Politicizing religion

Abdullah Gul-FP Kayseri Deputy

       It is inevitable that Turkey will stage arguments on political thoughts, as we are constantly changing with the world. Past experiences force people to be more realistic and think more healthly. Surely, political parties and politicians who lead the country can not be out of these discussions.One of the debates in the recent days is about " political islam". Olivier Troy's, who was the consultant of former French President Mitterand, book named " Failure of Political Islam", had been translated and sold in Turkey in 1990. After this book, "political Islam" has been debated by many people in Turkey. Sometimes the concept has been misused. I believe that relations between religion and the state is an issue for Islamist scientists to discuss and know. When one considers the globality of religions, its relations with races and countries, the relations between politics and the state becomes very important.This is why, the relation of politics with religion should be about the approach the state has about freedom of religion and education of religion. Otherwise, parties who are formed in the name of religion, will not help the religion they believe in, but rather damage it severely, as the examples of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have proved. The situation in Turkey is very different though. The fact that there are religious people in active politics is not because they demand a religious state. The demand of the people is merely about religious freedoms. Unfortunately, this demand has been made subject to exploitation for many years. When the people's problems were not solved, more religious people entered politics. It is also a fact that some marginal formations have been formed in the name of religion with outside forces. It is important not to cast the shadow of these extereme movements on the sincere religious people of this country and not to be indifferent to the people's demands.