Buddhism might be elective course

Göksel Bozkurt
Hurriyet Daily News

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While insisting on the continuation of compulsory courses on ‘religious culture and ethical knowledge,’ the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) supports elective religion courses for non-Muslims, including Buddhists

Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have proposed introducing elective religion courses for children being raised by parents who hold a religion or belief other than Islam, such as Buddhism.

The surprising proposal came during meetings of Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission on July 5 and 6, the Hürriyet Daily News has learned.

In late March a law pushed by the AKP included the “Quran” and “The Life of Our Prophet” as elective courses in secondary and high schools. The courses, particularly the latter, drew criticism from followers of different religions and beliefs, as well as from opinion leaders, since its name expresses possession and thus ignores those followers. It is thought that the ruling party wants to demonstrate that it has taken the wide criticism into consideration with the proposal brought to the Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission.

The proposal, introduced as part of upcoming debates on the article covering protection of “freedom of religion and conscience,” aims at creating opportunities for the children of parents who are Christian, Muslim or follow philosophies such as Buddhism. These parents will be able to demand elective courses either on the Bible, Torah or Buddhism. “While fulfilling its duties in fields of training and education, the state complies with the right of parents to demand training and education in line with their religious and philosophical beliefs,” says the AKP proposal.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have approached the move positively, while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was still reviewing the proposal in detail. In its proposal, the AKP stated that the courses on “religious culture and ethical knowledge” should be compulsory, as they are at the moment. The existing courses on “religious culture and ethical knowledge” are mandated as compulsory in the 1982 Constitution, which is a legacy of the coup d’état of Sept. 12, 1980. In October 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey’s implementation of these compulsory courses was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and urged the Turkish government to bring the Turkish educational system and domestic legislation into conformity with Article 2 of Protocol No. 1, which covers the right to education. However, according to a recently announced survey, a majority of Turks support elective lessons on the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad’s life. The survey, conducted by Turkey’s Imam Hatip Graduates Foundation (TİMAV), was titled “The Perception of Islamic divinity high schools (İmam Hatip) in Turkey,” and showed that 76 percent of Turkish society was in favor of the elective classes, the forthcoming introduction of which has recently stirred debate.

Öcalan quarrel

The courses on the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad’s life will be taught as electives starting next year, when the controversial new education system is implemented. The elective classes have been criticized by opposition parties and civil society groups on the grounds that they could soon become “compulsory” due to social pressure.

Meanwhile, Friday’s meeting of Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission witnessed a fierce debate between BDP deputies and the rest of the committee’s members. During debates on the article covering crimes and penalties, BDP requested the inclusion of an item stating: “It is banned to destroy the identity of arrested or convicted persons or to isolate such persons in order to reduce the physical and mental capacity of such persons.” All of the other members of the commission objected to the item, with the MHP’S Oktay Vural suggesting that the way it was expressed, it was designed to favor Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
(Göksel Bozkurt/Hurriyet Daily News)

Religious leaders meet at the Greek Patriarchate for historic visit

AA Photo

The head of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs, Mehmet Görmez, has given a statement supporting the idea of opening seminary after visiting the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate today.

"We should not need other countries to educate clerics," Görmez told to reportes after the historic meeting.

Reopening of Halki Seminary on government's agenda

The Turkish government has given the green light to reopen Istanbul’s Halki Seminary amid a visit by the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate today, daily Radikal reported.

Objecting to the reopening of the seminary is both inhumane and against Islam, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman and former Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik said.

"Closing Halki Seminary was a mistake, not opening it is another. There is no legal hitch [preventing it from being] opened. It is a right," the minister said.

Çelik also invited Turkey’s pious Muslims to empathize with non-Muslims, citing the current situation in Europe where there are several mosques, Islamic schools and societies. (Hurriyet Daily News)

'Tomatoes are Christian,' Egyptian Salafi group warns

The group's message on Facebook.

A Salafi group called the "Popular Egyptian Islamic Association" has warned Muslims against eating tomatoes on the grounds that the fruit is a "Christian food," NowLebanon.com has reported.

The group based its claim on the fact that a shape resembling a cross is revealed when one cuts a tomato in half.

The association published the warning on its Facebook page with a photo of a tomato cut in half, revealing a cross-shaped interior.

A message posted on the page read, "Eating tomatoes is forbidden because they are Christian. [The tomato] praises the cross instead of Allah and says that Allah is three [in reference to the Holy Trinity]."

The message went on to say, "I implore you to spread this photo because there is a sister from Palestine who saw the Prophet of Allah in a vision and he was crying, warning his nation against eating [tomatoes]. If you don’t spread this [message], know that it is the devil who stopped you.”

The message caused outrage among Facebook users, which prompted the group to clarify their warning, saying they did not tell people not to eat tomatoes. "We said don’t cut it in [such a way that it reveals] the cross shape.” (Hurriyet Daily News)

Turkish woman barred from public bus by religious fanatics

Hürriyet photo

A Turkish woman claimed she was prevented from boarding a public bus by a group of Islamists because her outfit would "cause them to sin," according to a report by daily Evrensel.

Yağmur Yılmaz, 21, said she left home on June 3 to go to work, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.

