Newsweek: The End of Secularism in Turkey
AKP Watch August 27th, 2007
America’s prominent weekly Newsweek’s International Edition covered raising Islamisation in Turkey. The article “The End of Secularism” written by Soner Cagaptay, a leading scholar in Turkish Politics and a senior fellow in Washington Institute.
In his article, Dr. Cagaptay expressed a deeply concern about the future of secularism in Turkey and wrote on his article:
But given the direction in which Turkey’s headed, it [secularism] could well become a history
For after some 80 years, Turkish secularism is withering away.
According to Dr. Cagaptay, election of Islamist Gul as President, Islamisation shall accelerate:
Now the AKP, a party with an Islamist pedigree, seems set to elect its foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, as president. Once marginal, Turkey’s Islamists have become mainstream, and the consequences could prove enormous.
Dr. Capaptay concludes his article with a dim outlook :
The AKP is unlikely to end Turkish secularism overnight. Gradually, however, religion will assume a larger and larger place in the country’s politics and society. Turkey will become a more Islamic society in its foreign-policy outlook and culture. Anti-Western sentiments will grow. Headscarves, religious education and the rejection of alcohol will become more common. The Turkey of old will slowly disappear, leaving in its place a profoundly different—and potentially much more unstable—nation.
- AK Party , AKP , Gül , Islamisation , Secularism , Turkey
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