Turkey in danger of an "intolerant" Islamic takeover

July 28 2008

A senior Turkish prosecutor has raised tensions ... by warning that it is in danger of an "intolerant" Islamic takeover.

In an interview with the Guardian, Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, chairman of the association of judges and prosecutors (Yarsav) and deputy to Turkey's chief prosecutor, said the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) was seeking a system of sharia law that would destroy the country's secular system and transform it into an Islamic state.

He claimed the government had exposed its true agenda in a series of measures, including attempts to establish halal standards in food production, signing bilateral agreements underwritten by "Islamic laws" with fellow Muslim countries, increasing religious education at state schools and trying to allow female students to wear headscarves at university.

The moves were aimed at reviving an Islamic consciousness dormant since the end of the Ottoman Empire, Eminagaoglu warned, leading to a religious society where secular lifestyles were discouraged and women denied equal status...

Eminagaoglu insisted the case heeded EU regulations and said European critics understood neither Turkey nor Islam. "Islam is not like Christianity. It doesn't just aim to be practised in the realm of belief but also to regulate and rule the state," he said.