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Islam challenges secularism in
Turkey-Kurdistan
30.10.2006 |
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DIYARBAKIR,
Turkey-Kurdistan, October 30, -- In the heartland of
Turkey's southeast, plagued by decades of conflict
between separatist Kurdish rebels and the state, a
new threat to secularism is emerging -- Islamist
groups.
Local politicians say these organisations are
becoming more active in the poor region that borders
Iraq and Syria, and some fear this could fan
fundamentalism, especially among young people who
have grown up with violence.
As in the rest of predominantly Sunni Muslim Turkey,
practising one's religion here long took a backseat
to a public espousal of the secularism of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, the republic's founder.
However, since the AK Party, which has roots in
political Islam, swept to power in 2002, Muslims are
now being more open about their faith.
"We feel much freer to practise Islam," said Engin
Aydin, a teacher and physics graduate who was
selling religious books near Diyarbakir's 11th
century Ulu Cami mosque. "It's getting better by the
day."
In the southeast's largest city, mosques are
welcoming more worshippers, non governmental
organisations (NGOs) with a religious overtone are
helping the poor and the number of unofficial prayer
rooms is on the rise, say politicians and lawyers.
"In every poor neighbourhood, new radical Islamic
associations are giving hot food, they have meetings
at people's homes. They pay for students to go to
school," said Firat Anli, mayor of a district of
Diyarbakir and member of the main Kurdish party, the
Democratic Society Party (DTP).
"I'm very worried ... I fear they'll become more
powerful and could turn to violence like the
(Turkish) Hezbollah," he said, referring to a
defunct armed group, active in the 1990s.
RELIGIOUS GROUPS
The role of religion in daily life has become a
political hot potato as Turkey prepares for a
general election next year, and as entry talks with
the European Union reach a critical point. Brussels
is due to release a progress report on Nov. 8, and
is expected to conclude the reform process has
slowed.
Tensions between the AK Party and the army, which
sees itself as the guardian of the secularist system
and resents EU criticism that it should stay out of
politics, have intensified.
The powerful military has warned that Islamic
fundamentalism rather than Kurdish separatism is the
new threat to Turkey.
Demonstrations in favour of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) or its jailed leader Abdullah
Ocalan, a regular event in Diyarbakir, have been
replaced by pro-Islam rallies.
"There are more religious events now, there are
tents collecting money for Palestinians and Lebanese
causes," said Esra Likic, a 21-year-old student, at
Diyarbakir's new mall.
"Young people are being tempted into radical Islam
and very few people really keep a check on what the
groups actually do."
The AK Party says this activity is not a threat.
"These (religious) groups are not dangerous for us,
they live in Turkey. We have to find ways to allow
them to express themselves ... even if these people
are at the far side," said Diyarbakir's AK Party
chairman Abdurrahman Kurt.
Many local politicians are concerned by the rise of
legal but shadowy NGOs like Mustazaflar, meaning
"the downtrodden", which made headlines by
organising a protest attended by more than 80,000
people against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
Mustazaflar leader and lawyer Ishak Saglam declined
to comment, saying only that his association would
comment once its projects were finished. He gave no
further details.
Locals say security forces have in the past turned a
blind eye to illegal groups such as the Turkish
Hezbollah, which sought to set up a theocracy,
hoping they would weaken the PKK.
Muslim brotherhoods, mostly non-violent, were banned
by Ataturk but they have slowly re-emerged over the
years.
One of Turkey's most influential Muslim orders, the
Nakshibendi, is technically illegal but active, said
human rights lawyer and Diyarbakir Bar Association
head Sezgin Tanrikulu. The Nurcu order is another
movement gaining followers.
"The Nakshibendis are powerful in social life. They
are not directly in politics but underground they
can make deals with political parties," said
Islamist lawyer Recep Kandemir, who said he belonged
to one such religious order.
"They are traditional movements, they change names,
leaders but they're always there, present in the
communities," he said, adding they dated back some
200 years.
CLASH OF IDEAS
Geographically, conservative Diyarbakir is closer to
Iran, Syria and Iraq than the traditionally
secularist capital Ankara.
The rise of religious organisations here mirrors the
increasing popularity of the AK Party, despite the
fact that it has made little headway in solving key
regional issues like the headscarf ban, Kurdish
rights, education and poverty.
Lawyer Kandemir says the AK Party is the natural
ally of Kurds because they are deeply conservative
and tired of the PKK's violence and state efforts to
secularise them.
"Islam is like a tree, it has roots which the
Kemalists cut away but they are now growing back,"
said Kandemir referring to Kemalism, a secularist
ideology based on Ataturk's ideas.
Islamist-leaning Kurds hope the 2007 elections will
usher in a new period of more religious freedom,
particularly an easing of state controls over
mosques, more faith-based teachings and a lifting of
the ban on headscarves in schools and public
offices.
"If a woman can wear blue jeans or a mini-skirt to
university why shouldn't other women be able to wear
the headscarf?" says Aydin as he held up the Koran.
"When secularist President (Ahmet Necdet) Sezer
steps down in May we think the AK Party will be able
to lift the ban. God willing."
Source: Reuters
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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