Re: The rise of Recep Erdogan, from street snack seller to Middle East Muslim champio
You have the definition in front of you Sehrysh, do you think it is possible? Islamism is based off the teachings of Maududi and Al Banna the founding fathers behind what is now the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamaat in South Asia. However both widely differ on practice and application. So sure it is absolutely possible because nothing is set in stone when it comes to Islam. We aren’t the Church.
Shamraz you are welcome to believe whatever you want. Like I said before 10 years of his rule and most turks and academics have termed him an Islamist. AKP is termed an Islamist party by Turks. That has increased their popularity every damn election. I do not deny that Turkey is a secular state. I do not deny that he has made these comments. But to quote one of you guys, he is a smart politician who has blended nationalism with religion very well.
His comments on Islam still stand. So do his actions on Hijab, religious freedom of Muslims all over Europe.
The problem with you lot in the west is you define every term as how the US media defines it. Which as everybody knows is by far the weakest media when it comes to intellectual discourse and proper analysis.
Its interesting you, yazdi and Sehrysh all define Islamist to mean Taliban or Al Qaeda. When historically Islamism is a good 100 years old. It was started well before most Muslim states existed. Well done on taking a very narrow view of a very broad history.