Ataturk would be proud

A million Turks poured into the streets of Istanbul today to protest any move from a secular state to a pro-Islamist government. Because here's the deal: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pro-Islamist. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is a strong secularist. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, from Erdogan's pro-Islamist party, wants to be the next president. There go the secular checks and balances -- but not if the military, sworn to protect the country's secular nature, has its way.

The display of pro-secular sentiment obviously sent Al-Jazeera's head spinning. Look at this part of their story:

"Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillps met many women at the rally who said they feared that their way of life, what they call a modern way of life, was under threat by the possible spread of 'political Islam'."

"What they call a modern way of life" -- yes, Al-Jazeera, they have astutely deemed the practice of forcing women to wear headscarves or banning them from driving to be 100% NOT modern! It's worthwhile to note that Iran has been sending out the clothing police recently to crack down -- check out this video of a teen girl being dragged away crying and screaming by the regime's disciplinary forces for not meeting the dress code. Ataturk knew his country couldn't move forward with Islamic law, and today's Turks know that they can't turn back.

And "political Islam"? That's also not a made-up term, Al-Jazeera. Erdogan tried to make adultery a crime. That's pulling Islam into politics. Would they actually want to regress to the punishment that meets most adulterers (or shall I say, just the women) in other Islamic governments?

Comments

[Acharya S]

It is refreshing to consider that a million individuals are rallying for their rights to live free. It seems as if the Americans, for example, will sit like frogs in the pot of boiling water while the same threats surround them.