As we have noted here many times, Turkey’s secular government maintains itself in power only by means of a combination of carrots and sticks extended to the exponents of political Islam. Here are some of the sticks: “Turkish Radio and TV Council Issues Warning to Turkish Radio Stations for Broadcasting Islamist Messages and Calling for Jihad,” from MEMRI:
Turkey’s Radio-Television Supreme Council (RTUK) has determined that some Istanbul and Ankara radio stations have been broadcasting programs with Islamist content, and has issued warnings to three of them. The broadcasts stated that the burqa is the most suitable garb for women, stated that men upset with their wives should do more than just say three times “I divorce you,” encouraged and invited listeners to wage jihad, and suggested that there is no other religion but Islam.
The following are excerpts from a report on the matter by the secular Turkish daily Sabah: [1]
“The Burqa is the Most Suitable Outfit”; “Do Something Different” to Punish Your Wife
In its “Matters of Religion” program on April 24, 2006, Lale Gul FM Radio, which broadcasts from Istanbul, stated that Islamic dress (the burqa) was the most suitable garb for women. During the program, it was said:
“The burqa is the most suitable outfit for jilbab.
[…]
“For our male audience – they should not tell their wives that they divorce them. Your wife may have driven you crazy. Just because you are angry at her, don’t say three times that you divorce her. Do something different. Something else… You know what it is that you can do [hinting at beating].”[…]
A Radio Call to Jihad
The RTUK cautioned Ankara’s Denge Radio for calling for jihad and for inciting to violence on February 2, 2007. The report quoted the following statements:
“Jihad is your obligation in Allah’s way. It is Allah Who chose you and Who relies on you to bear His message. We will make them [i.e. the infidel enemies] account [for their deeds]. We will make them pay for Kashmir and for Palestine. We will settle accounts with them for Osman [i.e. the Ottomans] and for Algeria. My slogan against these evil [infidels] is Allah, Allah, Allahu Akbar” […]
“No Other Religion” But Islam
Sabah quoted the following from Radio Ankara’s November 10, 2006 program Bi’dats, for which the station was warned by the RTUK:
[…]
“My dear brother, there is no such thing as ‘religions.’ There is no other religion to which Islam is superior. Islam is the one and only religion in universe.”[…]
I suspect that penultimate sentence, “There is no other religion to which Islam is superior,” might be rendered incorrectly, and that the actual broadcast said that there is no other religion superior to Islam.