Professor Nilufer Gole is an internationally acclaimed sociologist and one of the world’s leading experts on the challenging issue of “Islam and modernity.” She was recently decorated with France’s highly prestigious Legion d'Honneur award. At the ceremony for the occasion in Paris, her mentor, the great sociologist Alain Touraine, made a memorable speech praising her contribution to contemporary thinking.

The renowned academic of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociale of Paris is spending her summer vacation in her homeland od Turkey, and at a dinner table a few days ago offered her observations on the upcoming presidential elections. She said, “Let’s see the full half of the glass. Having professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Selahattin Demirtas as two contenders against Mr. [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, the likeliest winner of the race, is a great gain for Turkey and for the maturity of Turkey’s democracy. We can be much more hopeful for the future of the country than we had been earlier. We have to preserve a certain dose of optimism for the future, despite it has been made bleak by Erdogan's posture.”

The obvious question, naturally, came from me in its simplest form: “Why? What makes you think in this way?”

Gole responded, after a pause, “Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu is a newcomer into the volatile political arena of Turkey. Despite being a nonpolitical entity, by displaying a suave and a civilized personality, he could present himself as a formidable contender against [Recep] Tayyip Erdogan. This very fact, by itself, speaks to us that a very important segment of the Turkish population is very matured and society, gradually, will be looking beyond what Erdogan symbolizes. The other candidate, a young Kurd, Selahattin Demirtas did not say anything during his campaign that would contradict any liberal and democrat element in this country. When added together, one can be hopeful about Turkey’s future and keep up one's faith of the people of this country.”