This article does not tell us the whole story about Turkey, at least, not in its true context.
NIDDERAU, GERMANY: This is in response to the article “Learning from secular Istanbul” (June 3) by Arsalan Ali Faheem. This article does not tell us the whole story about Turkey, at least, not in its true context. It tells us about Turkey’s secular Constitution, but does not elaborate on why it has retained its secular ethos till today. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk made Turkey a secular state. Since then, the country’s military has made sure that it remains so. However, elections have always indicated a strong backing by the people for religious parties, with the military trying to control the limits of these parties’ strength for the last many decades. Eventually, with international pressure, the military let a religious party take power. The reason why this government has not changed the Constitution to a religious one is simple — it does not have the required two-thirds majority to do so.
It appears that the majority of Muslims in Turkey still prefer an Islamic government with sharia laws. So, the conclusion the writer should have come to is this: yes, Turkey is secular, but it is not necessarily due to the people’s support for having a secular country.
Sharif Lone
Published in The Express Tribune, June 4th, 2013.
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