Erdoğan
AKP Watch August 24th, 2007
“Mosques are our barracks, domes our helmets, minarets our bayonets, believers our soldiers.” – RTE, 6 December 1997
“Democracy is not an aim but a means to an end.” – RTE
“We will turn all our schools into İmam Hatips [religious schools]” — RTE, Sept. 9, 1994
“Thank God Almighty, I am a servant of the Shari‘a.”— RTE, Nov. 21, 1994
“I am the imam of Istanbul.” — RTE, Jan. 8, 1995
“Democracy is like a train, we shall get out when we arrive at the station we want.” – RTE
Defying European Human Rights Court Decision on Headscarf Ban; PM RTE:
“Ulema, Not Courts, Have Right to Speak on Headscarf” (Ulema: the arbiters of shari‘a law)
Defying Turkish Higher Court Decision on Headscraft Ban; PM RTE:
“Gentleman, what do you think who you’re? mecelle (shari’a law) may decide.”
To put the first quote in context, Erdogan is reciting a poem by Ziya Gokalp, the ‘father of Turkish nationalism’, recently co-opted by the Swiss in their decision to ban minarets. The majority of your sound bites are pre-Prime ministership, I assume that goes to prove the Kemalist belief that Erdogan is a ‘wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing’, waiting patiently to unleash his ‘Islamofascist’ agenda, but the the fact of the matter is Turkey has never been more democratic and open as a society.
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