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• Pecs, Hungary: collision point between
Muslim and Christian empires
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• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Christian Spain
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• An analysis of Mussolini's 1938 racialist legislation
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• 460-year struggle for Albanian homeland, and 540 for Kosovo
• 2,800-year-old white mummies of China, bringers of Buddhism?
• Alexander the Great's Greek descendents in Pakistan?
• Visual History of Yugoslavia and its breakup (1918-2008)

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Inside Muslim Turkey; is Turkey European, or right for the European Union?
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This is an article on the cultural, historical, religious, social, and political dimensions of Muslim Turkey, complete with photos, from my 2007 vacation. It investigates the issue of Islam in Europe as well as the controversial question of Turkey's possible entry into the European Union. Is Turkey by any means European?

Turkey -- Türkiye -- تركيا

English name: Turkey
Local name: Türkiye
Population: 71,158,647
Religion: Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni and Alevite), other (Armenian Orthodox) 0.2%
Language: Turkish, with near-illegal Kurdish minority, Armenian
Ethnic groups: Turkish 80%, 20% Kurdish, minute Armenian & Greek
Average fertility/woman: 1.89 per woman
Migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Per capita average income: $9,000
Unemployment: officially 10.2%
Population below poverty line: officially 20%
Turkish immigration populations: Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, France, Netherlands, Austria
Source: CIA World Factbook

I traveled to Turkey not only with a great fascination for Islam, but also in order to investigate the question: are Turkey and the Turks by any means European culturally, religiously, politically, and historically? Are they an appropriate option for ascension to the European Union, as has recently become so controversial? Having been to most European countries, I discovered a rather universal objection (and a very one-sided and exaggerated one at that) to Turkish immigrants as being of a diametrically polar culture and history. They are depicted as "Muslims" and foreigners who exploit the liberal social and economic programs of the European countries to which they immigrate. Many find it bothersome and ironic that European states struggled for over 400 years to keep the Turks out of Europe (the Ottoman Islamic conquest) only to open the door for them today. They are one of the largest immigrant groups to Europe, and their "Muslim" character greatly ignites dormant inter-ethnic tensions in supposedly "liberal" Europe. Having studied a growing cultural and inter-ethnic conflict between most European societies and "Muslim immigrants" from the Middle East and Turkey, I was anxious to analyze the true cultural, religious, and political dimensions of this ancient and unique country that expresses traits of European and Middle Eastern origin from their perspective.

Turkey is relatively new to tourism due largely to a popular (and ignorant) stigma of Westerners that the Middle East or the Islamic world are inherently dangerous or volatile. These typical stereotypes are by no means appropriate for Turkey: it is highly developed, civilized, comparatively prosperous, politically ultra-secular, and educated. Turks have spent the last 80 years trying to prove that they are distinct from the Arabs, the Middle East, and the typical obsolescence of the Islamic world. The hijab (headscarf) is banned in all government offices, schools, and in all state offices (including employees of hospitals). The Kurdish Sunni and Alevite minority is responsible for nearly all of Turkey's terrorism (primarily by the PKK [the Kurdish Workers' Party] terrorist group), which is further incited by American support for the Kurd minority in northern Iraq and Syria. The majority of the Kurds are in the far east. The Kurds, an Iranian ethnic group with a distinct cultural and religious heritage to the Turks, are victims of tremendous political discrimination that makes their language illegal in most government offices and on most relevision channels. This intolerance (which is, in reality, merely a response to the Kurds' indefatiguable perfidity and terrorism against the Turkish government) is a major source of criticism by the European Union and the US that depicts Turkey as too right-wing to be a member of the liberal West. Its consistent cycle of military governments, brutal opposition to religious views in government, and its refusal to admit its involvement in the Armenian Genocide of World War I further makes right-wing Turkey marginalized from being "politically European."

