The steady Islamization of Turkey is not new. Since 2002, the government has built 17,000 new mosques, and its goals stretch beyond Turkish borders. Robert Spencer speculated on January 16 that the “reason why Erdogan has been so notably dilatory in fighting against the Islamic State may be that he wants to co-opt its caliphate and incorporate it in a neo-Ottoman caliphate centered in Istanbul.” Although the Islamic State lost most of its territory in the intervening year, that was no thanks to Erdogan. And now the Turkish leader has stated that one of his goals is to “forge a ‘pious generation’ in predominantly Muslim Turkey ‘that will work for the construction of a new civilization.’” Reuters has observed that Erdogan’s speeches have increasingly “emphasized Turkey’s Ottoman history and domestic achievements over Western ideas and influence.”
Erdogan’s ambitions are true to his orthodox beliefs in Islamic expansionism. He has boldly extended his reach of influence beyond the borders of Turkey. He got into a row with Europe over Germany and the Netherlands blocking his proxies from holding open campaign rallies among the millions of Turks living in those countries, as Erdogan pushed for a referendum victory for constitutional changes that would give him virtually unlimited power.
He continued on his rampage against Europe when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) allowed employers to ban the headscarf, accusing Europe of starting a battle between Christianity and Islam and a clash between the cross and the crescent. This was despite the ECJ making it clear that banning “any political, philosophical or religious sign” was not deemed to be discriminatory.
Also, due to Turkey’s firing and “jailing of tens of thousands of soldiers, police, teachers and civil servants following a failed military coup in July 2016,” he accused European critics of “Islamophobia” for merely questioning his human rights record.
Erdogan is now preparing the younger generation for his vision of Islamic expansion as he pours “billions of dollars into religious education, including a 100 percent increase in funding for ‘Imam and Preacher’ religious academies.” 90,000 mosques across Turkey are also now praying “Qur’anic ‘conquest’ prayers” calling on Muslims to be “ruthless against unbelievers.”
Less than two weeks ago, a primary school in Istanbul that erected a memorial to commemorate those who lost their lives in the failed July coup attempt displayed a caption which read:
Whatever you do, you will not stop the rise of the Turkish nation. Whatever you do, the victory will be of Islam.
Turkey’s recent attacks on Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria have been causing increasing tensions with America, as Erdogan takes up the historic Turkish mission to crush Kurdish nationalism, mission the Turks have been pursuing since the fall of the Ottoman empire.
Fortunately, the Turkish public is not united in its support for Erdogan’s despotic ambitions, even as he cracks down on any dissent.
“Erdogan: Islamic Education Will Forge ‘Pious Generation’ to Build ‘New Civilization’ for Turkey” , by John Hayward, Breitbart, January 25, 2018:
Turkey was long renowned for its secular government, a modern state guided by the vision of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when he built the Republic of Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in the early years of the last century. The current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has the opposite vision of Turkey as a Muslim state at the heart of a new Ottoman Empire. A report from Reuters examines one of the means Erdogan is using to achieve this goal: Islamic education in Turkish schools.
The current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has the opposite vision of Turkey as a Muslim state at the heart of a new Ottoman Empire. A new report from Reuters examines one of the means Erdogan is using to achieve this goal: Islamic education in Turkish schools.
“Erdogan has said one of his goals is to forge a ‘pious generation’ in predominantly Muslim Turkey ‘that will work for the construction of a new civilization.’ His recent speeches have emphasized Turkey’s Ottoman history and domestic achievements over Western ideas and influences,” Reuters observes.
Erdogan’s “drive to put religion at the heart of national life after decades of secular dominance” includes pouring “billions of dollars into religious education,” including a 100 percent increase in funding for “Imam and Preacher” religious academies. Those schools already get double the per-pupil funding of regular Turkish schools but dramatically underperform on standard tests.
In fact, the academic performance of the religious schools was so poor that total enrollment actually slipped last year, even though funding is surging and hundreds more of them are under construction, along with secular schools receiving more religious education or being outright converted into Imam and Preacher academies. One mother interviewed for the article complained that the Islamic wing of her son’s school is visibly nicer and less overcrowded than the secular wing. Other parents said their children were simply kicked out of a middle school that converted into an imam and preacher academy, cutting its total enrollment in half.
“Islam is not being forced on people. It is not a matter of saying everyone should go to Imam Hatips. We are just providing an opportunity to those families who want to send their children to Imam Hatips,” a government adviser told Reuters, using the Turkish name for the religious schools.
