Christian what they are doing is making a statement against Sharia law (you know the bad guys) Good for them.
Considering the fact that 99.8 percent of Turkey are Muslims and .2 percent are Christian what they are doing is making a statement against Sharia law (you know the bad guys) Good for them.
Muslims=Sunni Muslims
“Awesome. Now if only we could keep people here from pushing for a government based on their religious beliefs.”
I think you are a bit confused. Our ideas about freedom, rights, and liberty, our idea of checks and balances on government - these things have been greatly influenced by religious concepts and beliefs based on the Judeo-Christian worldview held by the founders of our nation.
The Declaration of Independence is just one example of this. That document declares that our “inalienable rights” and the idea that all men are “created equal” come from a Creator - from God. Since these rights are endowed to us by God - no government has the right to take them away. Our value, equality, and rights as citizens are not given to us by the State, but by God. That’s what they believed.
It doesn’t mean that the founders were all active, orthodox Christians - it just means they generally held a Judeo-Christian worldview about human sin and that right and wrong is determined by God as expressed in the Bible. They didn’t want a “theocracy”, but at the same time they understood that government is based on some kind of moral foundation - and that is where religious views have their influence.
So, while I agree that a “theocracy” is something the founders did not want, it is incorrect of you to imply that our government is not based on religious beliefs - it certainly was.
The Declaration of Independence and Preamble to the Constitution read like creeds.
Excellent reply. People in our nation are so eager to complain about the religious background that gave them the freedom to complain.
I lived in Turkey in 69-71 and I just don’t see the military allowing the islamic nuts taking over....it was pretty progressive when I lived there and I can’t imagine those folks giving up their freedoms to start wearing veils....
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