Historical background as proof of Turkey's non-European quality

Despite Turkey's modern ultra-secular (laicite) face, the Turks manifested a very different form of political Islam in their long history. Its history defines it as non-European. Less than 10% of its territory is even in Europe (Istanbul). For brief historical background, the Turks arrived in Anatolia (where Turkey lies) by the 10th century, converting to a very liberal form of Sunni Islam on the way that became progressively more conservative. The Turks are of a race and language completely unrelated to the Arabs and Persians. They quickly created two successive, massive empires -- the Seljuks and Ottomans -- that engulfed most of the Middle East. Adopting a more strict and political Islam as the representative shadows of God's will and law (Sharia) on earth, the Ottomans delivered the blade of jihad into Europe, forever obliterating an already-collapsed Byzantine Empire and conquering what are now Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Macedonia, southern Croatia and Hungary, and southern Ukraine by the 16th century. Churches were burnt to the ground or converted to mosques, like the holiest church in Orthodox Christendom, the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Constantinople became Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the cultural (not political) capital of Turkey today. All Christian families were forced to pay exorbitant taxes despite being barely able to feed themselves as poor farmers, and each family was obligated to forfeit a number of children forever to be converted to Islam and join the elite Janissary legions, often to return to fight their own countrymen. Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that the Ottoman Empire was far more practical and tolerant of religious minorities than other Muslim powers of the period in that so long as they paid huge taxes (jizyah) and submitted to second-class status, their religious practice was (at least superficially) tolerated. Both the typical European depiction of a brutal army of church-burning Mujahidin is oversimplified, as is the modern academic portrayal of a tolerant and multi-cultural Muslim power, one that conquered most of the Balkans without any provocation. These debates notwithstanding, Europeans today have not forgotten their long struggle to resist the incoming jihad, forever labeling the Turks as a non-European foreign culture that is unfeasible for joining the European Union.

By World War I, the Ottoman Empire was long behind European powers. As a practical solution to Turkey's backward condition, far-right ultranationalists under Mustafa Kemal "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks) abolished the sultanate by 1923, banned the Arabic alphabet, made "European" dress compulsory, adopted a European constitutional format, and forged an ultra-secular system that crippled the dominance of Islamic clerics, Sufi mystics, and banned the headscarf in all government offices. As a result of these reforms, the Turks have a complicated society: a deeply religious and conservative Muslim culture with a secular "European" political system. Their political efforts to become "European" cannot override the distinctly non-European culture, identity, religion, and heritage of the Turkish people, a people that Europeans considered their arch-nemesis until the 20th century. Such a non-European people is inappropriate for the European Union in any sense of the word, especially when Europe's Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova are not even considered to become members! If liberal-democratic political considerations were the only criterion by which nations were admitted to the EU, then any democracy in an ever-expanding radius is a potential member, including Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Tunisia, -- all just as "European" as Turkey is.

A statue of Mustafa Kemal, the founding father, next to a massive Islamic flag.

My photo of a huge gallery of famous sultans' tombs inside a mosque, the same sultans against whom European societies struggled so intently to be free. (click to enlarge)

Turkish society and culture, just as magnificently radiant as they are non-European

