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| Europe |
| Islamism and intolerance among the Turks -- not as common as you might think |
| 2006-11-29 |
| by Jim Geraghty, National Review's man in Ankara I'm getting some e-mail from folks who have heard horror stories of Islamist intolerance of Christianity in Turkey, and asking why I'm not denouncing my Turkish hosts for insufficient tolerance of other religions, and how doesn't this just reveal that the Turks are just like the rest of the Muslim world, intolerant extremists, etc. First of all, my views of Turkey are shaped most powerfully by my firsthand experience, and those experiences have thankfully so far been positive. This may reflect that people are on their "best behavior" around a journalist, or it could be because I'm American. It also might be that I generally tread lightly when discussing religious topics. I don't begin discussions with my Turkish friends with, "So, about that priest who got shot in Trabzon - are you ashamed to be a Turk, or what?" Having said all that, the party in power, AKP, is openly Islamist. They are patient, meticulous and not synonymous with the views of, say, Hamas or Ahmediniad. They have found much of their agenda stymied since coming to power in 2002. But it does not seem outrageous to conclude that if Turkish public opinion shifted to an easily-provoked, quick-to-anger, anti-Western view, AKP would not break a sweat trying to reverse the trend. It is unlikely that Turkey will have a warm-and-fuzzy attitude towards Christianity in our lifetime; or at least not for a while in our lifetimes. There is, however, an attitude of staunch secularism that, if not outright tolerant, sees Islamist religious intolerance as backwards and un-Turkish. (By golly, it's not what Ataturk would do!) (Random aside - Turks feel either the most minimal or no connection or bond at all with Arab Muslims. When the Dubai Ports World controversy was brewing, the reaction of two of my Turkish friends was, "Well, anti-Muslim bias is wrong. It's discrimination. But anti-Arab bias... man, that's just common sense! I wouldn't let one of those Arab lunatics run my country's port!") So I guess I'm hoping Western observers don't look at Turkey and dismiss it as no better than Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or the mobs in Afghanistan who wanted to kill the Christian convert Abdul Rahman, etc. Yes, there are powerful forces at work here who rail against imaginary plots of Christian conversions, and who like to target the few remaining Christians in the country as scapegoats. Conspiracy theories are the coin of the realm, sad to say. But there are Turkish, and in fact Muslim allies against intolerance and hate in this country, and I think the West would be foolish to ignore or alienate these folks. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #9 My primary experiences with the Turks are with those in Germany, either living there or in the military assigned there for NATO exercises (mostly as observers). The educated Turks are pleasant, articulate, and extremely well-behaved. It's easy to get along with them, and most of them are quite secular in their behavior. The average joe grunt on the street is something quite different. They used to come to moving sales in the housing areas, and want to give you nothing for everything. They could be quite abusive if you didn't agree with them. They were also known to steal from you in plain sight, daring you to challenge them. It's been 17 years since I left, but I doubt things have changed much, except perhaps to get worse. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-11-29 16:57 |
| #8 Between persecutions, population swaps, and outright genocides, this was not a tolerance exercise. But provides an excellent model for imagining the process in reverse. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2006-11-29 16:08 |
| #7 Just let me know when they allow the Halki Orthodox seminary on Heybeliada Island to open once again. It was shut down by state decree. In a short time there may not be a Turkish born Patriarch to assume leadership of the Orthodox Church. It's only been closed since 1971. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-29 14:38 |
| #6 the party in power, AKP, is openly Islamist. They are patient, meticulous and not synonymous with the views of, say, Hamas or Ahmediniad. Yet |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-29 13:35 |
| #5 Non-muslims have long been a majority in "islamic" turkey (not the ottoman empire); right at the beginning of 20th century, they were still 1/3rd of the population; now, they're basically nothing. Between persecutions, population swaps, and outright genocides, this was not a tolerance exercise. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-29 13:11 |
| #4 the ottoman empire took infants from their families and raised them as slaves, turning them into an elite armed force lets not ignore the bad |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-11-29 12:52 |
| #3 Add incestuous to that list twobyfour I'd say simply sex-addled, MacNails. Incest is only one of the dimensions of the entire pathology. But then, the harems of the last Ottoman sultans weren't exactly examples of sexual rectitude, by all accounts. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-11-29 12:17 |
| #2 Add incestuous to that list twobyfour |
| Posted by: MacNails 2006-11-29 11:22 |
| #1 During the Ottoman Empire administration, Turks considered Arabs incompetent, lazy good-for-nothing bums. There was more than several grains of truth in that view. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-11-29 10:44 |