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Is Turkey the role model?

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Is Turkey the role model?

At first glance, the Turkish model - with its emphasis on secularism and democracy - has obvious appeal in a region.

F. Stephen Larrabee

The dramatic revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have acted as a catalyst for a broader Arab awakening that has fundamentally shaken the Middle East's political order, which has been in place since the late 1970's. While it is too early to predict the final outcomes, several important regional implications are already beginning to emerge.
First, the revolts are a double-edged sword for Iran. The Iranian regime may benefit from the ouster or weakening of pro-Western leaders and regimes in the region, but Iran's initial encouragement of the democratic uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt came with a sting in the tail. Iranian officials had to shift gears quickly once their own population began to call for the same democratic rights, suggesting that Iran could face stronger pressures for democracy and political change over the medium and long run. Second, the upheavals threaten to leave Israel more isolated. With Mubarak gone, Israel has lost its most important regional partner. Indeed, given the serious deterioration in Israel's relations with Turkey, Mubarak's departure has deprived it of its two most demonstrable allies in the region. While Egypt's interim military regime has pledged to adhere to the 1979 peace agreement, a new, more democratic government could adopt a different attitude.
Third, the pressures for democratic change have significantly bolstered Turkey's regional influence. While the United States and the European Union initially hedged their bets, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan sided squarely with the demonstrations for democracy in Tahrir Square - a move that enhanced Turkey's prestige among the democratic opposition in Egypt and elsewhere in the region.
Many Arabs regard the brand of moderate Islam espoused by Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as a possible model for the Middle East. Many Turks have begun to see things the same way. In a recent interview, Erdoðan noted that Turkey could be a "source of inspiration" for countries in the Middle East, because it has shown that Islam and democracy can coexist harmoniously.
At first glance, the Turkish model - with its emphasis on secularism and democracy - has obvious appeal in a region. But Turkey's historical experience and political evolution differ in important ways from Arab countries'. As a result, its model cannot easily be transplanted.
Turkish Islam is more moderate and pluralistic than elsewhere in the Middle East, and, since at least the late Ottoman period, Turkey has sought to fuse Islam and Westernisation. This differentiates Turkey from most other Muslim countries in the Middle East, and has enabled it to avoid the sharp dichotomies, ruptures, and violence that have characterised political modernisation elsewhere in the region.
The rise of the AKP's moderate brand of Islam was largely in response to internal factors, particularly the cumulative effects of several decades of democratisation and socioeconomic transformation, which gave rise to a new entrepreneurial class in Anatolia that was economically liberal but socially and politically conservative. This class, one of the AKP's main pillars of electoral support, does not exist elsewhere in the Middle East.
Moreover, the Turkish model owes much to the leadership of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. Ataturk, a committed Westerniser and political visionary, transformed the multinational Ottoman empire into a modern state based on Turkish nationalism. But, in transforming Turkey, Ataturk did not begin entirely from scratch. The process of Westernisation and modernisation had begun in the late 19th century under the Ottomans during the period of the Tanzimat.
While the Kemalists sought a radical break with the Ottoman past, there were important elements of continuity between their Westernisation efforts and those undertaken in the late Ottoman period. Both were elitist and state-driven. These important pre-conditions do not exist in the Middle East. Most countries in the region lack strong independent political institutions and traditions on which to build a democratic political order. They also lack a vibrant civil society. Ultimately, the countries do not have the benefit of Turkey's tradition of moderate Islam or its history of successfully fusing Islam and Westernisation.
As a result, the collapse of the old power structures in many Middle East countries is likely to be accompanied by considerable political turmoil and violence.


F. Stephen Larrabee, a former member of the National Security Council, holds the Distinguished Chair in European Security at the RAND Corporation.
 
Is Turkey the role model?

At first glance, the Turkish model - with its emphasis on secularism and democracy - has obvious appeal in a region.

