ISTANBUL: Turkey’s ruling AK Party has publicly scolded a top member over a draft law proposing prayer rooms in schools, a sign that the party was serious about avoiding more clashes with the powerful secular establishment.
The AK Party narrowly averted being closed down by the Constitutional Court last month for Islamist activities and was instead fined for undermining the country’s secular principles.
The party was put under the spotlight when a draft law prepared by its deputy chairwoman Edibe Sozen was made public. It called for places of worship to be built in schools for students of all religions and for the introduction of tough rules on the purchase of pornographic publications.
The draft law has since been withdrawn. Financial markets are closely monitoring any signs of renewed tension in Turkey.
“The draft was an individual study by Edibe Sozen ... The content of the draft on the Protection of Youth Law is not in accordance with the party program, and the draft is not accepted and not approved by authorized bodies of our party,” the AK Party said in statement late on Tuesday.
Opposition parties criticized the proposal as proof of the AK Party’s hidden Islamist agenda. The issue of places of worship in the education system is highly controversial in officially secular but predominantly Muslim Turkey.
The secularist establishment, including army generals, judges and university rectors, has long campaigned against the government, saying it is trying to undermine the secular state.
The AK Party denies the accusations and points to its pro-Western, pro-business record in office since 2002.
The timing of the draft law could not have been worse, as the party is trying to show a more moderate face after the court ruling. A harsher judgment could have plunged the European Union-applicant country into political chaos.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan pledged after the verdict that he would try to avoid confrontation in an increasingly polarized society, especially divided over the role of religion.
“The statement suggests the party is taking the court verdict seriously,” said William Hale, author of books on Turkish politics and teacher at Istanbul’s Sabanci University.
He said the true test of Erdogan’s commitment to moving his party to the center of Turkish politics would be whether he reshuffled his cabinet in the autumn, as many have predicted.
Turkish media have speculated that Education Minister Huseyin Celik and senior party member Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat would be among those replaced for statements they have made on religion.
The AK Party, which embraces nationalists, market liberals and center-right politicians as well as religious conservatives, will still need to take care not to alienate its large religious grass roots before key civic poll in early 2009.
The closure case was sparked by the party’s decision to push ahead with a controvesial reform — lifting a ban on students wearing the head scarf at university.
The AK Party plans to reform the constitution, created during military rule, but if it tries to bring Islam back into public life, tensions are set to return as such a move would be, as Hale put it: “A red rag to the bull.”
