The Paradox of Religion In Erdogan’s Turkey
Ihsan Dagi of Zaman asks whether conservatives are moving to the center; the answer is just that power is changing hands in Turkey, but not in a democratic way, writes Tulin Daloglu.
In a country where there seems to be a mosque on almost every corner, it sounds overblown to claim that pious Muslims are oppressed in Turkey. But since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power over a decade ago, it has been the party line to accuse Kemalist ideology as being Islamophobic and responsible for oppressing and discriminating against practicing Muslims in state, business, and personal affairs.
For the AKP, it was the "state" that had an active policy against freedom of religion in Turkey for followers of Sunni Islam.
Writing at the daily Zaman, the flagship media organ of Turkey's influential religious movement of Fethullah Gulen's on Tuesday, March 12, Ihsan Dagi, made a crucial observation: "The most important element of state and society relationship to me is this," he pointed out. "Many interpret the shift of the conservatives to the center as a natural outcome of democratization. Indeed, it's true. ... But what's important is the relationship of those conservatives who moved to the center with the 'state.'
"Are they encouraging the state to become civilized, or are they becoming the state? What I believe is that ... this movement of the conservatives works to the advantage of the state in this power equilibrium between the state and the society."
