* <http://www.zimbio.com/>* ** *Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan addresses the European Community in Oxford* Written by propal <http://www.zimbio.com/member/propal> on Apr-4-09 http://www.zimbio.com/Prime+Minister+Recep+Tayyip+Erdogan/articles/236/Turkish+Prime+Minister+Erdogan+addresses+European
<http://www.zimbio.com/go/http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com> by Iqbal Tamimi<http://www.zimbio.com/go/http://palestinian.ning.com/xn/detail/u_1tl5pwfkazcft> * **"It is important that the Western community understands that Turkey is a country that identifies with the European region and is part of it, but at the same time the majority of our nation are Muslims,"* Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Yesterday evening the Centre for Islamic Studies in Oxford hosted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Amina, whom I consider as an icon of a Muslim woman that deserves all the respect and admiration for her continuous support for the Palestinian women and her courage and dedication to human rights. A number of diplomatic personalities and statesmen accompanied the PM to Oxford after the last G20 summit meeting.Erdogan was welcomed with a very long, warm applause, he spoke to the masses after some delay by the traffic in London which he apologized for, commenting in his usual humorous way that his counterpart Gordon Brown should do something to solve the traffic problem. ‘I used to think that the traffic jams in Turkey were the worst, but I discovered that London’s traffic is even worse,’ he said. The Turkish Bristolian group who I have accompanied included Sakir Yildirim who drove an eight thousand mile round trip delivering an ambulance loaded with practical aid to Gaza. Business man Talip Topuz waited a long time until he got Prime Minster Erdogan’s autograph and danced happily with it for quite a while. The Bristol PSC group were lucky to secure a place, while almost a thousand people had to return back home, for the crowds were much more than the expectations of the lecture organizers, but still some preferred to wait outside the hall. Most amazing was the relaxed atmosphere and the very friendly local police and security personnel, amongst whom were a British Muslim policewoman wearing a Hijab as part of her uniform. Erdogan who had just arrived from the last meeting of the G20 summit held in London, during which he proposed solutions for the global economic crisis were discussed as well as another equally important issue of the mutual understanding and respect between people of different faiths and communities. *"It is important that the Western community understands that Turkey is a country that identifies with the European region and is part of it, but at the same time the majority of our nation are Muslims,"* he said. His call for others to understand the importance of mutual respect of faith choice was clear, *‘I respect Jesus and Moses and the message they came with, and I expect others to have similar understanding and respect for my faith,“* he said. One of the guests requested a comment from the Prime Minister regarding the incident when he stormed out of a conference held in Davos, which was attended by Israeli President Shimon Peres after Israel's bombing of Gaza. Erdogan said, *"I had to do the same in Georgia as well, because I saw a fierce barbaric attack on women, children, the elderly and the vulnerable who do not have the means to defend themselves, they were killed while no one from the international community intervened to stop this aggression, this I could not tolerate. I saw with my own eyes young Palestinian children being killed in Gaza. The situation is still bad, for Israel is still refusing to open this big prison of Gaza to allow for humanitarian aid and food to reach families in desperate need of help, the people of Gaza are still living in tents and in need of help. I spoke with Quartet envoy Tony Blair on this subject, and told him there is an urgent need to open the borders to allow the necessary building materials enter Gaza for rebuilding the badly damaged infrastructure." * In response to a question about the expected timing of Turkey's joining the European Union, Turkish Prime Minister said, *"Until now, there is no set time. The UK had struggled for 11 years before joining the EU, and perhaps we should expect to wait as long. There is a routine procedure of examining two files at a time, and I always asked why only two, why not three." * Erdogan also talked about Turkey’s organic farming plans: *"There is a large extended border area between Turkey and Syria full of land mines; we plan to clean up the minefields and cultivate the area organically,"* he commented on a question asked about farming in Turkey. He also spoke about the upcoming visit of U.S. President Obama, expected to take place in Turkey next week and said, *"I spoke with Quartet envoy Tony Blair as well, and discussed this issue with USA President Obama and we will discuss it again when he arrives in Turkey that there is an urgent need to find a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and such discussions should involve all Palestinian parties involved, including the Hamas."* *++++++++++++++* ** [image: Los Angeles Times] Opinion *Talking to Turkey, but Islam is listening* *When President Obama speaks in Ankara, he can send a crucial message to Muslims.