Havas' comments on Turkey and Israel

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Oct 1, 2011 at 00:31

Dear Dr Pipes,

The reader Havas from Turkey wrote a letter that is sensible for the most part. Though he implied that Israel is not a peace loving country, the rest of his letter is logical, unselfish and without hypocrisy.

Havas believes that Turkey has prospered under the current and recent regimes and Turkish people are happy with their religion and culture. If they love what they have than no one can or should argue with that. But there can be a warning sign in Islamism even for well meaning people like Havas. Islamism means a lot more than praying to God in the privacy of your home. Often times it also means denial of intellectual freedom, violent transfer of power from one regime to the next, over emphasis on religious education, biased and unfair treatment of minorities and women, support of all Islam-related issues without critical examination, and opposition of non-Islamic ideas without a similar critical examination (the list can go even further but I will stop here).

So while Islamism might appear good in the short run, it might bring unwanted results in the long. While it is easy to blame "western powers" for the presence of dictatorial regimes in the Islamic world, it may very well be the result of regressive Islamic practices. Havas should be careful what he wishes for, as they say. His wish might come true with all its side effects.

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