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Islamism and intolerance among the Turks -- not as common as you might think
by Jim Geraghty, National Review's man in AnkaraI'm getting some e-mail from folks who have heard horror stories of Islamist intolerance of Christianity in Turkey, and asking why I'm not denouncing my Turkish hosts for insufficient tolerance of other religions, and how doesn't this just reveal that the Turks are just like the rest of the Muslim world, intolerant extremists, etc. First of all, my views of Turkey are shaped most powerfully by my firsthand experience, and those experiences have thankfully so far been positive. This may reflect that people are on their "best behavior" around a journalist, or it could be because I'm American. It also might be that I generally tread lightly when discussing religious topics. I don't begin discussions with my Turkish friends with, "So, about that priest who got shot in Trabzon - are you ashamed to be a Turk, or what?" Having said all that, the party in power, AKP, is openly Islamist. They are patient, meticulous and not synonymous with the views of, say, Hamas or Ahmediniad. They have found much of their agenda stymied since coming to power in 2002. But it does not seem outrageous to conclude that if Turkish public opinion shifted to an easily-provoked, quick-to-anger, anti-Western view, AKP would not break a sweat trying to reverse the trend. It is unlikely that Turkey will have a warm-and-fuzzy attitude towards Christianity in our lifetime; or at least not for a while in our lifetimes. There is, however, an attitude of staunch secularism that, if not outright tolerant, sees Islamist religious intolerance as backwards and un-Turkish. (By golly, it's not what Ataturk would do!) (Random aside - Turks feel either the most minimal or no connection or bond at all with Arab Muslims. When the Dubai Ports World controversy was brewing, the reaction of two of my Turkish friends was, "Well, anti-Muslim bias is wrong. It's discrimination. But anti-Arab bias... man, that's just common sense! I wouldn't let one of those Arab lunatics run my country's port!") So I guess I'm hoping Western observers don't look at Turkey and dismiss it as no better than Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or the mobs in Afghanistan who wanted to kill the Christian convert Abdul Rahman, etc. Yes, there are powerful forces at work here who rail against imaginary plots of Christian conversions, and who like to target the few remaining Christians in the country as scapegoats. Conspiracy theories are the coin of the realm, sad to say. But there are Turkish, and in fact Muslim allies against intolerance and hate in this country, and I think the West would be foolish to ignore or alienate these folks. Posted by: Mike 2006-11-29 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=173477 |