I am interested in your response to this situation: >>An Important Change At Religious Affairs
BYEGM: 3/18/2003
HURRIYET- Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on the recent resignation of Religious Affairs Directorate head Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz. A summary of his column is as follows:
Even as new Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stated that he was retaining the staff of the previous government, he must have taken note of an important development yesterday: Religious Affairs Directorate head Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz resigned from his post, one which he had held for 11 years running.
Obviously resignation is a unilateral act, so you might say that this wouldn’t interest Erdogan. But this isn’t the case. Erdogan knew that State Minister Mehmet Aydin doesn’t care for Yilmaz, who impressed many countries with how he successfully carried out his duties. Likewise, under the previous government, Aydin laid the groundwork for either Professor Bekir Karliga or Professor Omer Faruk Harman, both of Marmara University, being appointed in Yilmaz’s place. However, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer opposed this since he considers Yilmaz to be the protector of the basic values of the secular republic. We come to this conclusion from Yilmaz’s own statement at a press conference on his resignation: ‘Except recently [meaning under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government], I have never been put under political pressure by any government or minister. Religion shouldn’t be involved in politics. If everybody speaks just how he pleases and delivers political speeches in Turkey’s 72,000 mosques, our nation would be engulfed in chaos. I have worked with both leftist and rightist parties for many years. I have never interjected the ministry into politics. I have learned many lessons from the troubles caused by the involvement of religion in politics.
Yilmaz was devoted to the basic philosophy of the secular republic and bolstered the role of Religious Affairs Directorate within the state. Under his leadership, the construction of mosques was dependent on certain rules for the first time. Distancing religious services from political and ideological influence was given top priority during his tenure. Under Yilmaz, those who conducted religious services were given training.
State Minister Mehmet Aydin has said, ‘The era of religion depending on the state will end in Turkey. The Religious Affairs Directorate will no longer be an institution extending religious services, but will instead be transformed into a civilian institution.’ If this view gains ground and goes into practice, effectively giving the religious order sovereignty, we will see the chaos to come.<<
turkishpress.com
It appears that Turkey is increasingly at risk for ceasing to be a secular state. |
