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“If
my nation had doubts about me, they would not have elected me,”
said Erdogan
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WASHINGTON,
November 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, the head of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP),
said in an interview published in the Newsweek Sunday,
November 10, his party was committed to secular democracy and had no
hidden Islamic agenda.
Elections
in staunchly secular Turkey last week delivered an overwhelming
victory to the Islamic-rooted AK Party, which is now poised to form
Turkey's first one-party government in decades.
But
the party’s chairman, Erdogan, formerly a member of the Islamic
Welfare party, has been banned from politics for reciting a poem with
Islamic undertones.
In
an interview with a Newsweek correspondent, Erdogan said
that he planned to modernize Turkey and denied that his movement,
which has Islamic roots, could be a threat to this predominantly Muslim nation's strictly secular system.
Asked
if he had a vision of a different Turkey, Erdogan said: “Yes, Turkey
needs a new vision. I am going to try to change Turkey as I changed
Istanbul when I was [mayor].”
But
he retorted: “Our party is not Islamic. It is not based on religion.
The Turkish media tried to place us in that category.”
“Islam
is a religion. Secularism is just a style of management,” he added.
On
the issue of who should become prime minister, Erdogan’s answer was
clear and forward.
“Public
opinion solved this on November 3. The public announced who should be
the next prime minister, and the rest is the responsibility of the
political world. I believe it will do its part.”
“The
president must consent [to amending the Constitution] or take the
issue to a referendum,” he added.
On
the question of Iraq, Erdogan said the U.N. should have the final say.
“The
U.N. decisions have a binding effect on us. If the goal is to remove
weapons of mass destruction, Iraq appears to be willing to accept U.N.
inspectors. If the reports of these inspectors are positive, the
problem might be solved peacefully.”
Erdogan
said he does not intend to increase the number of religious schools.
“We don’t intend to [increase their number], but it’s not right
to close them either,” he said.
Explaining
his intention to end the ban on women in Turkey wearing a headscarf to
the office or to a university, Erdogan said women’s right to dress
as they wish should be respected.
“We
must respect this right, as it is respected in the U.S. For example,
my daughters [who wear headscarves] cannot go to school in this
country, but must go to school in the U.S.”
On
E.U. membership, the Turkish leader said: “We have to reach the
level of the Copenhagen criteria [for E.U. membership]. That means
freedom of expression and religion, and ending the ban on broadcasting
in one’s mother tongue—for Kurds [and] everyone—and ending
torture.”
On
whether Turkey shall maintain its strong relationship with Israel,
Erdogan said: “The relationship with Israel will continue. We have
made statements concerning Palestine because of the situation there.
We’re against all types of terrorism—from individual to state
terrorism. We are by no means anti-Semitic.”
On
the poem that led to the ban on his political activity which says:
“The minarets are our bayonets; the mosques are our barracks; our
believers are our soldiers,” the AK leader said: “The poem I read
I’ve been reciting for the last 20 years.”
But
Erdogan said he has no hidden agenda and does not intend to undermine
the secular state.
“If
my nation had such doubts about me, they would not have elected me...
We have no hidden agenda.”
