Islam and liberties in the Middle East

Turkish Journalist Mustafa Akyol discusses Islam and opportunities for democracy in the Middle East.  PHOTO BY: Ajinur Setiwaldi

More than a hundred people attended a presentation on Islam and opportunities for democracy and liberties in the Middle East by Turkish journalist and political commentator spoke Friday, April 13 at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Arts.

Mustafa Akyol, an internationally recognized journalist, talked about book, “Islam Without Extremes,” the Middle East and the importance of liberties and democracy in societies.

Akyol writes for one of Turkey's oldest English newspapers and his articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune among other widely recognized media, director of the Raindrop Turkish House Orhan Osman said.

The event was hosted by the Center for Middle East Studies, the Raindrop Turkish House and the Interfaith Dialog Student Association, according to the event poster. The Turkish Students Association helped organized the event, Nur Uysal, the spokesperson for the event, said.

Akyol talked about the limits on liberties in some Middle Eastern countries and refereed to Saudi Arabia as an example.

“There is this idea that you should be guarded, watched and monitored by the state to make sure you are a pious Muslim,” Akyol said.

The idea of cohered piety does not work, Akyol said. We need to figure out why some Middle Eastern nations have the idea of forcing religion upon people, he said.

Akyol provided Turkey as an example of a secular state that did the opposite by forcing women to remove their headscarves in public buildings. The problem lies in the authoritarian politics of countries, he said.

“Maybe it is not that the problem is religion or Islam,” Akyol said. “Maybe we should say there is an authoritarian culture in that part of the world and maybe we can detach Islam form the authoritarian political culture.”

Authoritarian Islamic regimes in the Middle East are not the products of their religion alone, Akyol said. When we speak about the history of Islam we aren't just speaking about the divine history of the religion, he said.

“There are many per-existing attitude, traditions and cultures that existed in that part of the world,” Akyol said.

At the end of the presentation, Joshua Landis, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, moderated a questions and answers section during which Akyol answered questions about Islam, Turkey and social and political issues in the Middle East.

Sources:
Mustafa Akyol – Speaker at event
Nur Uysal- spokesperson for event
nuysal@ou.edu; 405-606-9623
Orhan Osman – Speaker at event
Event Poster