The festive spirit found in particular in Turkey’s bigger cities shortly after sunset can be quite contagious. However, we cannot turn a blind eye to domestic or international developments as politics never stops.The fact that Ramadan is not a short two or three day occasion -- like Easter or Christmas, for example -- but covers many weeks makes planning ahead of course more complicated; as far as Turkey’s domestic economic and political agenda is concerned one could have expected a quiet summer as Ramadan is celebrated earlier with each passing year, and this year coincides with the peak holiday season. Officially, it is a time off work for Turkey’s lawmakers, too.
Reality is different. Counting from tomorrow, Sunday, only 28 days are left until the electorate takes to the polls -- not for a general election but for a referendum. A referendum about constitutional change and of the utmost importance for Turkey’s democratization process. Hence, the country seems to have been transformed into a “yes” camp and a “no” camp. Switch on the television, scan 60 or so programs and chances are you will find at least one commentator at any one time analyzing the pros and cons of the upcoming public vote. Walk the streets in the city center or your local neighborhood, and you will either be approached by a canvassing team distributing leaflets or see a passing minibus complete with loudspeakers, music and announcements of how to vote -- depending on the color of the vehicle asking for a corresponding “yes” or a “no” vote.
The problem is that by now the publicity campaign that was aimed at informing the electorate about the content of the upcoming referendum has been turned into a verbal fight amongst politicians more apt for a general election. Should a referendum not be about an issue and only about that issue? Again, trying to analyze Turkish politics requires much more than simply “expecting the expected.” As the issue at stake is of such a fundamental nature -- a key step towards irreversible democratization -- the electorate may be forgiven for taking the issue of the referendum to vote according to party lines, as the country is more or less split according to party political colors. Recent surveys show that some members of opposition parties are going to vote “yes,” but we have not as yet heard from members of the governing party who may vote “no”. A tectonic shift? Most likely not, but extremely noteworthy -- I hope the public will vote in line with more democracy and not simply according to party affiliation.
Back to the subject of the holy month of Ramadan and as this should be a time of reflection and coming together, I want to end this column by quoting British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who in a video message recorded on Aug. 10 said: “I’m very conscious as a British politician of the huge contribution that so many Muslims in Britain make across the whole breadth of our society and that is something of course that we want to see even more of in the future. So it’s a very, very important time of year celebrating what Ramadan is about, important values of selflessness, of charity, of compassion, of looking after people less fortunate than ourselves. And these are values of course that unite Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”
Messages like these are helpful in so far as they underline that we live on one shared planet. It furthermore highlights the peaceful as well as philanthropic nature of Islam. It shows at the same time that European nations and their leaders must do even more to allow for a happy, inter-faith coexistence of all peoples who come to their countries.
At the same time -- and reading between the lines -- it reiterates that those nations where a number of “black sheep,” aka terrorists misusing faith as justification for terror, are harbored must do more to bring them to justice.
So is the holy month of Ramadan a politics-free zone? Unfortunately not, but as long as we work together towards more harmony and less polarization, some of its core objectives may be achieved nevertheless.
