Turkey's Former Secularism Vs Revived Secularism?

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Mar 4, 2015 at 19:25

In deference to Dr. PIpes' scholarship of this issue of Islam in a world that evidently only adherents of the Quran can actually explain their own personal beleif in that religious forum, whether fundamentalist or 'moderated,' the disagreement from a non-Mulsim perspective sometimes cannot help to distinguish what is pure belief of Islam and what can be moderated. It is reported that somtimes a 'moderated' form of belief can be influenced to comlete a transformation to fundamentalism, one of the troubling aspects of those raised in a 'moderate' environment, only later to be compelled to 'up the ante' and book a trip to the latest Islamic hotspot. What is the alternative to that: secularism?

That being said, the alternate solution that is being offered by Murat Yetkin appears strangely like that which was espoused by Turkish leader Attaturk nearly a hundred years, but which did not last more than a generation later in the form of a revived Islamic resurgence now touted by PM Erdogan. Yetkin's attempt to soften the issues between the 'moderate' forces of non-lethal adherents of the Quran and the more vocal fundamentalists urging PM Erdogan in his efforts seems to contradict each other in a way that does not lend itself to diplomatic arguments for calmer voices, especially when Turkey has become the de facto temporary headquarters for al-Qaeda and the like.

And then secularism comes under closer scrutiny when in America, its own secularist influence is sweeping through some of the political administrative reactions to ISIS/ISIL/IS and the threat to stop the rampaging ravaging of the Middle East appears incompetent against the resurgent Islamic revolution resident in the greater Syrian region. But then, Turkey has not hidden its ambitions either to the idea of reviving the Ottoman influences that made Turkey famous in the past. Secularism does not appear to measure up.

While this observer at least partially acknowledges the perspective Dr. Pipes lends to the issues of this troubled region and of Turkey's part specfically, the exacerbating actions of Turkey does not lend either to any useful extensions towards a peaceful solution with the warring factions and thereby, a jaded personal observation might be this: let's wait and see.

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