Turkey, Pakistan public oppose bigger Islam role
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 19, 2007
Turkey and Pakistan, two influential Muslim states, have seen massive public demonstrations in recent days in which huge crowds protested that Islam was playing too big a role in public affairs.
In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets Sunday to protest plans by an influential mosque to run a "Taliban-style" anti-vice campaign in the capital city of Islamabad.
A day earlier, some 500,000 Turks staged a rally in Ankara urging Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Islamist and head of the moderate Muslim ruling party, not to run for president, traditionally a secular and nonpartisan post.
The twin rallies come at a time of intense debate over the ability of moderate Muslims across the Islamic world to challenge more radical, anti-Western voices. The Bush administration has made a major push in its public diplomacy to encourage moderate Muslim voices across the greater Middle East.
"This weekend, for the first time in a long time, we've seen people power in action on the streets in Turkey," said Zeyno Baran, director of the Center for Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute and a specialist on Turkish politics.
Moderates in Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, had been "fairly passive" in the past in defending the country's institutions from religious forces, Ms. Baran said. They have relied on the country's staunchly secular military to defend the secular character of the country's laws and leading institutions.
more....
The Bush geostrategy showing hopeful signs? Oh well, Democrats will just have to work harder to undermine it.
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