On the other hand, the article goes on to quote secular parents worried about the astounding surge of Turkish religious education during the past five years. Turks from faiths other than Sunni Islam were nervous as well, expressing fears that Imam Hatip credentials will either quietly or overtly become a requirement for landing good jobs in Turkey, effectively pressuring parents to convert their children to Islam. Religious education is compulsory in Turkey, although some parents fight in court for the right to exempt their children.
Defenders of the religious schools claim they are surging back after previous governments suppressed them, in response to growing Turkish suspicion of Western ideals and a desire for more moral instruction for children.
Al-Monitor speculated on Tuesday that Erdogan’s drive to Islamicize Turkey is faltering, in part because the public is growing fatigued with the fiery leader and his endless crackdowns on dissent and because his presidency has been so divisive among ethnic and religious groups. The article cited the poor academic performance of Imam Hatip schools as one sign that Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood are losing their grip on the country.
Some of the other indicators described by Al-Monitor have a sad-trombone comedic quality to them, like Erdogan asking a rally, “Who does the Islamic world look up to?” and losing his composure when they did not reply or growing even angrier when he castigated a Kurdish town for voting against his assumption of dictatorial powers last year, and the crowd broke into thunderous applause instead of booing as he expected…..
Jay says
The west needs to break off it’s alliance with Turkey and use whatever measures are available to overthrow Erodogan’s regime. The same should be done for Mullahocracy in Iran, then we would have two reliable secular allies in the Middle East that would put pressure on the other states in the Middle East to secularise and confront the Islamic supremacists.
J D S says
You are right Jay …..I’d go further and say break off relations with all nations that are allowing Islam to increase. Stop the flow of any dollars to them this includes any European nation that allows Muslims to bring their unGodly so called religion into the forefront.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Forethought informs us that a pre-empitve measure needs to be taken to depose this future caliph. Otherwise future generations will have to deal a second Ottoman empire.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Erdogan is now barking orders at the US:
https://www.rt.com/news/417159-turkey-us-warning-manbij/
StellaSaidSo says
The would-be Caliph Erdogan needs to be stopped. His intentions have never been a secret, and therefore there is no excuse for ignoring the warnings.
CRUSADER says
Ataturk’s reforms aren’t even 100 years old yet.
esther aron says
sit tight——-ataturk is going to be vilified out of history
krishna says
if turkey adopts sharia law in future i will lose hope in secularism
R Russell says
Turkey will adopt sharia. It is using it already.
Erdogan is reviving the Ottoman Empire. That is why he is advancing into Syria. As head of the OIC he has called on Muslims worldwide to ‘protect’ Jerusalem.
Germany will join him for there are thousands of Erdogan supporting Turks in Germany already. Erdogan has stated he has 75 million Turks ready to migrate to the EU.
We never see any of this in the UK government controlled Media.
Only one hope. Not secularism. It is Someone who lived, died and rose from the dead c. 2000years ago.
Islam will rule Europe if not stopped before it is too late.
RichardL says
and everybody is still underestimating the guy! Just today Caroline Glick wrote a piece on Breitbart depicting the Turkish Armed forces as a joke. Well, I trained with a dozen different Muslim armies. All of them are a complete joke, except one: Turkey’s. Their SF are on par with the average European SF.
Erdogan is the most dangerous jihadi because he is inside the town walls.
Turkey must be declared the enemy.
LeftisruiningCanada says
Not to mention that they have mandatory military service. Turkish involvement in several low intensity conflicts/internal policing must surely help with producing a lot of decent soldiers.
From the little i know, the Syrian border was always pretty active for them, along with their constant military policing of eastern Kurdish areas. It all gives them a lot of experience!
Michael Copeland says
A new “civilisation”, Mr. Erdogan?
No, dear.
Slavery, stonings, amputations, daughter-killing, genital mutilation, forced and underage marriages, killing of homosexuals, wife-beating, sex with animals, no freedom of conscience, no freedom of speech, no equality before the law, and so on. Those are not civilisation.
