The Faith Column

4 comments from readers

www.beyazrenkler.org
08 August 2008 at 16:42

The Gulf War in 1990-91 was a critical catalyst for Turkey's reentry into the Middle East. Against the advice of many of his advisers and of the Turkish military, President Turgut Özal threw Turkey's full support behind the U.S. military campaign to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. He enforced United Nations sanctions by cutting off the flow of Iraq's oil exports through Turkish pipelines, deployed 100,000 troops along the Iraqi-Turkish border, and allowed the United States to fly sorties into Iraq from Turkish bases. Özal saw the war as an opportunity to demonstrate Turkey's continued strategic importance and cement closer defense ties with the United States. He hoped that Turkey's support would strengthen its "strategic partnership" with the United States and enhance its prospects of joining the European Community (as the eu was then called).

Özal's hopes proved illusory on both counts. The strategic partnership with the United States never materialized, and Turkey's chances at membership in the European Community hardly improved. Economically, Turkey paid a high price for its support of the U.S. military campaign: it lost billions of dollars in pipeline fees and trade. Politically, it was left facing a major escalation of its Kurdish problem. The establishment of a de facto Kurdish state in northern Iraq under Western protection gave new impetus to Kurdish nationalism and provided a logistical base for attacks on Turkish territory by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the violent Kurdish separatist group known as the pkk. For many Turks, the war was, as the veteran Turkey watcher Ian Lesser has noted, "the place where the trouble started."

shaybani
12 August 2008 at 23:37

Wearing shorts is hardly a major issue. The attributing of divinity to a human being, Ali (may God be pleased with him) that Alevis do is idolatry renders them non-Muslim.

Not even sure if this is an issue- may Alevis dont consider themselves Muslims and though they are sometime consdered an offshoot of Shiaism mainstream shias reject them

Not sure why the NS is so hung up on promoting non-Muslim heretical groups as Muslims/true Islam

shaybani
12 August 2008 at 23:41

"In regards to the current AKP government in the country, for the Alevis there are both negatives and positives. I am a secularist. I don't like the hijab because I think in this type of Islam there is no tolerance. Will they tolerate me if I wear shorts or if I go swimming or even if I go out with my bare head?"

So you oppose other peoples right to dress how they wish why demanding they respect yours?

"I know they will force women to cover-up. In Turkey most men make their wives to cover their heads. "

How do you know this? And what you say about men forcing their wives is just anti-Muslim lies. I could quite easily say that non-Muslim men force their wives to dress in revealing clothes and when the wives say "No i want to dress like this" just claim they are brainwashed as non-Muslims do with hijab wearing Muslim women

"Further, the number of women covering-up is on the increase. And they are not just content with covering them up. They are covering the woman and keeping them in the house. We are looking at a future where the woman's place will be at home because this is a male-dominated religion. These people do not want women to do anything. They are taking advantage of their religion in order to keep the woman inside. "

So why is there such a strong campaign to allow women in hijab to be able to study at univeristy

Honestly this article is rubbish

adam
20 August 2008 at 00:12

One can easily conclude how simple-minded and intolerant the writer of this article is by just reading it.