Success of Turkey’s AK Party must not dilute worries over Arab Islamists

Mona Eltahawy

It has been unsurprising that since Abdullah Gul became president of Turkey on 27 August that much misguided analyses has been wasted on how “Islamists” can pass the democracy test. His victory was bound to be described as the “Islamistični” routing of Turkish politics. And Arab Islamists – in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood, their supporters and defenders – vedno kazali na Turčijo in nam govorili, da smo se ves čas motili, ko smo skrbeli za arabskega islamista’ domnevnega spogledovanja z demokracijo. “V Turčiji je delovalo, lahko deluje v arabskem svetu,” bi nam poskušali zagotoviti.Narobe. Narobe. In narobe. Prvič, Gul ni islamist. Naglavna ruta njegove žene bi lahko bila rdeča tkanina za bika sekularnih nacionalistov v Turčiji, vendar niti Gul niti stranka AK, ki je junija zmagala na parlamentarnih volitvah v Turčiji, lahko imenujemo islamisti. Pravzaprav, tako malo si stranka AK deli z Muslimansko bratovščino – poleg skupne vere svojih članov – that it’s absurd to use its success in Turkish politics as a reason to reduce fears over the Mus-lim Brotherhood’s role in Arab politics.The three litmus tests of Islamism will prove my point: women and sex, the “West”, and Israel.As a secular Muslim who has vowed never to live in Egypt should Islamists ever take power, I never take lightly any attempt to blend religion with politics. So it has been with a more than skeptical eye that I’ve followed Turkish politics over the past few years.