SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF TURKS HAVE SECULARISM CONCERNS

Hürriye
May 20 2008
Turkey

Turkey’s leading business leader criticizied critics and commentators
who see the current impasse as an "establishment’s resistance," saying
significant segment of Turkish people have concerns over secularism.

"There are those who see the current impasse solely in terms of an
entrenched establishment’s resistance to and fight with the forces
of democratization. This would be a grave oversimplification of the
present situation,"

Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association’s (TUSIAD)
chairwoman, Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag, said last week in a speech
delivered at 38th St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland.

Turkish public’s view on Islamist-rooted AKP is divided as
some decisions of the ruling party creates question marks over
secularism. However foreign reporters and officials define the conflict
in Turkey as a "power struggle between secular establishment, including
army and judiciary, and newly emerging conservatives."

"Although it is true such a resistance exists, the concerns of a
significant segment of our population over the issue of secularism
or about an infringement on their lifestyles cannot be dismissed out
of hand," Yalcindag added according to her speech text published on
TUSIAD’s website Monday.

"I see this crisis and the worrying polarization in our politics as a
reflection of a deeper conflict that inflicts the global community. In
other words the dislocations caused by integration with global
capitalism, the shift in the relative power of social groups, generate
reactions and lead to fierce struggles between winners and losers. In
our case the language of that struggle is that of secularism."

Turkey’s top prosecutor filed an indictment against the ruling
AKP claiming the party had become the "focal point of anti-secular
activities" in March. The prosecutor also asked for the banning from
politics of 71 members of the party including the prime minister and
the president. The Constitutional Court is reviewing the case and is
expected to rule on the matter within the next few months.

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