Turkey is far from a desolate "Oriental" nation that one may ignorantly assume. Istanbul is arguably the greatest city in the world in terms of its overall beauty, its archaeology, its long history of relics and buildings from distinct civilizations that the Turks destroyed, and the serenity of Islamic culture as manifest in Istanbul's breathtaking architecture. Although Istanbul (Constantinople) was built to its glory by the Greek predecessors (the Byzantine Empire), Istanbul has evolved during Islamic rule to have a very Muslim character. The notion that Turks have forged a multi-cultural civilization that straddles European and "Middle Eastern" cultures is improvident and perhaps Orientalist. Instead, the Turks have forged a civilization and culture that is incredibly distinct from the Middle East and Arab culture, but only culturally "European" in the sense that the Turks possess ancient European cities that they conquered. Nonetheless, Turkey is a magnificent nation with a highly traditional and overall conservative culture despite its image of being comparatively liberal. Nowhere else but in Muslim Turkey do nationalism and pride in culture, heritage, history, their distinct race and language, the Islamic faith, and tradition coalesce so strongly into national consciousness. Aside from the endless mosques, there are thousands upon thousands of massive Turkish flags proudly announcing the Turkish heritage rooted in the star and crescent of Islam. Nearly every home has a Turkish flag on display for all to see, often right next to government-ordered sets of 20-flag standards or 25-foot massive flags in the center of town. The Turks embrace their secular politics today with great prescience: by being politically secular but culturally a staunchly Islamic nation, the Turks can distinguish themselves from the Arabs they deem so backward at the same time as they trade amply with Europe and America as well as the Islamic world, without limiting the importance of Islam in daily life. This ulterior motive must be emphasized; this secularism does not imply a liberal, open, and progressive culture fitting for the West in any sense of the word, but is only intended to forge the most politically and fiscally auspicious form of government. The majesty and sincerity of Islam is evident in all of Turkish culture, its infinite mosques and minarets, the conservative dress of its people even in scorching heat, and the inexhaustible prayer-calls (Ezan) from complimentary muazzim (prayer-callers). The Turks' tireless effort to distinguish themselves from the "Orient" has made them of no comparison with the rest of the "Middle East," but not at all by process of elimination automatically a part of Europe. Also, although polygamy (legal up to four wives in Islam) is banned in Turkey, the traditional Muslim marriage has survived overall: most Turkish women still receive dowry in the form of money, carpet, or other heirloom to cement the Muslim marriage.

My photo of flags everywhere in Kusadasi. This is not simply a trait of monuments; such is seen with every turn of the head. (click to enlarge)

Islam, the Ottoman heritage, and Turkish national pride are indivisible here.

Turkey is reportedly 99.8% Muslim (majority Sunni). The vast majority of the rural areas are very conservative, whilst the cities are reputed to be more "progressive" (liberal). Even in Istanbul, though, most Turks are religious, refuse to drink alcohol, attend mosques, and cover their heads in accordance with the Turkish interpretation of the Qur'an and the Hadith (deeds of the Prophet). Mosques are omnipotent and ubiquitous; mosques built 400 years ago stand in flawless condition alongside new minarets. Having even abolished the last Islamic caliphate in 1923, Turks have indeed succeeded in protecting their political and jurisprudential system from the influence of clerics and imams. The secular government funds the construction of mosques and pays their imams government salaries. This is intended to halt inimical radicalism or anti-government ranting to the massive audiences that mosques enjoy in secular Turkey. The balance has been successful thus far. When the loud pencefold prayer (five per day) is not being echoed with synchronism between the endless mosques in the nation for several minutes at a time, one can hear Islamic lectures, chants, and prayers from some mosques' loudspeakers throughout the day, reaffirming the Turks as a Muslim people. Stars and crescents not on flags are visible all throughout the city, distinguishing the Turks' usage of these symbols from being not simply their traditional flag, but rather an expression of their Muslim heritage and a recollection of the believed revelation of the Qur'an to the Prophet during a crescent moon more than 1,500 years ago. Hundreds of people can be seen walking into each mosque all throughout the day. Women in veils or full burqas, men with regular conservative clothes, men with full beards and also Wahabbi-style Saudi outfits can be seen hurrying to prayer. Men and women can be seen performing ablutions (washing the hands, head, and feet, called Wudhu) in local fountains with Arabic writing around them before entering. The genders are strictly segregated inside and outside of mosques during religious rituals and prayer, virtually in separate rooms. Istanbul is nonetheless one of the few places in the world that allow infidels to enter mosques outside of prayer time. The “whirling darvishes” (or dervishes), Sufi monks who stand and spin about to near themselves to Allah, are celebrated and sold all throughout the city in pewter, plastic, and wood, as the Sufis played a large role in the conversion of world peoples to Islam despite Atatürk's policy of abolishing most Sufi lodges.

