Islamization of Turkey In The Post Coup Atmosphere!
19 July 2016By Dr. Abdul Ruff
Colachal
Though in Europe, Turkey, unfortunately, is facing the destabilization threats
like any other Muslim nation in Asia, especially in Arab world.
Turkish AKP government of Erdogan is fully aware of impediments to Islamist
governance being created by the enemies of Islam and opponents of AKP in
Turkey. Now that the military coup has been defeated, the government could now
resume with more zeal the Islamist mission of ruling AKP for the future of
Turkey and the world at large.
For realizing the government goals, Turkey needs to maintain sustained
relations with its immediate neighbors. Unfortunately, the military coup
occurred as President Erdogan began efforts to formulate a new friendly and
productive foreign policy to pursue Turkey's genuine interests
The defeat of military coup and success of the forces for democracy, both
within Turkey and worldwide should strengthen the elected governments to worry
more of coups. The Turkey case has shown that entire world has stood up to the
military plotters.
The global infrastructure for freedom and democracy makes it harder for
would-be strongmen in military or police uniform to succeed in coup plotting
in future. .
An attempted coup d'ιtat in Turkey July 15 failed for a host of internal
reasons, notably the fumbling nature of the military faction trying to
overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As President Erdogan tries to use
the bungled putsch to further strengthen his rule, he should recognize just
how many forces for democracy, both within Turkey and worldwide, saved both
elected presidency and his elected AKP government.
In a stroke, some members of Turkey's military the second-largest force in
NATO and a powerful bastion of secularism that has toppled four civilian
governments since 1960 showed that they were unhappy with Turkey's Islamist
and authoritarian trajectory, and believed they were in a position to stop it.
President Erdogan the man with a mission for society who for years has
fought to eclipse the military's role in politics in the name of democracy
used Face Time to foil the coup at the same time exposing the weaknesses of
his divisive vision of majoritarian rule. The attempt comes as Turkey faces an
unprecedented array of threats, and its stability is critical to a region
reeling from the Syrian civil war, the refugee crisis, and the presence of the
self-declared Islamic State.
Turkey's four main political parties issued a statement condemning the
military coup, a rare case of national unity. Turkish people, even Erdogan
critics, quickly used social media to take to the streets to defend the
country's democracy.
Turkey received universal support for regaining democratic strength. The USA,
European Union, and many other democracy backers hailed Turkey's political
success and opposed the coup. Even Russian leader Vladimir Putin spoke up.
Bloody footprints still stained Istanbul's Taksim Square as thousands of Turks
heeded the call by President Erdoğan to celebrate a victory of democracy over
an attempted military coup that failed before dawn, just hours after it began.
With so much digital information available about the military leaders who
opposed the coup, the plotters were easily seen as small in number.
Any person or group trying to thwart a democracy these days is up against a
global infrastructure of freedom cum democracy that has been built up since
World War II. Many more countries have democratic activists operating in civil
society groups. Many governments now have democracy-promotion efforts, such as
election support and monitoring. The creation of the International Criminal
Court acts as a deterrent to would-be dictators, though some colonialist
countries continue to attack neighboring or its own illegal colonies like
Israeli intermittent aggression of Palestine, killing civilians including
children and women. .
Before the failed military coup over the weekend and the ensuing purge by
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of thousands of personnel in the military,
police, and judiciary, the country's political climate had become increasingly
authoritarian and toxic. But the military coup could only make the trend
firmer.
Obviously, enemies of Islam do not want Muslim children to learn and know
Islam. While the AKP government is keen to make school education purposeful
for the fullest possible development of Islamic mindset and concern for
Islamic values, opponents of Islam play mischief in Turkey's educational
system. The roles of politics and religion in the classroom have been emotive
issues in Turkey for decades. The debate has often focused on Imam Hatips:
religious schools that are the preferred choice for pious parents who want
their children to receive a higher-than-usual dose of Sunni Islamic teaching.
In the mid-1990s, around 10 percent of all high school pupils attended Imam
Hatips, but that proportion fell dramatically after a crackdown on religious
education in 1998.
The Erdogan era has strengthened Islamic system of education as foundation for
an Islamist society for glorious life of people. In the past six years, the
schools have made a dramatic comeback under the AKP. Several hundred public
high schools have been converted into Imam Hatips, and they are now close to
surpassing their peak in the 1990s.
However, the latest protests take the debate into new territory, since the
schools affected comprise the cream of the education system: the elite high
schools that provide free education to the brightest children and have
produced a large proportion of its political, intellectual, and cultural
leaders.
In March 2015, 44 of these schools were placed under tighter supervision as
part of the new Project Schools initiative, which officials say is intended to
boost excellence. Istanbul High School is among them. Its famous alumni run
the gamut, from academics and poets to pop stars and three former prime
ministers.
Turkish government tries to inculcate Islamic values through education. But
there have been concerted efforts b anti-Islamic forces operating in Turkey
and influencing form across the borders try to complicate the AKP's
educational programs. A section argues, Turkey is a majority Muslim country,
but education and religion should be separated from each other for the sake of
''secularism''. The organization behind the petition Mr. Ηelik's Turkish
High Schools Union is linked to a fringe political group that espouses
hard-line secular nationalist values.
President Erdoğan has dismissed the protests against Islamization of education
and society and a petition in this regard as the work of fringe groups hoping
to revive the mass antigovernment protests that shook the country in 2013.
''We are seeing that some forces that have still not learned from the past are
now provoking university and high school students,'' Erdoğan said in a speech
on July 16. The government now seems increasingly unwilling to allow children
to be educated in an anti-Islamic atmosphere in which they might be exposed to
politically oppositional or controversial ideas that could ruin Islam in them
, out of fear that this could aalso damage Turkey's stability and growth. AKP
government needs to protect and safeguard the gains of Islamist rule.
The battle for Turkey's soul AKP party and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
has been revealed in a flash during a coup attempt. The government needs to be
firm about the AKP party program and principles to make Turkey truly Islamic
state. How Erdogan's post-coup crackdown impacts the clash over school
curriculum and administration remains to be seen.
Democracy has suffered setbacks in the past 15 years. But the number of
democracies in the world is at an all-time high and 40 percent of the world's
population still lives under fairly elected governments. More people seek the
freedoms of democracy and have more tools to push for it. The world was
reminded of this progress in Turkey's failed coup. That country must now move
toward more democracy while ensure mechanisms to deny the military plotters to
destroy elected governments. .
A number of coups has fallen over the past quarter century but plotters can
continence to attack democracy and cause disorder and destabilization. And
would-be strongmen must think twice about offending a range of institutions
set up to promote democracy, fight corruption, and defend human rights.
Turkey's membership in NATO may have reduced the willingness of Turkey's top
brass to join in this latest coup attempt. Turkey seeks to join the EU, which
requires it to improve its democratic credentials but coups can harm that
effort. The country also needs foreign investment, which means that financial
bodies such as the International Monetary Fund look hard at its democratic
stability.
The violent bid to oust President Erdoğan has exposed weaknesses in his
divisive rule with freedom for subversive politics and could test Turkey's
stability at a time of unprecedented threats at home and in the region. .
Unnecessary compromises with anti-Islamic forces operating within and across
the borders could damage the Islamist ideals.
While many argue the event will help Erdoğan consolidate power, he would
advance Islamist agenda for turkey. There is huge division in the Turkish
military and in Turkish society, and they don't go away, but they make the
person who's in charge more likely to respond to threats effectively and
logically.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments