Alwaght- An issue that was raised by the political parties and societies of Turkey as a threat against the country’s national interests following rise to power the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002 was the religious policies of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Actually, after establishment of Republic of Turkey in 1923, a secular and relatively anti-religious constitution was imposed on the country’s political system. Now after over 90 years since foundation of the republic, the AKP, an Islamist party, is following up a pathway to boost Islamism and return to the religious values of the nation.
But on the opposite side stands an array of oppositions, led by the influential political and social forces, to the government’s policies.
The critical forces could be broken in three camps: the Kemalists- taking their name from Kemal Ataturk, the first president of modern Turkey who held secular inclinations-, the Alawite Shiites and the Kurds.
The fact is that the oppositions of these groups perhaps now are not taken seriously, but in the future they could lay foundations of considerable crisis ahead of the rule of the AKP.
This article aims to shed light on the stances of the opponents of AKP’s religious policies.
Opposition by Kemalists, and secular nationalists
The most important issue that in the future of Turkey could be problematic is the Kemalists and nationalists Turks who are critical of Erdogan’s approaches. The nationalist Turks disparaged the post-2000 attitudes of AKP as posing serious threats jeopardizing the pillars of Turkish secularist system. Adopting conservative policies, the AKP, the opponents believe, seeks to subvert the majorly secular constitution which makes a base for the modern Republic of Turkey. Trying to present a proof for their claims, the seculars argue that the AKP has been pushing the Turkish society towards religion and religious values.
They give the events of 14 years of rule of Erdogan for the proof: lifting ban on Islamic hijab of the women in the universities in 2008, allowing use of headscarf in the country’s elementary and secondary schools, opening religious schools across the country, tightening limits on alcohol sales and consumption, Hijab wearing women’s winning seats of the parliament after 2013 and AKP’s overt and covert support for the radical Islamist groups, especially the terror organization ISIS, al-Nusra Front, Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar ash-Sham.
In general, in viewpoint of the nationalist seculars, these steps of AKP come as part of a move to Islamize the Turkish society. They argue that with Erdogan’s serious bid for rewriting the constitution of Turkey, it is likely that new items are added to the new constitution, aiming at ending the secularist principles and replacing them with religious ones. According to the critics, Erdogan not only is dreaming of transforming Turkey into a country with Islamic constitution but also he intends to present Turkey to the world as an Islamic empire, with him standing as caliph and leader of the empire, and removing any time limit for his leadership.
Represented by both Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Kemalists and nationalist seculars, who hold a sway in the Turkish army, consider Erdogan’s policies as posing hazards to the democracy and the secularism recognized by the constitution and the country’s political system. They spare no effort and means to express their parliamentary and political oppositions and to impede implementation and bolster of AKP’s religious plans. Even the old method of military coup could be considered as likely among the available choices against Erdogan and his party.
Turkey’s Shiite Alawites
In addition to the Kemalists, another group that suffers from AKP’s approaches is the Alawites of the country. Having in mind their historical experiences in the Ottoman Empire, the Shiite Alawites see movement of the central Turkish government towards Sunni Islam as a serious threat for them in Turkey as they have been subject to political limitations and violation of the religious values. They see a secular system and stay of the current constitution as better off than Sunnism in a reformed constitution. According to them, Islamization of the constitution comes with such outcomes as limitations over religious minorities and boost of Sunni Islam in Turkey. Including the Sunni Islam’s principles in the new constitution could strengthen threats of violation and elimination of the Alawites’ religious values.
Turkey’s Kurdish movements and parties
In addition to the Alawites- a majority of them are Kurds- Turkey’s Sunni Kurds stand as critics of AKP’s religious policies.
In the Kurds’ point of view, AKP’s moves towards Islamism in Turkey could bring about real threats to their political demands and rights. They argue that a religious constitution runs counter to their demands for recognition of their identity rights, and actually puts them down under the religion flag.
Additionally, having in mind that a majority of the Kurds are Sunnis, beefing up the Islamism and wide-ranging promotion of religion among the Turkey’s Kurds just like the time of Ottoman Empire could highlight the Turkish-Kurdish religious commonalities and so lead the Kurd’s revolutionary moves for recognition of their civil rights to a loss.
