Opinions
Separate state and religion
Turkey needs to face the fact that experience gained over the course of almost a century has shown that the marriage of state and religion is detrimental to both. If Turkey is to ever consolidate a liberal and pluralist kind of democracy, state and religion need to be separated, and freedom for believers and nonbelievers alike has to be secured.
No secularism or democracy without religious freedom
The gentleman gently said: “However, dear Mr. Alpay, it was clear from the beginning that the AKP had a hidden agenda. But pundits like yourself conveyed a highly positive picture of the AKP government both at home and abroad. You have a responsibility in the situation we find ourselves today.”
Religious communities under threat in Turkey
These operations might have targeted the government in some respects, but so far no concrete evidence has been produced about deliberate, systematic and willful inclusion of the Hizmet movement in this plot. It is true that the Hizmet movement’s media group has been lending support to the graft and bribery investigation.
Turkish schools
About 15 years ago, I attended an international academic conference in a state located within the former Soviet geography. These conferences give us the chance to make on-the-spot observations about changes around the world. There were two Turkish high schools in the city: a state school, run by the Turkish Republic under bilateral agreements, and a private school run by Turkish entrepreneurs inspired by the ideas of well-respected Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. I visited both and talked to students and teachers.
Islam, terrorism and the media
We unfortunately live in an unfair world. Injustice is so ubiquitous that we can categorize it based on our neighborhood, our city, our region, our country and the world. Any kind of injustice, discrimination or otherization — such as social injustice, class injustice, inequity in income distribution and a lack of equal opportunities in education, business and social mobility — may rear its ugly head at any moment in our daily life. Not only the cases of social injustice we encounter in our daily life, but also the sentiments of rage and revolt stemming from national or international injustice may trigger reactions that are against the nature of people who normally have psychological integrity.
Terrorist organization, you say
He is 73 years old and is known as a respected scholar who has been studying Islamic exegesis. He is well-known in academia. He was promoted to associate professor in the field of Islamic exegesis back in 1977. He served as head of the exegesis department at the faculty of theology at Erzurum’s Atatürk University, conducted research in Paris Sorbonne, taught at the faculty of Islamic studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, was the chair of exegesis studies at Marmara University and conducted academic studies at International Islamic University of Malaysia. He is the author of 13 books and hundreds of articles.
The gravest-ever smear
The erstwhile political Islamists — who would frequently utter the slogan “Every day is Ashura and everywhere is Karbala,” referring to the tragic incident in Islamic history when the Prophet Muhammad’s grandsons, Hasan and Husain, as well as those who accompanied them, were ambushed and slaughtered near Karbala in Iraq — apparently stick today to the formula “Every day is a lie and everywhere is a smear.”
Turkey’s largest charity group targeted
Turkey’s political Islamists, armed with abusive government powers, are deliberately and maliciously trying to strangle the country’s leading private charity group, Kimse Yok Mu, in order to dismantle an important barrier in front of the awkward social engineering project of turning this moderate Muslim nation into a bastion for ideological zealots.
Religious communities and ISIL
ISIL’s Salafi ideology relies on a very simple perception of religion: the literal interpretation of the Holy Qur’an and Prophet’s words. These literal interpretations can hardly solve the complex problems of contemporary societies. For organizations that turn religion into a war slogan like ISIL, nothing more is really needed. They only want to use religion as a motivator for killing and dying.
The story of the boy who cried wolf
The Sabah newspaper greeted the news of the 10-hour National Security Council (MGK) meeting with the headline “Parallel structure added to red book.” But this was, of course, a complete lie. For a long time now, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been indicating that the Hizmet movement — which he refers to as the “parallel structure” — would be officially added to the National Security Strategy Concept Paper as a “domestic threat.” This is a part of his personal vendetta and Erdoğan has kept up this propaganda war even as president of Turkey.
Islam’s internal enemies
Caliph Omar, who is renowned for his attention to justice, paid a visit to sacred sites after taking over control of Jerusalem from Governor Sophronius. He visited Masjid al Aqsa and later also wanted to see the Church of Resurrection where, according to Christian belief, Jesus was crucified and prepared for burial. Sophronius, who was walking with Omar, recalled that he performed prayers everywhere he visited and asked him to do the same at the church. Omar rejected the request saying, “If I perform prayer here, Muslims will build a mosque on this very spot.” Instead he found an empty area to the south of the church for prayer, upon which Muslims thereafter erected a mosque named after Omar.
Erdoğan’s personal propaganda tool, the MGK
Erdoğan has asserted that the Gülen movement is to be included in the Red Book as a “prioritized threat.” But never mind the fact that he acts and speaks as though this has all been decided upon already. The fact is, he does not have the proper authority to do this. What’s more, there is absolutely no document or piece of information that would support such a move.
