BIROL YESILADA

 

DEBORAH MOON/Jewish Review

Turkish scholar reveals dangers

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2009-02-15T00:00:00

Portland State University Turkish Studies Chair Birol Yesilada spoke about the growing influence of Islam in Turkey at the Oregon Area Jewish Committee’s Feb. 4 lunch lecture.

Yesilada  said that while the ruling party AKP calls itself reformist, it “does nothing to stop the grassroots from intimidating people.”

Yesilada said he has tapes of the current president and prime minister using vile rhetoric against Westernization as late as the mid-1990s.

President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan both have strong roots in the Milli Gorus (National Outlook) movement, which Yesilada says educates bright young individuals to capture the state from within and make it more Islamist.

Information from the World Values Survey show Turkey is becoming more conservative and more inward looking, adding the society is becoming increasingly polarized between secularists and Islamists.

The Turkish administration’s support of Hamas, which exceeded that of any Arab country, is straining the historically close ties between Israel and Turkey, he said. However, the Turkish military’s strong ties with the Israel Defense Force remain intact.

“The Turkish military will not permit” a total breakdown in the relationship and has assured Israel the military still supports them, he said.

“Turkey as a society has changed. Islamization is happening,” he concluded.