* By Jack Miles April 4, 2009 http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-miles4-2009apr04,0,6828377.story [image: Turkey awaits Obama with mixed emotions]<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-turkey5-2009apr05,0,7068903.story> Turkey awaits Obama with mixed emotions<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-turkey5-2009apr05,0,7068903.story> *"They say we are at war with Islam. This is the whispered line of the extremist who has nothing to offer in this battle of ideas but blame. ... We are not at war with Islam. But too often since 9/11, the extremists have defined us. ... When I am president, that will change." -- Barack Obama, August 2007 *When President Obama addresses the Turkish parliament on Monday, he will have the chance to fulfill a campaign promise. Before the secular legislature of a Muslim-majority country -- and with the entire Muslim ummah *ummah* listening -- he can state plainly that the United States is not at war with Islam. To make this claim plausible, the president need not trade on his ancestry or his Arabic names. Rather, he need only point to a gradually emerging, too little noticed congruency between the political traditions of the United States and those of Turkey regarding religion. The United States has no established national religion. What it does have is an established national way of dealing with religion -- namely, the distinctive American combination of government neutrality in matters religious coupled with the guarantee of free exercise of all religions. Turkey, like the U.S., is a highly religious society with a constitutionally secular government. Turkey's official secularism was imposed during the years after World War I by Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic and its first president. But Turkey's brand of secularism has lacked the balancing "free exercise" component of the American compromise. Its government, rather than stopping at religious neutrality, has often been anti-clerical in the French manner or even aggressively anti-religious in the Soviet manner. Women, for example, may not wear head scarves in government-run schools and public buildings, and men may not wear the traditional fez. Lately, however, Turkey has begun to approach a new consensus in favor of what in the American tradition would be called free exercise of religion alongside its state secularism. Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (abbreviated AKP in Turkish) has sought to enlarge the scope for the public practice of Islam in Turkey. For its troubles, the AKP has been the target of ferocious attacks by Turkish hyper-nationalists and anti-clericals, many of them in the once all-powerful military. Last year, the AKP's opponents initiated a jaw-dropping attempt to depose the entire government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan by petitioning the courts to declare the party unconstitutional. Had it succeeded, the move would have thrown Turkey into social chaos and potential economic collapse. But the court ruled the AKP constitutional, and in just-concluded Turkish elections, the party, though shaken, came in first. And so, after a titanic struggle, the Erdogan administration now seems well positioned to push forward on its agenda. As regards the religious part of that agenda, the AKP understands itself to be offering Turks a political option comparable to what is on offer in Europe, through religiously denominated social democratic parties such as Germany's Christian Democratic Union. But a good many in Europe see an extremist attack on state secularism in some of Erdogan's actions -- such as restrictions on serving alcohol by the drink in liquor stores and cafes. These concerns have retarded the admission of Turkey to the European Union. Here is where Obama faces a unique opportunity. By reasserting long-standing American support in favor of EU membership for Turkey, he can offer help to an important ally. As he does so, however, he can also declare that, consistent with U.S. law and practice, his government endorses the free and open exercise of religion in Turkey. To underscore that this is no mere personal gesture, he can quote President Eisenhower, speaking at Washington's Islamic Center in 1957: "I should like to assure you, my Islamic friends, that under the American Constitution, under American tradition and in American hearts, this center, this place of worship, is just as welcome as could be a similar edifice of any other religion." In the same spirit, of course, Obama would be obliged to challenge Turkey to live up to its own ideals by promising non-Muslims no less than Muslims "no compulsion in religion" (Koran 2:256) and state protection for the free exercise of their faiths. Is the AKP administration prepared to go so far? At a moment of epochal transition in Turkey, there is reason to believe that it is. Erdogan's party has long sought to rewrite the militarily imposed constitution of 1982, not just to ease restrictions on the free exercise of Islam but to eliminate the crime of "insulting Turkishness," which has repeatedly jeopardized free speech in Turkey. Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel laureate in literature, is only the most prominent of many who have been indicted on that charge. Pamuk, indicted for speaking out about the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I, was acquitted. But others have been punished. In another sign of growing ethnic tolerance, the Erdogan administration has begun an unprecedented new push to excavate mass graves believed to hold the remains of victims of military atrocities perpetrated during Turkey's 25-year struggle with Kurdish separatists. If the AKP succeeds in liberalizing the permitted public practice of Islam in Turkey while imposing restraints on violent hyper-nationalism, and if, even as it does this, it is admitted to the European Union, Turkey and Europe together will have taken a key step forward in the reconciliation of the West with the Muslim world. The U.S. State Department has tried to keep expectations low for Obama's promised and eagerly awaited speech, but as the moment approaches, excitement will surely mount. In the West, all eyes have lately been on London, the economy and the G-20 summit. But as the president approaches the lectern in Ankara, millions of eyes in other parts of the world will be on Turkey. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! 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