The Islamisation of Turkey

The Turkish constitutional court yesterday began its consultations over a ban on the governing AKP party. The liberal newspaper Sme thinks the fears that the AKP will Islamise Turkey are exaggerated: "Turkey has never been a secular society in the Western sense of the word. The dominant Sunni Muslims have always had a major influence, indirectly on the state as well, illustrated, for example, by the curtailing of the rights of members of other religions. Not only those of Christians but also those of the Shiite Alevites who make up a quarter of the population. ... Even after a degree of re-Islamisation Turkey would still be a relatively democratic state with which the West could cooperate. A different question is whether a Turkey of this kind, in which there might be even less religious freedom, rights for minorities and freedom of opinion, would be able to become a member of the EU."

» full article (external link, Slovak)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Europe, » Turkey
All available articles from » Peter Morvay

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, July 29, 2008