Misleading example

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), May 17, 2007 at 16:29

Dear jon purizhansky, you wrote :

" In any event, Turkey is an example of how Islam can co-exist with secular democracy.

This example is quite misleading . Had Mehmed VI not sent an order to arrest Mustafa Kemal Pasha as he was organizing , instead of disbanding as he had been told , his rebel army in Anatolia , Mustafa Kemal Pasha would have rebuilt the Ottoman caliphate. "Secularism" was not a matter of principle for him , but of personal vengence and security . If you don't believe , may I ask for your kind comment on the 4th and 8th stanza of the Turkish national anthem ( 'İstiklâl Marşı' still valid just as the old Ottoman flag is still waving across Turkey and Northern Cyprus ).

The lands of the West may be armored with walls of steel, But I have borders guarded by the mighty chest of a believer. Recognize your innate strength, my friend! And think: how can this fiery faith ever be killed, By that battered, single-fanged monster you call "civilization"? (...) Oh glorious God, the sole wish of my pain-stricken heart is that, No infidel's hand should ever touch the bosom of my sacred Temples. These calls for prayers and these shahadas that my hearing is accustomed to, are the foundations of my religion, And may their noble sound last loud and wide over my eternal homeland.

> If all islamic countries were like Turkey, we'd be living in a better world.

It sounds very nice and encouraging as you say that . But I just imagined someone in a country bordering on Turkey repeating the same nice word . As said there they would sound most absurd.

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