The Blue Mosque (Mavi Cami) across from the Hagia Sophia in the center of Istanbul is one of the greatest artistic and architectural achievements in history. It is one of the most ornate mosques of the world, and in stupendous condition (see the photos below). It was built to announce the glory of Islam and the Ottoman domain, and to compliment the nearby Hagia Sophia -- the most important church in Orthodox Christendom -- that they converted to a mosque to signify the triumph of the jihad in 1453, in fulfillment of the Qur'an's foreshadowing that the Romans (Byzantines) would one day lose a great battle.

My photo of Istanbul from the sea. Notice the massive minarets everywhere (Suleyman mosque left, Ayasofya right). (click to enlarge)

My photo of the magnificent Blue Mosque. (click to enlarge)

My photo of the Blue Mosque interior. (click to enlarge)

My photo of the Blue Mosque interior. (click to enlarge)

My photo of another interior shot. No infidels (Jews, Christians) allowed in the main area. Women are segregated.

My photo of another interior wall with Arabic inscription on a plaque.

My photo of the Blue Mosque's ceiling.

My photo of an ablution bath for ritual bathing under an Arabic verse from al-Qur'an.

As has been exhaustingly discussed on the political floor as well as in the classroom, the headscarf issue cannot be ignored. Aside from the Islamic religion, which is rejected and found incompatible with European cultures by most Europeans, the issue of the headscarf is a common conflict in the European theatre. The millions of Muslims who immigrate to Europe (illegally and legally) are more and more being forbidden to wear the headscarf in public and in schools, with some claiming that it has no place in Europe and others arguing that it is an object of female oppression. Turkey absolutely disallows the hijab (headscarf) in all public schools, universities, public offices, and other institutions in this ultra-centralized right-wing state. As a result, thousands of Turks are forced to leave Turkey to get a higher education [2] because of their refusal to unveil, including the daughters of the president and prime minister [3]. Today, the majorty of Turkish women still do wear veils or headscarves (at least 60% [1]), arguing that it is an element of Islamic heritage expected of them by their families. Many do not cover their heads (especially the youth), with some arguing that it is limiting and uncomfortably hot, others that their love of God lies in their hearts, and others arguing that it makes them look like the Arabs they deem so primitive. Some women can be seen wearing the Taliban-style burqas. The government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has struggled with great hardship to fulfill the wishes of most Turks and legalize the hijab once again, only to be overturned by the military-dominated Constitutional Court after the measures passed parliament successfully. Although the European Union has championed the right of women to dress and worship freely, the European Court of Human Rights upheld Turkey's decision to ban the hijab as in accordance with human rights, arguing that it protects women from abuse and allows them to enter the modern world. The Netherlands, France, states in Germany, and Spain have all considered or partially initiated measures to ban the headscarf in all schools, ostensibly to protect them from inter-racial violence but surreptitiously for many solely in the interests of curbing the role of Muslims in European societies. The headscarf issue greatly illustrates and re-ignites the cultural, social, religious, and social polarity between Turkish immigrants and native European societies to which they immigrate, further distancing them from being identified as "European" by the great majority of Europeans. So too, the consistent phenomenon of Turkish military coups to block a perceived "Islamization" of Turkey has been criticized as far too right-wing and un-democratic for the liberal European Union.

My photo of Muslims performing ritual collective bathing. Women are segregated. (click to enlarge)

