Turkish, her country, and mine

“I have a friend who is part Turkish. Even though her name is Kristen, she loves to be called Turkish”. That’s what I told Shaheen, the Turkish roommate of my friend, when I first met him. It was a good ice-breaker to start talking about his views about Turkey and its government lead by PM Ardoghan.

I’ve never heard an Arab talk about his country’s officials as passionate as Shaheen was talking about Ardoghan and his ministers. Ardoghan’s party, despite its “Islamist” roots in a very secular country, won a majority of parliament seats. The party lifted Turkey’s economy, boosted its relationship with Arab and Muslim countries, negotiated more successfully with the EU than previous governments, and yet maintained its commitment to democracy and human rights.

Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, should learn from the Turkish example. Furthermore, Saudi religious scholars should be more open and enlightened in order to promote such an example in Saudi Arabia and the whole Muslim World. It seems, however, that King Abdullah is a better advocate for such things than those who should. In the “Organization of Islamic Conferences” meeting held in Mecca last week, Abu Miti’b said: "أني أتطلع الى أمة اسلامية موحدة, وأتطلع الى حكم مسلمة رشيد يقضي على الظلم والقهر, وأتطلع الى تنمية شاملة تقضي على العوز والفقر, وأتطلع الى انتشار وسطية سمحة تمثل سماحة الاسلام, وأتطلع الى مخترعين مسلمين وصناعيين مسلمين وتقنية اسلامية متقدمة"

King Abdullah, you’re the greatest!
Oh, let us also learn from “Malaysia…Truly Asia”.

By the way, secretary of OIC is a Turkish professor… see what I was sayin?

For more on Turkey, I recommend two old articles… still applicable today!

تعاون تركيا مع الجامعة العربية مطلب جدير بالتشجيع http://aawsat.com/leader.asp?section=3&article=146699&issue=8812

حين وجدت أنقرة أن إسرائيل هي الحل! http://aawsat.com/leader.asp?section=3&article=298613&issue=9661