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Turkey: A Growing Divide

By George Thomas
CBN News

CWNews.com–-- ISTANBUL, Turkey - They held up signs that read "No way for Sharia Law!"

Tens of thousands of secular Turks rallied this weekend against the role of Islam in the country's politics. It was the third such mass protest in a month drawing more than a million people.

The man in charge of organizing the rallies tells CBN News that there are forces in his country trying to impose religion on society.

Sener Eruygur of the Ataturk Thought Association said, "There are Islamic fundamentalist groups, -- and even those who call themselves moderate, but in reality are radical -- which are trying to use Islam as a political tool to further an agenda."

Secular Turks blame Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim, of pursuing a government agenda to impose Islamic law.

Since taking control of the government in 2002, his ruling AKP party has tried to ban alcohol, create more religious schools and lift the restrictions on wearing Islamic-style headscarves in government offices and schoolrooms.

Turkey's secularists have been fuming. One said, "The rules of politics and religion should be kept separate as it is written in our constitution. They should not mix."

But the AKP's opponents say that hasn't stopped the government from filling key positions in society with hundreds of Islamic-oriented fundamentalists.

"In an attempt to make Turkey more Islamist,” said Eruygur, “the party is putting its own people in key positions in all levels of society -- government and private."

Erdogan has denied the pro-Islamic accusations and has instead touted his pro-democracy reforms.

The latest controversy erupted this month when Abdullah Gul, Erdogan's closest political ally, was picked as the sole candidate in the country's presidential elections.

Hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets accusing Gul of also harboring an Islamist agenda. The powerful Turkish military, which has vowed to crush any signs of Islamization, threatened to intervene.

On Sunday, Gul withdrew his candidacy after failing to get the necessary votes for the post.

Turkey's highest court has dissolved the parliament and scheduled elections for July 22nd.

Some analysts believe that the Supreme Court's decision to dissolve the parliament in essence gives the AKP party the upper hand come July.

Mustafa Akyol writes for a prominent Turkish newspaper, the Turkish Daily News.

Akyol said, "I think they will even get more votes in the next election, more than what they got in 2002,"

The AKP draws much of its support from Turkey's Islamic conservatives, many of whom are emerging as a powerful middle class. Support for more traditional Islamic culture is high among this group.

"In Turkey, conservative Islamic circles have been on the periphery for a long time but now they are moving to the center and asserting themselves,” said Akyol, “and the secular traditionalist elite think that this is a danger."

Akyol and others say it's not so much that Turkey is being Islamized but rather that Muslims from once poor and ill-educated families are being modernized.

Bottom line; these are tense political times in Turkey and the presidential dispute has only deepened what many here believe is a growing divide between radical Islamists and hardcore secularists.

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