F. Stephen Larrabee

The dramatic revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have acted as a catalyst for a broader Arab awakening that has ........, the collapse of the old power structures in many Middle East countries is likely to be accompanied by considerable political turmoil and violence.


F. Stephen Larrabee, a former member of the National Security Council, holds the Distinguished Chair in European Security at the RAND Corporation.

Seriously, one big difference between Turkey and rest of Islamic world is their priority to their nation. Turkish really pride themselves on their nationality than Islam, obviousy the reason they are the only Islamic nation that is decently succesful, even though being majority Moslem.
For middle east to progress it has to give up on its religious dogma that is frankly outdated.
 
Well Turkey is not particularly "succesful" if one counts that we have been reduced from an empire to state in WW1. Turkey is the last 20 years again in rise economically and technologically but far far away from past glories.
 
Seriously, one big difference between Turkey and rest of Islamic world is their priority to their nation. Turkish really pride themselves on their nationality than Islam, obviousy the reason they are the only Islamic nation that is decently succesful, even though being majority Moslem.
For middle east to progress it has to give up on its religious dogma that is frankly outdated.

I dont know how it occured to you... anyhow the reality is altogether different... an ordinary Turk is more proud on the Khilafat-e-Usmani being run by Turks rather than Turk nationalism over Islamic idenity...

probably all other tend to underestimate our association with Islam. they compare it with their religion's status and apply the understanding driven from their context into our way of thinking...which simply leads them to wrong conclusions...
 
nope,it cant be...countries have different dynamics...but they can benefit from experience of Turkey.
 
Ottoman Empire at its peak is more of a role model to Muslim world then Turkey since its a Secular state.

My friend, the secularism that Turkey preaches is only different to a fair, Islamic System in the way it took out the Arab artificiality in Turkey and partly, the Turkish "identity" after WW1. It is Islamically good in my opinion, only with different name as Turkey wanted to distance itself from the theocratic Ottoman Empire. Just my opinion.
 
honesty and hard work are the role models. others are bullshit.
 
My friend, the secularism that Turkey preaches is only different to a fair, Islamic System in the way it took out the Arab artificiality in Turkey and partly, the Turkish "identity" after WW1. It is Islamically good in my opinion, only with different name as Turkey wanted to distance itself from the theocratic Ottoman Empire. Just my opinion.

Turkish Secularism = Sovereignty of the state lies with the man made system while in Islam the sovereignty of the state lies with Allah. Please provide any evidence from islam that it is Islamically good to distance the state from the religion?
 
Turkish Secularism = Sovereignty of the state lies with the man made system while in Islam the sovereignty of the state lies with Allah. Please provide any evidence from islam that it is Islamically good to distance the state from the religion?
It is accommodation to world system, nothing else. Equality in all areas of governmental institutions are a requirement for all citizens who come from different economic,ethnic and religious backgrounds. Secularism in its basic form is not against religion, but a protection shield for those who doesn't practice and prevention of religious exploitations of humans. State is a creation of man, its not solid like soil, but it exists for reasons I counted above.
 
Its developingly good to distance state from the religion.

I think When states distance itself from the religion then the states might failed to get any moral obligatory or accountability where religion can guide the ruler the true path and force him to follow a better judicious path.
 
if it's good, then how did the ottoman empire survive almost 700 years with Islam as the state religion?

for that we have to judge the Turkish empire in light of the passage of time. It began as just a minor Seljuk Ghazi emirate and then had it's growth period during and around time of Sulaiman the Magnificent. but almost for 200 years it went into decline. during this they tried failed miserably to embrace the modernization and technical superiority of western European nations and ultimately led itself to it's dissolution.

by the time of dissolution it has lost it's eastern European territories much before that. Greek won their independence and Balkan nations did the same in Balkan war. Arab revolted during the 1st world war and they succeeded as well.

this shows that the Ottoman rulers could not create a pan-Islamic environment throughout the empire.
 

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