The state cult of Turkey's Atatürk is unparalleled, arguably only outmatched by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran and Kim Il Sung of North Korea. Having brought the Turkish Ottoman state from complete economic and political collapse into a powerful and proud new Turkish nation and military power that expelled most of the post-war imperial powers and obliterated the Armenian and Kurdish revolts, this culture-creating leader is celebrated with a portrait in nearly every major building, every office building, every police station and shack, in every public monument, and in hundreds of homes and ships. He acts today as a paradigm for all future politics of Turkey, which is why current efforts to Islamicize politically-secular Turkey are met with a sizable public outcry. Beside his portraits and statues are dozens of flags, some stretching 20-feet in length, to celebrate independence Turkish nationhood. Some of his statues are oddly adorned with Arabic script and quotes from al-Qur'an that he scrupulously sought to limit. Atatürk and his affiliated nationalist armies are generally accepted (outside of Turkey) to be guilty of some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, including the Armenian Genocide that led to the murder or starvation of millions and the massive exodus of most of the Armenian race to leave Turkey, the obliteration of Armenian and Kurdish sovereignty after World War I, and intensive wars with the Greek nationalists that caused every ethnic Greek to be expelled from Turkey (and all Turks from Greece as well). As Turkey lionizes Atatürk as an immaculate hero, the Turkish government and most of the society absolutely refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing, and as a result is criticized by the EU and especially the USA as being guilty of war crimes and racial discrimination. So too, brutal Turkish ethnic and linguistic discrimination against Greeks, Armenians, and especially Kurds is a cause for concern in the liberal West. Acknowledging the alleged genocide and any racism is considered a prerequisite for joining the EU. It must be acknowledged that the Armenians were involved in massive revolt during the war that caused the Turkish reprisal, which is precisely the Turkish argument.

A white imperialist sitting with shoes on the steps of the mosque. The sign reads "sitting on the steps is absolutely forbidden." Turks look at her with rage.

My photo of the ancient government-subsidized silkworm extraction art for rugmaking. (click to enlarge)

My photo of the Greco-Roman Celsus Library in Kusadasi, considered one of the greatest ancient monuments still standing. (click to enlarge)

My photo of a downtown Turkish bazaar only 20 paces from a lovely mosque. (click to enlarge)

My photo of downtown Kusadasi with a mosque in view next to restaurants and a huqqah bar. (click to enlarge)

Just walking through the cities of the western coast (especially Istanbul and Kusadashi), one can encounter Byzantine Greek Christian treasures before the Turkish conquest, pre-Christian Greek cities preserved in entirety, Roman arches, and ancient Iranian tombs. At the center of Istanbul stands the massive Hagia Sophia/Ayasofya, one of the most radiant structures ever conceived. Built over pagan Greek foundations by the all-conquering Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century as the center of the Orthodox faith, the massive domed structure was the largest in the world for many centuries. Its majesty, according to the Slavic Primary Chronicle, caused the East Slavs to convert to Orthodoxy as Vladimir the Great's emissaries returned from Constantinople to tell him of their awe-inspiring journey. When the jihad of the Ottomans succeeded in conquering a long-dead Byzantine Empire in 1453 under Mehmet the Conquerer, they removed all of the treasures therein, cemented over all the icons of Christ and Mary in the interior, and converted the church into a mosque by placing four minarets around it. Nearly 1,000 years of Orthodox Christian history were obliterated, solidifying the triumph of the jihad over a very frightened Europe. Even in secular, overall irreligious Europe, the longstanding antagonism between the Turkish and European cultures, identities, religions, and nations cannot be dismissed in the pragmatic and politically-minded interests of the multi-cultural European Union on a whim. 500 years of hatred and disdain cannot be forgotten, a conflict that is further compounded by widespread negativity of European societies for Turkish "Muslim" immigrants in Europe today.

The Hagia Sophia is now a museum open to all. The interior is ancient, tarnished, and fading as expected from its age. It is rich in ancient Orthodox Christian mosaics and frescoes of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Saints dating over 1,500 years of age. All evidence of Jesus was entirely erased or burnt when the jihad reached the Byzantine capital. Although the prophets Jesus and Mary (Maryam) are greatly revered in Islam, the depiction and veneration of such holy men is deemed haram (forbidden), and very little importance was given to the icons that the Muslims considered mere pictures. This was later uncovered when the building became a museum, and can be seen today with much of it removed due to age and peeling. The building is almost entirely in reconstruction with painters carefully repainting the surface. Original massive plaques cover the walls of the building with verses from al-Qur'an and the holy 99 names of Allah all around the massive overhead dome. The original Mihrab (the gate in the center of the mosque showing the direction of Makkah to which all must pray) and Minbar (the steps to heaven from which the imam or mullah speaks to the talibani) are in perfect golden condition. Only 200 paces from the huge mosque, the walls of Constantinople that the Turks struggled for years to overrun can be touched. One can even see the black marks where the Mujahidin's cannons bombarded the Christian gates for years and years before final victory.

