Ankara, Oct 26: Turkey is marking its 80th birthday
this week, but celebrations are mired in growing hostility
between a belligerent secularist elite and Islamist-leaning
rivals of increasing political strength.
A government led by former members of a banned Islamist
movement was hardly part of the future Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
envisaged on October 29, 1923 when he proclaimed the Republic
on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire and moved to transform it
-- with an iron fist -- into a secular westernized nation.
Crushing all opposition, he purged religion from the
state and education system, placed religious activities under
control, replaced the Arabic alphabet with the Latin one,
granted civil rights to women and even changed the way Turks
dress, banning the fez, the traditional red, soft-felt cap.
Eight decades on, his legacy remains the dominant
ideology of a country which has come closer to the west than
any other Muslim nation. Turkey is today the sole Muslim
member of Nato and is bidding to join the European Union.
But Kemalism is increasingly challenged by
Islamic-leanings forces, like the Ruling Justice and
Development party (AKP) as well as by liberals who argue that
its authoritarian and nationalism impedes democratisation of
the country.
The army-led establishment, which fears that any
deviation from stringent secularist norms will one day destroy
Ataturk's republic, has used all means -- political, judicial
and military -- to thwart the revival of political Islam and
calls for broader religious freedoms since the 1970s.
Bureau Report
