As Egypt erupted a few weeks ago, one fellow Muslim country insistently urged President Hosni Mubarak to respond to popular demands. That country was Turkey. The call was a sign of Turkey’s growing confidence and stature in the Middle East and beyond. Hobbled by economic and political chaos just a decade ago, Turkey is increasingly taking on the role of regional model, mediator and leader, with a solid economy and an evolving democracy. It has sought to balance many of the forces that shape, and shake, the region: The East and the West, Israel and Iran, religion and secularism.
As elections approach in June, results of a new Associated Press-GfK poll suggest that Turkey’s government will pursue a path of relative pragmatism, despite fears of the influence of Islam on the state.
Turkey still aspires to join the European Union, but that once-strong vision appears to have faded. The poll shows that 52 percent of respondents want Turkey to stay in NATO, and 50 percent want to join the European Union. Yet 42 percent have an unfavourable view of the EU, reflecting frustration with a process that has stalled partly because of European opposition and the slow pace of Turkish reform.
Views of individual European nations are positively acid. Only 16 percent of respondents held a favourable view of Germany, and that was high. Other favourable views were at 12 percent for Italy, 11 percent for Spain, 9 percent for the Britain, 6 percent for France and just 5 percent for neighbouring Greece, a traditional antagonist. European leaders fared just as badly, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy scoring a positive rating of 4 percent.
“This dream of a rosy-pink Europe, once so powerful that even our most anti-Western thinkers and politicians secretly believed in it, has now faded,” Turkey’s Nobel laureate, author Orhan Pamuk, wrote in an essay published in The Guardian newspaper in December. “This may be because Turkey is no longer as poor as it once was. Or it could be because it is no longer a peasant society ruled by its army, but a dynamic nation with a strong civil society.”
A key question is to what extent Islam will change a society with a strong secular tradition, imposed by war hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when he founded the country in 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. For example, the government recently imposed new restrictions on the sale and advertisement of alcohol, forcing sports clubs to stop putting beer ads on the jerseys of their players and ending the sale of alcohol on highways. Alcohol is banned in Islam. But in facing a barrage of criticism from pro-secular circles, the government said the curbs protect young people and have nothing to do with religious sentiment.
The number of pro-Islamic television channels, which air programs praising the virtues of Islam, also is on the rise. According to the AP-GfK poll, 85 percent of respondents called religion an “extremely” or “very” important part of their lives. A majority, 63 percent, said women should be free to wear the Islamic head scarf in universities. The head scarf is banned in schools and government offices, but the government has sought to scrap the ban, an explosive issue in the contest between government supporters and military-backed secular circles. Many universities already ignore the ban.
Yet for all the importance of religion in their lives, 65 percent of poll respondents said religious leaders should stay out of government. Only 17 percent said religious leaders should have a say in government, reflecting comfort with the idea of secular institutions.
Especially striking are views toward former ally Israel. The poll found that most respondents – 53 percent – wanted to cut diplomatic relations with Israel, especially after its deadly raid on a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza last year. Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earn the most negative ratings in the poll, at 77 percent unfavourable and 69 percent unfavourable. Yet the position against Israel does not come out of any love for the Palestinian Authority. Only 22 percent had a favourable opinion of it, compared to 37 percent unfavourable. Nor do Turks support the claim of Israel’s archenemy, Iran, that its nuclear program is peaceful. Half of poll respondents said they believe Tehran is developing atomic weapons. Read more http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\02\20\story_20-2-2011_pg4_11
