The Myth of Secular Turkey

True secularism was never realized in Turkey, it never will...

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Turkey is often praised for being a secular Muslim country, which can serve as a role-model for other mainly Islamic societies because of its rich history of secularism. America, the United Kingdom and other Western nations often claim that Turkey is a beacon of hope, and that it serves as evidence that democracy and secularism can thrive in mainly Muslim states. However, during this so-called “golden age” of secularism in modern Turkey, religious and ethnic minorities have clearly suffered greatly. This raises the question: truly how secular is Turkey?

If we look at Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey, it becomes clear that he himself supported exclusively "Turkish" nationalism and the destruction of Christianity, which continued to take place after the genocide of Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Orthodox Christians in 1915.

Therefore, it is clear that Turkish nationalism and secularism is tainted by its anti-Christian as well as anti-Kurdish nature. After all, the nation state of Turkey was about Turkish nationalism, and secularism did not protect the religious or ethnic minorities of this diverse nation.

In spite of this, the myth of modernity and secularism based on the founding father prevails and Western nations are very optimistic about Turkey. Yes, Ataturk faced many difficulties; and from a Turkish point of view, he was very astute because he preserved a Turkish state when it was threatened by others. Yet, in order to do this, he crushed others. Therefore, the “bedrock” of secularism from the start was “frail”, because it was based on purely "Turkish" nationalism.

Ataturk did implement many reforms in order to modernize Turkey and did lay the foundation stone for a secularism-based state. In this sense, he crushed Islamists' hope of a Sharia Islamic state, and he gave more rights to females which did not exist in the old Ottoman Empire. However, his legacy of modernity and secularism is tainted by the overt nationalism of old Turkey, which is still strong in today's Turkey.

If secularism means having the right to crush various minorities, namely Christians, moderate Muslim Alevis, as well as the Assyrians, Syriacs, Armenians and Kurds in modern day Turkey, then it cannot be called secularism at all. Therefore, modernization and secularism of modern Turkey is tainted by its overt nationalism; and of course, the Sunni orthodox mindset means that religious inequality is the norm.

In the 1990s, Alevi Muslims witnessed an upsurge in attacks against them. For example, David Zieden, who wrote an article called, The Alevi of Anatolia, states that “Renewed inter-communal violence is sadly on the rise. In July 1993, at an Alevi cultural festival in Sivas, a Sunni fundamentalist mob set fire to a hotel where many Alevi participants had taken refuge, killing 35 of them. State security services did not interfere and prosecution against leaders of the riot was not energetically pursued. (41) In 1994, Istanbul municipal leaders from the Refah Islamic political party tried to raze an Alevi tekke (monastery) and close the Ezgi cafe where young Alevis frequently gathered.”

Meanwhile, if we focus on recent times, it becomes clear that persecution is still continuing. In 2007, three Christians had their throats slit. Two of the victims had converted from Islam to Christianity; therefore, Necati Aydia, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32, were killed by Islamic fanatics on the grounds of merely leaving Islam; the other murdered Christian, Tilmann Geske, 46, was a German citizen. One of the killers stated in the Hurriyet newspaper that “We didn’t do this for ourselves. We did it for our religion. May this be a lesson to the enemies of religion.”

Before concluding, it is important to state that there are many positive elements within Turkish society, who desire change and support a genuine inclusive secular-democratic Turkey. Viewed from its past history and from a Turkish perspective, this nation clearly faced many obstacles; for Ataturk, the infancy of Turkey was about survival and many Turks also suffered greatly. Apart from this, Turkey is also a valued member of the NATO and a vital strategic ally for America and the West.

Despite these positives, seen from perspectives of the rights of Alevi Muslims and Christians in modern day Turkey, plus the persecution of Kurds, clearly orthodox Sunni Islam and nationalism is still being used by conservative elites. These elites still desire to crush both religious and ethnic minorities, and depriving them of equality in modern Turkey.

Events and incidents in recent years makes it clear that the Sunni Islam, recognized by the Turkish state, is favoured at the expense of other faiths, including minority Muslim sects, like the Alevis. Moreover, Sunni Islamic extremism is on the rise, while the current Islamist leadership of Turkey clearly favours a return to the past.

