Are the Turkish protesters Islamophobic racists?

The protesters in Turkey are essentially protesting against the Islamification of Turkey and the growing influence of Islam in all parts of their society.

The far-right in England protested against exactly the same thing happening in England and got viciously attacked by the far-left.

Why are the UAF not attacking the Turkish for being a bunch of Islamophobic racists?

It's interesting how many double standards their are around the world.

The Turkish are considered heroes for fighting against the influence of Islam while the English are just considered a bunch of stupid thugs who need to be attacked in the street by UAF rent a mobs.

The protesters in Turkey are basically protesting for EXACTLY the apposite what the far-left in England protest for.

I hate England. What a divided, stupid country this is.

(edited 10 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Studentus-anonymous

Except there isn't an element of racism involved in the Turkish protests, and the protesters are majority nominally Muslim (non-practising perhaps but no worse than British people were 'Christian' a few decades ago despite being non-observant), whereas the EDL is more than a little BNP in it's world view and ideology, and unlike Turkey which is ruled by an Islamist party (political Islam) there is no viable plan to impose Islamic law and politics onto the UK.

I believe in freedom of speech and frankly I think if someone wants to hate someone based on an arbitrary identification factor, as long as they aren't acting to harm someone, that's their business. Think what you want, acting on it to someone else's harm though is not cool.

Really, nothing makes flawed and ultimately dead-end opinions and ideas laughable and dead than the harsh light of open discourse.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

Chlorophile

No, it's completely different. I don't know completely what's going on in Turkey but from what I understand, the government is trying to impose religious-based law on a traditionally secular society. Most of the protesters are Muslims themselves who simply oppose what they regard as a de-democratisation and de-secularisation of their government, which may well be true. Nothing of the sort is happening in Britain - Islamophobes have simply convinced themselves that Muslims are root of all their problems because they need a scapegoat to blame their problems on because they're too lazy or bigoted to accept that the problem is their laziness and over-inflated ego, rather than the Muslims/immigrants/whoever else they decide to blame.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

danny111

How can they be called racist if they protest against the actions of their own race?

How can they be Islamophobes if they are Muslims themselves?

Reply 4

Rakas21

It's a completely opposite sentiment.

The Turkish people follow a pretty moderate strand of Sunni Islam and have long since decided to embrace the west (they voted for the removal of the sharia constitution so they can eventually join the EU) putting up with a government who they see as being too Islamic and arresting their progress.

The likes of the EDL are simply overreacting to every little thing and painting scare stories of the UK becoming a Muslim nation despite atheism rising 5 times as quickly.

Reply 5

TobaccoSmoke

The protesters are essentially blaming Islam for their nations problems. How is that not Islamophobic?

Many of the protesters are openly drinking beer in the streets as a demonstration of how much they dislike Islam.

Many of the left wingers here will deny it, but this protest is not merely an anti-government protest, this is a protest against the influence of Islam in Turkey.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6

TobaccoSmoke

Original post by danny111

How can they be called racist if they protest against the actions of their own race?

How can they be Islamophobes if they are Muslims themselves?

That is just the thing. Many of the protesters are not Muslims, or at the very most are nominally Muslim.

Many of these people are drinking beer in the street as a direct challenge to Islamic principles.

That considered, how can these people really be called Muslims?

Reply 7

TobaccoSmoke

The protesters are directly blaming the growing influence of Islam for the reason that the Turkish state is becoming a dictatorship.

They even refered to their president as thinking he is a "Sultan".

How is that non-religious? This is so clearly an anti-Islam protest.

Reply 8

TobaccoSmoke

Furthermore, Turks are not all one race either. Many Istanbul people are of Balkans ancestry and Turks from the Balkans have traditionally looked down on Turks from inland Anatolia as being backward and overly religious.

I believe that there is definitely an undercurrent of Liberal Balkan Turk vs Conservative Anatolian Turk to these protests.

Reply 9

TobaccoSmoke

There is no way that drinking beer in the street and encouraging drinking beer in the street can be seen in any other way than a direct challenge to Islam.

Reply 10

TobaccoSmoke

Most are, outside of Istanbul and away from the coast, at least.

However, many of the urban, university educated Turks are not Muslims and the fact they see no problem with drinking alcohol in the street to protest suggests that many of the protesters are not Muslims.

Reply 11

2ndClass

Not necessarily. Turkey is around 2/3 conservative, nationalist and the rest are liberal secularists, mostly the youth. Like any typical student movement they tend to exhibit leftist sentiments. They don't have a problem with Islam perse, they just have a problem with Erdogan "aggressive" conservatism. They'[re practically indoctrinated with the Ataturk's secularist philosophy since birth so this is a culture shock to them.

Reply 12

TobaccoSmoke

Istanbul and the rest of Turkey are two totally different things. Istanbul and Balkan Turkey are traditionally a lot more liberal and a lot less religious than inland Anatolia.

I don't doubt that the vast majority of Turkey is Muslim, but my point is that the majority of the protesters in Istanbul are not Muslim and see Islam as standing in the way of their liberal, secularist ideals.

Also, the example you have used with the beer is totally different. It isn't foreigners drinking the beer and Turks tolerated it, it is the Turkish protesters themselves drinking beer in the street when they are supposed to be at the very least nominally Muslim.

The fact they have taken drinking beer in the street as a symbol of their defiance suggests to me that this is an anti-Islamic protest.

Reply 13

TobaccoSmoke

Original post by 2ndClass

Drinking alcohol, especially publicly, is one of the most un-Islamic things you can do.

The fact the protesters are doing this suggests they are not Muslim and are actively opposed to Islamic ideals.

Reply 14

TobaccoSmoke

If they started frying bacon and having bacon butties would you still consider them to be Muslim?

Where do you draw the line if you consider them Muslims despite the fact they are happy to consume alcohol in the street?

Reply 15

Arva

Original post by TobaccoSmoke

That makes them neither Islamophobic or racist.

Reply 16

2ndClass

Original post by TobaccoSmoke

They're not protesting because you can't drink alcohol in public. You can drink alcohol in public just not between 10pm and 6am. If I remember correctly, this non Islamic government is trying similar methods to curb binge drinking in the country. Besides the protests started as an opposition to turn a park in a shopping centre, Turkey's secular parties used to issue to rally people to protest against Erdogan and his Presidentialism (even though he's a PM). The man's been elected 3 times consecutively, all with majorities.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 17

Owen Roberts

It is a protest against state religion. In Turkey's religion it is written that the country is and always will be secular. The drink issue is not a sign of "how much they dislike islam" as you say but a way of sticking two fingers to the government who recently banned the drinking of alcohol in public

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 18

Owen Roberts

It amazes me how narrow minded most Muslims are. They disagree with you, it does not make them racist or Islamophobic

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 19

Owen Roberts

How? If I drink beer in England is that a challenge to Islam? Turkey is a secular country not a Muslim one! Stop trying to force your views on other people because they are backward and stupid

Posted from TSR Mobile