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Dutch PM: Islam ‘must not cloud Turkey EU bid’

Jul 22, 2004 7:09 am By Robert Spencer

Once again: is it really “Islamophobia” to point out that Islam, unlike all the major forms of Christianity, has a comprehensive system for the governance of a state and the ordering of a society, and that many Muslims believe that that system must be implemented wherever possible? The Dutch PM says that “the decision on whether to open EU membership talks with Turkey, due to be taken in December, must be strictly on the basis of whether or not Turkey meets the agreed standards of human rights and democracy.” Fine; but why can’t there be on that basis a forthright discussion of whether Islamic law itself meets those standards?

Yes, Turkey is a secular state, but it is a secular state under constant pressure from radical Muslims, to whom over the years it has granted significant concessions. What form will those concessions take in the future?

Apparently the Dutch PM assumes that Islam is just another species of “religion,” i.e., like the Calvinism and Roman Catholicism that the Dutch used to believe in. Neither one challenged the character of the state, at least in modern times; why should Islam? He shows no awareness of the likelihood that many European Muslims want to create Sharia states there, or of other key elements of the Turkey EU question. From the BBC, with thanks to Joe Kraft and Sharon:

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has said Islamophobia must not affect the possibility of Turkey’s entry to the European Union.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he attacked Muslim groups, which he said were sowing hatred, and promised new anti-terror measures.

Mr Balkenende was outlining the plans of the Dutch presidency of the European Union over the next six months.

The newly enlarged parliament is meeting for the first time this week.

BBC European affairs correspondent William Horsley says Mr Balkenende’s comments were unusually harsh and blunt from a European head of government, especially one who speaks for the whole EU.

Same criteria

The Dutch prime minister said Turkey’s possible entry into the EU troubled many European citizens.

But he said the decision on whether to open EU membership talks with Turkey, due to be taken in December, must be strictly on the basis of whether or not Turkey meets the agreed standards of human rights and democracy.

There was not a problem that Turkey was a Muslim nation, he said.

“The decision must be arrived at honestly, under the ground rules to which we previously, in 2002, firmly committed ourselves,” he said.

“That means strict application of the criteria laid down, but without inventing new criteria.

“We must not allow ourselves to be guided by fear, for example of Islam.”

He said the problem was the misuse of religion to sow hatred and to repress women.

It also should be asked forthrightly whether the sowing of hatred and repression of women are really “misuses” of Islam, considering passages of the Qur’an such as 98:6, 9:29-30, 48:29, 4:34, etc. etc. Is this very question “Islamophobic”? Why must it be? Why cannot there be an open acknowledgement by secular and moderate Muslims that they do not live with these assumptions about unbelievers and women, and that they do not believe that such texts are the words of God?

Yes, they would be portrayed as apostates. Yes, they would be in fear of their lives. And this is why we see no large-scale reform in Islam.

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Filed Under: "Islamophobia", dhimmitude, European Union, Netherlands, Turkey


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