The Republic of Turkey stands out for being about 99.8% Muslim, but of a Western style republican parliamentary government. The country has no nuclear warheads, let alone stockpiles. Whether this is good or bad is debatable, but Turkey may want to create atom bombs if only for defense-which would make sense as Turkey is increasingly trying to become more of an international player. Such globalization easily accounts for their external international agreements, but why would our traditionally pro-democratic, NATO ally internally agree to work with Iran?
Bret Stevens argues that Turkey is taking a turn toward the East, maybe as far back as 2002 when Prime Minister Erdogan came to power, despite his claim to support pro-secular government. One such shift concerns the ecclesiastical and temporal relationship. According to the U.S. State Department's most recent report on religious freedom, "The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and other laws and policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion; however, constitutional provisions regarding the integrity and existence of the secular state restrict these rights."
In other words, as is the case most Muslim countries, the difference between the Sunni Islamic religion and the government of Turkey is about as clear as a mud puddle and rather nuanced. The problem is, Turkey's government is increasingly becoming less pro-western, and consequently more pro-Muslim, and therefore religious persecution skyrockets. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (IRF) criticized the Obama administration for "missing the mark" when it comes to foreign diplomacy on religious liberty.
The Commission's report kept Turkey on the 2010 Watch List, which Turkey has been on since the 2009 report. The IRF found that despite government structure and constitutional protection, "Turkish government's attempt to control religion and its effort to exclude religion from the public sphere based on its interpretation of secularism result in serious religious freedom violations for many of the country's citizens." Only the Sunni religion is officially permitted, so the IRF recommends that the "United States should encourage the Turkish government to address the long-standing lack of full legal recognition for religious minorities," such as Christians, several of whom, incidentally, have been murdered in the past few years-that on top of evictions, confiscation, and so forth.
These problems are not necessarily atrocities compared to the actions protected and promulgated in other Muslim countries like Iran, Pakistan, or even Iraq, but Turkey could pose a serious threat to religious freedom because of their centrality between East and West. Turkey has all the potential to influence other Islamic countries.
Our pro-democratic ally, the Republic of Turkey, can be the bellwether in terms of religious freedom and tolerance in the Middle East region, but President Obama must live up to his promise in the address to the Turks last year to 'give a helping hand' if we expect Ankara to allow and encourage actual religious freedom.
