Word: islamist
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Turkey in 1923 who decreed a secular state and exhorted subsequent generations to defend it. Ataturk's "secular establishment," rooted in the military and judiciary, became a kind of ruling class. When political parties strayed too far from secularist principles, the army stepped in - for example, to force an Islamist-led government from power in 1997. Few young Turks felt compelled to vote, the more so after the military banned political parties from campuses following a 1980 coup...
...first seem a serious threat. Its landslide victory in 2002 caught many by surprise, but even that victory was chalked up to a protest vote against the incompetence of established political parties, notably the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP). But unlike previous parties with Islamist roots, the AKP has so far steered clear of the kind of overt Islamist doctrine that got its predecessors in trouble. Instead, it has built a record based on reforming Turkish democratic and economic institutions to fit E.U. standards. The ostensible aim has been to boost Turkish prosperity and to bring the nation into...
...government concede that Erdogan has done some things right. A buoyant economy growing at a 7% clip, lower inflation and joblessness, and the opening of E.U. membership talks after 40 years of waiting would be a credit to any government. Instead, critics stress the alleged long-term Islamist agenda of the party's leaders. The current e-mail and blogging campaign by the young Istanbul Kemalists, for example, is focusing on claims that leaders like Erdogan and Gul are conservative Muslims who have in the past flirted with political Islam...
...mailing. "You only ride it to get to your destination." The Kemalists' blogs remind skeptics of the Islamic notion of takiye, according to which it is permissible for devout Muslims to dissimulate in order to achieve their goal. The fact that the party has not yet pursued an Islamist agenda on a national scale is, secularists argue, not proof that it never will. To bolster their argument, the secularists' newspapers zealously publish stories about municipal officials who have imposed Islam on public life by, for example, segregating the sexes at public pools...
...Hamas wants to avoid Johnston's being killed while they're trying to rescue him, especially now that he may be strapped with explosives. For the Islamist militants who seized control of Gaza two weeks ago, freeing Johnston is an imperative: His release would show the international community that Hamas is not only acting responsibly, but are also in control of Gaza, which has for months been in the grip of anarchy. It is also seen as a test of Hamas' determination to crack down on the powerful clans whose many feuds have added to Gaza's chaos...