TURKEY'S SECULARISM EXPOSED

Date: 22 Feb 2008

Comment:

BRITAIN AND THE USA ARE DOING THEIR UTMOST TO PASS TURKEY AS A DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE SECULAR STATE. 
SURELY THEY CANNOT BE SUCH IGNORANT FOOLS AS TO OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT TURKEY IS MUSLIM THROUGH AND THROUGH AND SLOWLY AND SLOWLY IS WIPING OFF HER SECULAR VENEER.

WHAT IS THE STRATEGY OF BRITAIN AND THE USA WHO HAVE RECOGNISED THE INDEPENDENCE OF KOSOVO IN ORDER TO PLEASE THE TURKS? (IN 1947 THEY BROKE THE BACKBONE OF INDIA IN ORDER TO DESTROY THE HINDU CIVILISATION.)

IT IS TO LET TURKEY SLIP INTO E.U. AND THEN HAVE A COUNTERFORCE TO DEAL WITH FRANCE AND GERMANY.

WE HOPE THE FRENCH AND THE GERMANS WILL NOT BE SO NAIVE AS TO LET IN THE WOLF WEARING SHEEP'S COAT (MADE BY ANGLO-AMERICAN TAILORS) RIGHT NOW. 

BUT THE FOLLOWING NEWS ITEM SHOWS HOW THAT THIN VEIL IS ALSO LIFTING:
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Turkey's President Approves Controversial Headscarf Reform

http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=evxpzaIfdudo8I3

Turkish President Abdullah Gul approved a landmark constitutional reform that will allow female students to wear the Muslim headscarf at university in a move critics fear will undermine the state's secular foundations.

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Turkey | 22.02.2008 
Turkey's President Approves Controversial Headscarf Reform 
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  They will soon be allowed to study at university with their headscarves  
Turkish President Abdullah Gul approved a landmark constitutional reform that will allow female students to wear the Muslim headscarf at university in a move critics fear will undermine the state's secular foundations.

In a move that is likely to further anger Turkey's secular elite and army, the country's president approved the controversial reform on Friday, Feb 22.

"The amendments do not conflict with the basic principles of the republic," Gul's office said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Turkey's Parliament, where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan center-right AK Party has a big majority, voted to end the headscarf ban by 411 votes to 103.

"The proposal to change the constitution has been approved. I hope this will be the best for Turkey and hope it is done in a spirit of tolerance and reconciliation," parliamentary speaker Koksal Toptan said after the vote.

Passions running high

The headscarf has triggered strong emotions in Turkey with the country's old secular elite sharply at odds with Erdogan's AK party, which has Islamist roots, over the issue.


Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Erdogan's wife Emine, seen here with a security official, wears the headscarf
Erdogan's party says the headscarf ban is an unfair denial of individual rights and religious liberty and discriminates against women. Almost two thirds of women in Turkey cover their heads. Erdogan's wife and daughters wear the headscarf as do those of President Abdullah Gul and many other members of the AK Party.

Turkey's old secular elite, who see themselves as upholders of modern Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's secular legacy, strongly oppose the lifting of the ban on the headscarf. They see it as a slow slide towards an Islamist state.

The issue has sparked huge demonstrations by secularists on the streets of the capital Ankara in recent weeks. 

"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," shouted some demonstrators earlier in the month during protests. A majority of the demonstrators, who were waving the red and white star and crescent flag of Turkey and bearing portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, were women, including some who wore headscarves.


Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Secularist groups protested in large numbers in Ankara 
Some were wearing headbands that read "We are following your oath" along with pictures of Ataturk, who set up the republic in 1923 on the strict separation of state and religion.

The headscarf ban in Turkey dates back to the 1980s. It was tightened in 1997 when the country's powerful army, with public support, ousted a government they considered too Islamist.

Opinion polls however show that a majority of Turks are in favor of easing the ban. The rerform doesn't include female professors or civil servants who will still be subject to the headscarf ban.


 
DW staff (sp) 
 
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