Islamophobia in Turkey

Vow. What a clever way to insert a threat to be used against Islam in a discussion group dealing with travel only. There are fascist groups in every country and every religion. Europe and America are rapidly becoming far radical religious societies. and so are other countries. If you want to see Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu fanatics, just google them. You wont be surprised.

Yasmin

Obviously you have not read the whole threat and digest it carefully.I suggest you do that first.

If I just wanted sun and a beach I could drive 300 km from where I normally live, which would be a lot simpler than travelling to Turkey from a country that doesn't have the same availability of cheap flights that countries like the UK and Germany do. I'm not even that much into archeological ruins. I come to Turkey as frequently as I can because I have made many friends here and love the place.

The issue raised by GT here is both extremely important - no more so than at the moment - and in many ways extremely difficult to get your head around if you're neither Turkish nor a Muslim.

It's also extremely relevant to travelling and tourism. As I've said 'upthread', the small (1,600 inhabitants) village where I live here depends entirely on tourism. I can't think of anyone here who doesn't make a living from it in one form or another, not to mention the migrant workers from all over the country who come to work in restaurants in the summer or on construction sites in the winter.

If Turkey were to become an Islamic republic along the lines of Iran, then obviously tourism would be decimated, and the Turkish economy along with it. It's clear to me after talking with many Turkish friends that whilst the EU and the USA appear to be quite happy with Gül, they have serious doubts about the AKP's agenda.

As a European I also find it amazing that anyone can suggest that "Europe....(is) becoming far radical religious societies", you appear to have failed to notice the complete decline of the Church of England in the last 90 years and the collapse of influence of the Roman Catholic church in Spain and Ireland. Of course there are small groups of religiously inclined idiots who spout utter drivel about other faiths, but do you really think that anyone takes any notice of them?

I'm sure that all of us who have posted here could provide streams of comment/criticism on other religious groups - we have to a certain extent - but there's not much point in talking about the issues you have with Christianity when you're talking Turkey!

Coming into the topic late...
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Are we “latent Muslims” who could not resolve our intellectual and emotional struggle with Islam? Do these people represent our repressed side? <hr></blockquote>
My first reaction does indeed seem to be intellectual at surface, but on a deeper scale here is the truth:
I was born in a country predominantly Muslim, with an ID card that used to say 'Islam' in it's little 'Religion' box.
To me my Turkish ancestors are the 'Selçuk' where 'Han' and 'Hatun' are equal, and the Islam we see flourishing in Turkey was made up by Arabs to suit their comfort, as women were treasured in Anatolia at the time and this cannot really be their making.

I believe in an Islam described by 'Ya?ar Nuri Öztürk' for those of you who know him, but don't consider myself a Muslim. That is not to say I am an atheist, I do believe in a power higher than me... but just as it is not illegal to wear a gay pride T-shirt in Turkey - but you still wouldn't really do it, I would't openly pronounce that I believe in Shamanism as a better way of believing, as it would be ridiculed along with Budism or Shintoism in Turkey as Islam is thought to be the last and best of aaaalll religions.

I find it extremely offensive that the 'secular' state decides %99 of Turkey is muslim and uses MY tax Lira to pay for more mosques and imams and not for more 'Cemevi' or 'Synagogues' or Shaman temple, or a Budist temple. The irony is that I do believe in Shamanism but live in such a culture that it is more normal to be an atheist than a shaman.

So; summing up:
1) I am snobbishly offended by those who wear a headscarf. This is the surface and elitist side of me. I do think of them as inferior.
2) I am offended because I think 'how stupid must the society really be to believe that a woman's body needs to be covered so as the idiot man can have a grip on his dick and not rape women left and right!'.
3) I am offended because the women who wear those headscarves don't realize there was a time on these soils where they were extremely treasured by the men, when they were equal as one.
4) I am offended because I don't want the whatever little money I make to go to feeding more imams for such people.
5) And finally, I am mad that I can't simply say I believe in Shamanism without thinking I will be laughed at.

Are these good enough reasons?

Great reasons TheSea. There was an article in Turkish Daily News, 24 August , under Domestic. ' Veiled woman enraged due to stalemate in marriage options' GayTurk asked earlier in this thread 'should we feel sorry for these women or do they deserve what they get'
Sorry I dont know how to get the article here. Perhaps someone could do it for us?

From this evening on we have a new president.
The first time in the history of Turkey(1923 that is ) there will be a first lady in the presidential palace who wears islamic clothing.This is actually a very difficul thing for me to digest and I am very depressed .
I would like to look at it positively:
The ruling partry of the government AKP and the new president of Turkey Gül prefer to be called "reformed moslems" ,they are moslems OK but they say that they very strongly believe in the western democracy and secularism to the last drop.
They refuse to be called islamists.
This is how they identify themselves.
We will have to wait and see if they are true to their words or if they are just plain acting with an agenda.
I prefer to give them some credit and I would like to wait and see.