Turkey takes aim at Islamic schools
July 10, 1997
Web posted at: 11:20 p.m. EDT (0320 GMT)In this story:
SULTANBEYLI, Turkey (CNN) -- Islamic schools have become the focus of a struggle between a new secular government and what it fears is the country's tilt toward Islamic fundamentalism.
The government is considering passing laws to keep children in elementary schools longer so that they will have less time -- or no time at all, preferably -- to go to Islamic schools.
CNN's Peter Arnett reports from Sultanbeyli, Turkey
3 min., 15 sec. VXtreme streaming video
The fear is that the Islamic schools will be used to indoctrinate the young into the kind of radical Islamic fundamentalism that has cropped up in many parts of the world.
In the Istanbul suburb of Sultanbeyli, for example, an army commander ordered a statue of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, erected in the center of town. The idea was to remind everyone of Turkey's strong secular tradition.
But there are others who think the government needn't be so fearful.
Although Islamic schools are plentiful in a country that is 99 percent Muslim, many Turks believe the threat of Islamic fundamentalism is exaggerated.
And they argue that in many cases Islam has been a positive force.
Welfare Party a unifying force
A decade ago, Sultanbeyli was farmland and forest. Today, it is a teeming, half-finished community overrun by migrants from the country looking for a better life.
One of the most powerful forces in the community is the pro-Islam Welfare Party, which 11 months ago took over the government and held power until recently.
Although it was toppled by secular forces, the party continues to function as a unifier at the community level. Indeed, so potent is the party that mosques are going up everywhere, while roads go unpaved and plumbing is a distant dream.
"So far, we've finished the third floor," says Mustafa Memis, administrator of a partially built mosque in Sultanbeyli. "There'll be three more floors. We'll have a school and a cultural section."
It is exactly the kind of thing the new government fears, suspecting that the mosque and school will eventually become a hotbed for radicalism. The government wants to close down such schools, or license and regulate them.
"For (the secular establishment)," says Hugh Pope, author of "Turkey Unveiled," "almost any expression of Islam sentiment comes as a fundamental threat to the system, and therefore they react and they put all the religious people in the same box and try to freeze them out of the power structure."
'They're just learning about their religion'
But the Welfare Party has heavy support in Sultanbeyli because it gives people who have lived in villages and small towns a sense of belonging in a big city.
"This isn't politics," says Bilal Arlan, a Sultanbeyli bus driver. "They're just learning about their religion."
"The people usually support the Welfare Party not because it is a religious party," says Islamic newspaper columnist Fehmi Koru, "but because it serves the community."
Indeed, it seems that the strong Islamic identity that threatens many modern Turks is simply the social and spiritual cement for those seeking constancy in a fast-changing world.
Correspondent Peter Arnett contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Secularist coalition takes reins in Turkey - June 30, 1997
- Main opposition leader to form Turkish government - June 20, 1997
- Turkish prime minister steps down - June 18, 1997
- Turkey's Ciller gains key support - June 17, 1997
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