In conclusion, traveling to Turkey was one of the most serene experiences of my life. It reversed pre-conceived notions of a "Middle Eastern" and "Muslim" Turkey, it gave me a heartfelt appreciation for the beauty of Islam and the sincerity of its adherents that inspired me to devote years to studying the Qur'an and Islamic history due to an intense lifelong veneration for God, and also gave me an invaluable opportunity to study both sides of this growing European social conflict. It allowed me to see that the Turks are by no means the lazy, leeching, perfidious, and inherently terroristic Muslims that many Europeans readily describe. It also greatly resonated in me the reality that the Turks by no means have a European history, culture, identity, heritage, history, religion, or political system. Widespread European cultural disdain for Turks and Muslims will not be assuaged by the entry of Turkey to the European Union, nor will Europeans forget the 400 years of brutal inter-religious and inter-cultural war that indefatiguably struggled to keep Turkish Muslims out of Europe altogether. So too, aside from being from two inherently incompatible cultural worlds, the far-right militarism, ultra-nationalism, revisionism, and racial discrimination that is so dominant in Turkey directly contradicts the liberalism that the European Union commands, especially when it eschews such political growing behavior in Germany and England! When Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus cannot join the European Union, Turkey surely cannot be allowed to do so. If Turkey were to join, it would instantly, by population, become the second most-powerful and largest member, only behind Germany. Libyan Islamist dictator Mummar Qadafi has even described Turkish entry to the European Union as a "trojan horse" for Islamic terrorism into Europe and the overall conversion of Europe to becoming Muslim-majority (see this video). Ultimately, political objectives to promote Turkish ascension to the European Union remain no more than a desire for completely improvident multi-cultural union that completely ignores a half-millennium of bitter inter-cultural discomfort that is only growing in Europe today, as immigrants from a very foreign and disliked culture come to (as Europeans see it) exploit already-struggling European economies.

My photo of an ancient Roman water reservoir.

My photo of the exterior of the legendary Hagia Sophia -- one of the greatest buildings ever built. (click to enlarge)

My photo of the interior of the Hagia Sophia. (click to enlarge)

My photo of another interior shot. (click to enlarge)

The center of the Ayasofya mosque: the Mihrab. This shows the direction of Makkah.

An ancient ablution area for ritual bathing outside the Hagia Sophia.

My photo of a covered Christian mosaic in the Ayasofya. It was sealed after the jihad. (click to enlarge)

My photo of the entrance to the Grand Bazaar, with Arabic script atop.

My photo of the interior of the Grand Bazaar.

My photo of the entrance to the Topkapi sultan's palace. (click to enlarge)

My photo of the exit gate to the palace.

My photo of a sultan's mausoleum. (click to enlarge)

My photo of a ceiling of a mosque in the Topkapi palace, the sultan's main home.

My photo of Mehmet II the Conquerer's sword with verses from al-Qur'an written on it. He is the sultan whose jihad ended the Byzantine Empire forever.

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is a historian and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies (language and history), am presently working for my Masters in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate. I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles of native European and immigrant minority identities. See my staff entry for more information.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

Personal photos, observations, interviews

CIA World Factbook

[1] BBC Europe, “Women condemn Turkey constitution,” BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7025294.stm.

[2] Christina Lamb. “Headscarf war threatens to split Turkey,” Sunday Times, May 6, 2007.

[3] Schleifer, Yigal. “Turkey votes to lift head-scarf ban, but battle continues.” Christian Science Monitor, February 11, 2008.