Word: secularized
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Rubeiy isn't a top contender. He is campaigning as a member of the secular Iraqi National Accord Party, headed by former Prime Minister Ayad al-Allawi. It is a party that falls below the popularity of ruling Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Islamic Party. Rubeiy believes that his party ranks fourth or fifth in the eyes of his fellow Iraqis in the capital...
Still, candidates for the Iraqi National Accord, Iraq's second largest secular party after the Kurdish bloc, say they see a window of opportunity. As Iraq moves toward its first round of nationwide elections in nearly four years, a complex political map of new parties and fluid, cross-sectarian alliances suggest that the country may be slowly moving beyond the Shi'ite-Sunni divide that characterized the post-Saddam Hussein politics of previous years...
...maintained tranquility between Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land. But since its founding in 1923, modern Turkey has shied away from any involvement with the Muslim world, once ruled by the Ottomans, instead orienting its foreign policy firmly toward the West. The predominantly Muslim nation is officially secular - it's a longtime U.S. ally and NATO member - and it's currently in a tortuous process of negotiations over eventual accession to the European Union. In the Middle East, until now, Turkey has been largely invisible...
...with Israel's refusal to dismantle the remaining settlements, fractured the accord and led to a second Palestinian Intifada in 2000. Israeli withdrawal of forces and settlements in Gaza came only in 2005, after which Hamas increased their influence in the strip, edging out rival group Fatah, a more secular offshoot of the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas...
...Turkey is playing a far more proactive role in the region; we recognize that," says a Western diplomat based in Ankara. "A country that is Muslim but secular, with close links to the West and Israel but also good relations with Arab countries, is obviously very helpful in terms of mediation and promoting regional solutions to regional problems...