Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Bastions of Turkish Secularism : Part 2

The Turkish Parliament has recently passed a law to lift the ban on use of headscarf (hijab) by female students in university campuses. But the law was soon overturned by the Constitutional Court (CC) declaring that it undermined the secular principles of the Republic of Turkey. The CC comprises 11 judges who apparently have the absolute authority to reject any laws passed by the Parliament if such laws were deemed to be against Turkish secularism. The Parliament, supposedly the voice and the lawmakers of the nation, is obviously subservient to the CC. Who are behind this undemocratic move ? If the Parliament cannot make laws according to the wishes of the people, why have a parliament at all ? Why have parliamentary elections at all ?
Though such act appeared to be anti-Islam, I am not here to question its legitimacy. Let the Turkish people themselves provide us with an answer.
In Part 1 of this posting, I have suggested that the "donmeh" who control the Judiciary, the Army and the Universities are the guardians of secularism in Turkey. Who are these people ?
The Donmeh are Sephardic Jews who under the pastorship of Rabbi Shabbatai Zevi in December 1686 outwardly converted to Islam during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid of the last Othmaniah Caliphate. Shabbatai Zevi and his followers chose to convert to Islam for fear of being executed by the Sultan after Zevi falsely claiming himself a messiah. These converts never became true Muslims as they secretly kept and maintained their Jewish beliefs and practices which were passed on to their children. Outwardly they lived as Muslims.

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