The great debate: Should religion be allowed to intervene in politics?

Turkish professor says his country’s constitution keeps religion separate from politics.

ISLAMABAD: Debates on whether to allow religion to intertwine with politics stayed rife at the youth interactions at Quaid-e-Azam University and Fatima Jinnah Women University as part of a dialogue series titled “Governance, Community and Religion” between Pakistani students, intelligentsia and civil society jointly organised by the Center for Research and Security Studies in collaboration with Heinrich Bӧll Stiftung.

Speaking at the roundtable conference, assistant professor a the Department of International Relations at Marmara University, Istanbul, Dr Behlul Ozkan argued that Turkey with its 90 years of secular tradition was the only Middle Eastern and African state to have completely secularised its legal system which is especially significant in the area of personal status law which regulates marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance.



“Turkey has a very good record of education and career opportunities for women depicted by the very high percentage of female participation in the civil service, judiciary and academia”, he said, adding that Turkish women were granted the right to cast their vote in 1930, before France, Greece, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium.

“According to the Turkish constitution, it is a criminal offence to use religion for political propaganda and likewise illegal to form political parties based on religion”, he said further. The same fact was also witnessed by history where many political parties were closed down for political expedience, he added.

Dr Ozkan shared that under Turkey’s constitution the state keeps a check over religion through the institution of religious affairs which keeps a check of mosques, madrassas and other religious affairs.

Author of From the Abode of Islam to the Turkish Vatan: Making of a National Homeland in Turkey and former ambassador of Pakistan to Indonesia Mian Sanaullah were also present at the debate.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2014.