In his TV program Teke Tek [One to One] Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli hosted last night four female university students - two of them Islamist activists defending their right to wear the Islamic scarf in universities. What the two girls said in the program shocked many Turks. During the program the girls said they loved and respected Humeini and upon Fatih Altayli’s question on whether or not they loved Ataturk, they said that they don’t.
The Islamist girls also said that freedom to study in universities with their Islamic attire would not be enough for them and that they wanted the freedom to include working in the public service. Altayli asked them what would guarantee that their next demand would not be to have another law system whereby they would be judged in Islamic courts, ruled by Islamic qadis, in accordance with their beliefs. One of the Islamist girls said, “No one would guarantee that. And why not? We would want that. Why shouldn’t everyone be tried within a law system of one’s beliefs?” Altayli, shocked, said that this would mean having multiple law systems and added that democracy would then become impossible.
Both covered girls refused to credit Ataturk even for the War of Independence that he fought and won, and said that the war was fought by the Muslims, for Islam. They said that Ataturk had just been a good soldier. Altayli then said, “If it wasn’t for Ataturk now you would be ruled by western countries” and the girls said, “Then we would have had more freedoms”.
Fatih Altayli wrote today his impressions from the program at Haberturk.com, after “a sleepless night”.
Altayli wrote: “This is what they [the Islamists] really want. This is what the Republic of Turkey is face to face with. These are their demands even if they don’t voice them all, yet. This is the reason for their reactions to the High Court decision. This is the revenge that they want to take from the Republic. The mask that covers all this is ‘freedoms’; the mask is ‘democracy’; the mask is ‘liberalism’…”
Source: Haberturk, Vatan, Milliyet, June 10, 2008
