"The courts and the military see themselves as guardians of the country's strict separation of religion and politics, which is rooted in the foundation of the modern state in the 1920s from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire."
Translation: They are guardians of the regime which the West imposed over a defeated Turkey after the first world war. Nothing better than the Quisling Iraqi government today, only older. I think the question of headscarves and Islam in Turkey is not about a balance between a secular, "modern" state and a theocracy, it is about whether Turkey can finally overcome it's nationwide complex towards the West and recover from it's defeat in 1918.
It pains me to see that country reduced to this. Did I ever mention that my great grandfather was an Ottoman? We have a painting of him in full uniform with his sword. He was stationed in Damascus for a while, married and had children and was then shipped off to what is now Iraq where he died in a skirmish of some sort. This was in the late 19th century.
Friday, June 06, 2008
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2 comments:
So very true, yet so very sad.
Hmm, I think this is just an other example of using the topic for ones owns ends.
The question of headscarfs is a simple but important one.
Has the (any) state the right to dictate the individual what to wear or not to wear?
I think NO, it is non of the states business.
Btw - I think allowing the headscarf in universities and official positions (and anywhere else) would be a proof of being a modern & secular state in a positive sense.
And even when you don't believe in modernity and secularism it is still a sign of strength to show acceptance or at least tolerance to the self-expression of the individual - may it be in clothing or any other display of culture and/or conviction.
Something else:
"the regime which the West imposed over a defeated Turkey after the first world war"
(Together with artificial demarcation of the neighbouring countries to the south-east, I would like to amend.)
That is something you seem to forget when you (elsewhere) casually equate the situation of the Kurds with the Kosovo-Albaniens'.
Something totally else:
I enjoyed this snippet of your family history and will now quickly jump to the sequel ;-)
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