MFritz says
Looks more like a very old “cilization” to me. More like 1400 years old than 21. century “new”.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Very good Erdogan the hero of muslim Turkey. Such déceptions by secularists is whithering away in Turkey and It Will spread to all other muslims deceiving themselves that you cannot progress without adopting secularism. Iran is recording scientific and technological breakthroughs since Islamic révolution. You dont need to separate religion from the state before you move foreward. Contrary to the assertion that schools combining religious instruction have low academic performance, students with moral upbringing concentrate more on their studies those those exposed to moral laxity. I noticed this when ï was studying in Egypt that students Who are religious performed better than those students engaged immoral acts like attending night clubs .That is why those intellectuals Who dominate academic, sciences,medicine and engineering are members of muslim brotherhood Who reject secularism in Egypt. They are dominant among intellectuals despite crackdown by American stooge leader sisi ,and there is nothing he can do to reverse the trend. Those prostitutes offered by mubarak to American soldiers during Gulf war were school dropouts due to moral laxity that hindered them from finishing collège studies.
wait, you Will see wonders in Turkey when Students with religious upbringing have finished their studies and join labor market.Turkey Will record more progress in all human endeavor leading to highest economic growth. prior to this Erdorgan islamisation policy, Educated and enlightened Turkish women had been agitating for right to wear decent Islamic dress, but idiot secularists refused.
StellaSaidSo says
Utter nonsense, as usual.
If Muslims are such brilliant intellectuals, how come there are so few Muslim Nobel Prize Winners?
LeftisruiningCanada says
A few links to sources would make your posts much better Ibrahim. All we have now are your claims which, let’s be honest, haven’t often proved to be trustworthy.
Prabh108 says
(India will go from !ncredible to Mlecch free: Greater Historical India soon to be entirely Mlecch free.
In other words, no demented creeds allowed within India ever, past, present or future.)
****Nutty Nato is nuttier with turkey – nutty nato would be a lot less nutty were dirty turk to be expelled.
Dirty turkeystan is illegally squatting upon Lands and Territories rightfully belonging to Hellenic Greece. (THE WONDER THAT WAS – is and shall forever more be- ancient HELLENIC GREECE of Aristotle.)
Logic alone can defeat Jihadism.
Quit Hellenic Civilization Territories dirty turk – turk u are descended from long, long lines of rapists, torturers and murderers – dirty turk quit Hellenic Civilization Territories. Remember the Glory of Rome? (Still alive in Russia so I hear.)
CIVILIZATION is a big word. So too is Culture. turk you are not even a barbarian: turk you are a demon.
Turk go to nearest Hare Krsna centre for some serious deprogramming.
Almost anything anytime for Ahimsical Aryaputra oF Aryavartasthan. Turk you are illegally occupying western Aryan lands.
Pagan-Kuffar-Heathen friendship for Eternity.
TURKEY QUIT GREECE!!!
excuse typo if any
Prabh says
In response to photo of this article: stupid demon turk: RED IS Classic HINDU COLOUR.
“Lal rang tis ko laga jis kai vad Bhaga” (Dharmic Shastra aka Ad( i ) Granth – one of many Eternal Books Belonging to India.
dirty turk your little shithole of a cuntree will be demolished one day IN AHIMSIC manner : through Logic and Yoga and if need be military might – Right is Might and sometimes, dirty turk, MIGHT is indeed RIGHT. I despise gande moosle (dirty moslem) – is there any other kind though?
Ghar Wapsi is your only hope turk.
excuse typo if any
pr108
Indiana Tom says
his goals is to “forge a ‘pious generation’ in predominantly Muslim Turkey ‘that will work for the destruction of a civilization.’”
Indiana Tom says
In fact, the academic performance of the Muslim religious schools was so poor that total enrollment actually slipped last year, even though funding is surging.
As compared to the academic excellence found in Lutheran schools.
Ron says
Turkey is heading for the scrap heap. They’ll be the next Syria, Lybia, Somalia, Iraq, or whatever failed muslim shithole state there is.
Sam says
Shithole? You are hurting the feelings of liberals and poor Muslims. They have to continue killing again. Shame on you.
Dhviref patel says
Why they were included in NATO? Still there is a time to oust them from it. No refugees should be allowed in US and Europe or anywhere, but they have Saudi Arabia that they should go. They are fooling everybody and you allowed there army as refugees in your countries.
Manos says
Turkey is nothing without its US NATO base. Just fully arm the Kurds with some stinger missles, and arm the Kurds to the teeth. Turkey will end up like Afghanistan. Arm the hell out of Turkeys neighbors, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Armenia, Turks will be seeking refuge in their ancestral lands, Mongolia. To hell with all Turks. The evil Satanic Islamic fascist nation.
Eyes Open says
Another shithole in the making