Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
denied the expression of ‘moderate Islam’ widely used for his government
in international media reports, adding that Islam excludes extremism
and a Muslim must have serious problems to be a terrorist. Erdoğan also
reiterated his definition of secularism, this time referring to the
Turkish Constitution adopted in 1982 – the one his ruling Justice and
Development Party, or AKP, has been attempting to change for a long
time.
“I do not accept the expression ‘moderate Islam.’ Actually, Islam
does not accept extremism. It is the religion of peace and does not
allow terror. It is not correct to mention Islam and terrorism
together,” said Erdoğan, speaking in a televised interview on U.S.
public television channel PBS. “If a Muslim becomes a terrorist, it
means that he or she has serious problems. He or she has nothing to do
with Islam,” said Erdoğan, who was in New York to attend the 66th
session of the U.N. General Assembly.
“Is there any terrorist among Christians and Jews? The world has
witnessed what happened in Norway, the U.K. and Spain. Christian and
Jewish people can also become terrorists. It is not correct to identify
Islam with terrorism,” he added. “There is a definition of secularism in
Turkey’s Constitution dated 1982. According to it, individuals are not
secular, but the state itself is secular. And the state has an equal
distance to all religious groups. The state is the guarantee for those
groups,” said Erdoğan, taking his definition from the constitution
prepared by the 1980 military coup leaders in Turkey. “I explained it to
Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan people,” said Erdoğan, referring to his
four-day visit to Arab uprising countries. “The U.S. has a different
style of secularism and the Western world has its own understanding.
There is not any opposition or enmity in our secularism against any
religious beliefs. People in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, think
that secularism is an anti-religious movement. I told them that was not
correct,” he said. “Turkey is an exemplary country with its
predominantly Muslim population which proved that democracy and the
Islam can co-exist.”
US supports Turkey in Predator issue
Erdoğan said Turkey was working hard to become a member of the EU. “I
hope the EU will correct its mistake and does not give up Turkey for
the sake of the Greek Cypriot administration.” Meanwhile, Erdoğan’s
planned meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was delayed due
to the intensity of meetings and is expected to be held Thursday or
Friday, said Turkish Prime Ministry officials.
“Turkey and the U.S. have cooperated with each other to create a
joint platform against terrorism and share intelligence in the region
[northern Iraq]. They also have supported us in the Predator unmanned
aerial vehicle issue,” Erdopan said. Referring to Turkey’s recent
tensions with Israel over Israel’s failure to apology for a raid on a
Gaza-bound aid ship that killed nine Turkish citizens in May 2010,
Erdoğan said, “We have no negative feelings about the Israeli people.
Our attitude in this issue is against the Israeli administration. And
the Israeli administration, not the Israeli people, is solely
responsible for the current state of affairs. “I believe that the
Israeli people are not happy with their current leadership,” he said.
The West should ask what made a Turkish prime minister who had good
relations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert come to this point
today, said Erdoğan. On the issue of Palestine’s U.N. statehood bid, he
said, “We don’t know [the U.S.’s] stance. Palestine needs nine votes on
the U.N. Security Council.
/Hurriyet Daily News/