It, thus, can be concluded that true secularism was never realized in Turkey. And the latest turn toward puritan Islam and Sharia would leave the realization of secularism in Turkey a distant dream. The nature of Islam and the mindset it creates toward all others make it impossible for a mainly Muslim state to become truly secular.

Tarek Fatah and the Myth of Moderate Islam

How the likes of Tarek Fatah, in the guise of so-called secular and moderate Muslims, are hell-bent on hiding Islam's historical facts in order to advance Islam in the West, while discrediting, even endangering the lives, of the true critics of Islam...

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I have always maintained that “moderate Muslim” is an oxymoron. We have two kinds of Muslims: Terrorist Muslims and ignorant Muslims. The former are those who know Islam well and live by its dictums. The latter have no clue about their religion and have an idealized image of Islam that has no bases in facts.

Mr. Tarek Fatah’s editorial published in National Post on March 12, 2010 confirms my view. Fatah attended a debate between Dr. Wafa Sultan, the courageous ex-Muslim woman that shook the Arab world when in an Aljazeera televised debate she pointed out that the problem with the Muslim world is Islam, and Dr. Daniel Pipes, a scholar of Islamic history and the director of the Middle East Forum.

In this debate Pipes argued that Islam is not essentially an intolerant religion and that there have been instances when Jews who were persecuted in Christian countries had sought refuge in Muslim lands. Sultan disagreed and reminded her audience that Muhammad had raided several Jewish tribes who lived in Arabia, massacred their unarmed men and allowed his marauding band to rape their women, while always reserving the prettiest for himself.

Upon hearing these comments, Fatah was "traumatized". "Even a hardened secular Muslim such as myself was deeply hurt by what I heard that evening," wrote Fatah.

While acknowledging the validity of Sultan’s criticism of Islam, Fatah repined that “instead of using her newfound fame to challenge the established theocracies and corrupt kingdoms of the Middle East, Sultan veered off the deep end and could not resist the temptation of becoming the poster child of Islam haters, joining their ranks with the fervour of a convert.”

Why should Sultan challenge the established theocracies and corrupt kingdoms when these are the rotten fruits of the poisonous tree of Islam? As a medical psychiatrist, she is trained to look at the cause of the disease and not the symptoms.

Fatah accused Sultan of fear mongering and telling to a predominantly Jewish audience, that Muhammad was a Jew-killer. He wrote “Wafa Sultan delivered an astonishing account of how the Prophet had slaughtered Jews and then raped the wife of the defeated Jewish tribe.”

Astonishing account? These accounts were reported by early Muslim historians. If Fatah is astonished, it is because he, like most Muslims, has not read the history of Islam. Few Muslims care to investigate their religion. The references to Muhammad’s raids, rapes and lootings can also be found in the Quran. Muslims chant the Quran for thawab (reward), but they don’t study it, and often don’t understand what they read.

The hatred of the Jews is in the Quran. The first sura of this book is a prayer where Muslims supplicate to Allah "Show us the straight path. The path of those whom Thou hast favored; not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray."

Muslims agree that "those whom Allah has favored" are Muslims, and "those who earn Allah's anger" and "those who go astray" are Jews and Christians, respectively.

Jews are stereotyped as greedy in all Muslim countries. This is due to quranic verse that says Jews “cling to life more eagerly than any other people. …every one of them would love to live a thousand years”, but they will burn I hell. (2:96)

Many verses of the Quran portray the Jews as evil-doers, wicked, transgressors, prophet-killers, and despised by God. Because Muhammad hated the Jews, Muslims will always hate the Jews. This hatred is inseparable from Islam.

Fatah continued, “I left the synagogue deeply disturbed. In the fight against Islamofascism, Wafa Sultan’s hatred of Islam was cultivating the very forces she claims to be exposing. When a questioner asked her ‘What is the solution?’ she just shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps the answer she had in mind was too outrageous even by her own standards: Force Muslims to convert or die.”