Yılmaz said she walked to a stop in Istanbul's Edirnekapı district to get on a bus going to Fatih district, where she worked. A group of around 15 men and women clad in burqas, cloaks and turbans who were on the bus blocked Yılmaz's path, saying she could not get on the vehicle. Yılmaz said she told the group it was everybody's right to board the bus, to which the women from the group replied, "We would sin if you get on this bus, you are causing us to sin."

The men in the group also harassed Yılmaz, she claimed, saying: "Look at her. Her head is not covered, shame!"

"Nobody in the bus did anything about it, not even the driver," Yılmaz said. "There were other 'uncovered' women waiting at the stop, but they just stood by idly."

Yılmaz told Evrensel that she had been using the same bus route for a long time and that it was the first time that she encountered such an incident. "I was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt because it was a Sunday [when many workers can wear more casual clothes], but no one would have the right to do such a thing even if I were wearing a skirt or a dress."

Yılmaz said she was startled by the incident, meaning that she was unable to take the bus' license plate number to file a complaint. "I wanted the public to learn about it," she said. "It was a shameful act and should not have happened in the first place." (Istanbul-Hürriyet Daily News)

Turkish prime minister says critics are right on 'one religion' remark

Those who criticized me for one religion remarks are right, PM Erdoğan admits. DAILY NEWS photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has retracted his much-criticized description of “one religion” as an indispensible principle for Turkey, saying those who criticized him on the issue were right.

“It was a slip of the tongue and the criticism is justified,” Erdoğan said late Tuesday as he arrived from a trip to Italy and Slovenia, marking a rare situation in which he thoughr the critics were right. “I said ‘one religion’ instead of ‘one homeland.’ One should not draw different conclusions from that remark. I’m correcting it now,” he added.

Erdoğan made the controversial remarks in two separate speeches ove the weekend as part of comments on the Kurdish conflict, sparking doubts over his commitment to a secular Turkey.

Addressing the Kurds, he said he had never advocated one language for Turkey but “one state, one flag and one religion.”

In further remarks, Erdoğan called on Turkey’s army gemerals to sue columnist Bekir Coşkun over a controversial article in which he likened the soldiers to tamed dogs as he stands in firm support of the army in its recent row with critics.

“That person [Coşkun] is unfortunately dripping filth from his pen. In my opinion, the generals should defend their rights on legal ground. They have been insulted,” Erdoğan said.

Coşkun, a columnist for daily Cumhuriyet and an avowed government opponent, wrote a controversial article last month which was widely seen as one of the reasons prompting the General Staff to issue a harsh statement condemning “provocations” targeting the army. Coşkun wrote an imaginary dialogue between a wolf and a tamed dog called “Pasha” – a popular dog name and the Ottoman-era word for general. In his article, the chubby Pasha boasts about his comfortable life in the hut, but says that one must accept to wear a leash and obey their owner in return for the bones and cushions.

Erdoğan had denounced the article as the reflection of fury among opponents over the military’s failure to carry out a coup against the government.

“Such insults should not be tolerated by the people who occupy those ranks. They must not be left unanswered. The response they [the General Staff] gave was actually quite polite,” Erdoğan said, arguing that the use of the word “pasha” evoked even Atatürk. He lashed out also at main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who had criticized Chief of General Staff Necdet Özel for intolerance to criticism and urged him to “know their place.”

In contrast to Erdoğan, the deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Hüseyin Çelik, said yesterday that “the military must not make statements, no matter what the issue is.” He criticized the General Staff over another statement made last week which denounced a campaign by non-commissioned officers for the improvement of their rights, adding that the General Staff should resort to the courts if it felt insulted. “The era of directly addressing certain citizens is over. The General Staff may of course make statements to release information, but making a statement for non-commissioned officers who are asking for improvement of their rights is not nice,” he said.
(ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News)

Turkish religion officials rule out haram fatwa for protests

Malaysians will no longre gather to show their support for opposition parties after an Islamic body in the country issues a fatwa declaring anti-gov’t rallies haram. REUTERS photo

An Islamic body in Malaysia, the National Fatwa Committee, announced May 6 that it was not permissible for Muslims to participate in any rally intending to oust a government or cause disturbance in the country. However, a religious official in Turkey disagreed, saying it was a constitutional right for people to participate in protests.

“Rioting, causing disturbances and damaging public property are all forbidden by Islam. This also applies to any intention to topple an elected government by organizing such demonstrations,” the body’s Chairman Dr. Abdul Shukor Husin said.

“No one is exempt and no one should support any efforts that can cause harm, anxiety or unrest among Muslims to the point of the community becoming split. Especially if there is bloodshed,” he said.

Turkey example
Abdul Shukor also said that the committee viewed this issue seriously in light of “some Muslims resorting to rioting during street demonstrations, as happened in the federal capital on April 28,” the Malaysia star reported.Islam has “never called on its followers to resort to any action that could threaten people’s lives just to pursue a specific agenda,” the fatwa committee stated, adding that Muslims who participated in such demonstrations must repent.

More “useful discussion channels” could be implemented to practice democracy instead of protesting, Abdul Shukor said. An official from Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs Fatwa Board said the right to protest the government was given to people as a constitutional right in Turkey. However, the official also said that evil-minded and illegal actions were not permitted in Islam. “Any intention to incite society to malice is not lawful in Islam,” the official told the Daily News.
(KUALA LUMPUR-hurriyetdailynews)