In recent months Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been at the centre of controversy and the subject of passionate debate. Also involved is the spiritual leader of the Hizmet, or Gulen, Movement, Fethullah Gulen. However, as with all matters political, things are seldom the way they seem. Although it is packaged as an all too familiar case of power politics of the kind that often pits allies of convenience against each other, beneath that façade is a relentless effort to restrict the Islamists capacity to govern. As in Egypt, at the heart of the issue is the question of whether or not so-called political Islam can exist within a constitutional framework, embrace modernity and share space with a pluralist society. https://middleeastmonitor/articles/europe/9312-turkeys-test-of-wills
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 09:30:00 +0000