Sultan has all the reasons to hate Islam. Former Muslims hate Islam because we hate discrimination against women, violence against non-Muslims, dictatorship and imposition of faith that characterizes the true Islam, and because we know the damage that his overgrown cult has done to our people, our culture and our countries. We don’t shrug our shoulders when asked for the solution. Obviously this “hardened secular Muslim” was so traumatized that he could no longer hear what Wafa Sultan was saying.

Former Muslims propose telling the truth as the solution. We believe that truth can set us free. Former Muslims do not advocate violence and hate against our own kin, brothers, sisters, parents, and loved ones. We strive for their freedom and their right to know the truth. We oppose censorship and political correctness that have enslaved the truth. Truth can hurt our feelings, but lies will kill us.

I do not disagree with Dr. Pipes’ historic account that sometimes Jews, who were persecuted by Christians, sought refuge among Muslims. However, I respectfully disagree with him when he presents this as evidence of Islam’s tolerant nature.

Islam is not tolerant because Muhammad was not tolerant. This does not mean all Muslims are intolerant. There have been many Islamic rulers who were tolerant, but they went against the canons of Islam, as many do today. That is why the jihadists, who follow the true Islam, are attacking these Muslim rulers.

Unlike the crusaders, who wanted to convert everyone to Christianity, the jihadists don’t want to convert everyone to Islam. They want to establish the Caliphate and dominate the world. In an Islamic state, ruled under the Sharia, non-Muslims, particularly the people of Book (Jews and Christians), are protected, as long as “they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (Q: 9:29). This is no different from Nazism. Hitler did not want to convert everyone to Arians, nor did he want to exterminate all mankind. He wanted to dominate the world.

By drawing a distinction between Islamic terrorists and “moderate” Muslims, Pipes is threading a dangerous path. One is either a Muslim, therefore emulates Muhammad and is a terrorist, or he is not a Muslim. Moderate Muslim makes as much sense as moderate Nazi.

Lies always come back to haunt us. A Muslim, who does not practice Islam or believes Islam means peace, may be called a ‘moderate Muslim’, but, in fact, he is a wishy-washy or ignorant Muslim.

It is this myth that allows Glenn Beck to malign Geert Wilders, and call him a “fascist”, or Jacqui Smith and other British officials to bar him from entering the U.K. There are countless good people who are harassed, prosecuted and called racists because of this myth.

I respectfully urge Pipes to stop promoting the myth of moderate Islam. I also cordially invite him to a written debate on this topic. Getting to the bottom of this matter goes beyond academic interest. This myth is endangering the lives of the critics of Islam and is violating their right to free speech. Good people are called islamophobe, bigot, racist and fascist, because the world prefers politically-correct untruths to the inconvenient truth. It is thanks to this myth that telling the truth has become the new hate speech.

Tarek Fatah proves my point that there is no such thing as moderate Muslim. He calls himself hardened secular, but cannot stand to hear a historic truth about his prophet. When he says, “Wafa Sultan’s hatred of Islam was cultivating the very forces she claims to be exposing”, he is talking about himself. Many honest Muslims prefer not to hide their heads in the sand; they face the truth and deal with it in a rational way.

I would like to remind the reader that many Muslim terrorists come from a secular background. At one point they were just as “liberal” as Mr. Fatah is today until something happened in their lives and they turned to their faith.

Every Muslim, moderate or otherwise, is a potential terrorist. The belief in Islam is like a tank of gasoline. It looks innocuous like water, until it meets the fire. For a “moderate” Muslim to become a murderous jihadist, all it takes is a spark of faith.

It is time to put an end to the charade of “moderate Islam”. There is no such thing as moderate Muslim. Muslims are either jihadists or dormant jihadists; moderate, they are not.

P.S. A copy of this article was sent to National Post. Since they published Mr. Fatah's attack on Dr. Sultan, I hope they would publish this response to him. However, if they refuse to publish it I won't be offended. Most westerners have no problem shadowboxing the "political Islam", as if dealing with an entity different from Islam, but shun the real critics of Muhammad and Islam itself. This mighty task is left on the shoulders of former Muslims and a few heroic souls like Geert Wilders.