AK Party ideologue’s Islamic democracy model raises questions

• published: 15 Aug 2015
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Since the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) still wields executive powers despite its loss of a single party government on June 7, the suggestion of an Islamic democracy by one of its strongest religious ideologues raises suspicions, especially due to limitations on certain rights and freedoms that are enjoyed in a liberal democracy. In his latest columns at the staunchly pro-government Yeni Şafak, Professor of Islamic law Hayrettin Karaman suggested the model of Islamic democracy for Turkey since “a system that does not rely on revelation cannot compromise or get along with Islam.” Moreover, Karaman argues that “some restrictions” based on “general morality and public order” would not make such a system anti-democratic. Although Karaman does not specify which restrictions he talks about, his statements cannot be overlooked as “personal statements” given his clear impact on AK Party politicians. Karaman is known for his “religious permission” for asking for donations in return for public tenders, which constitutes the moral justification for corruption and bribery for many within AK Party cadres. Following the massive corruption investigations of Dec. 17 and 25, Karaman had written that corruption could not be considered the same as stealing. According to religious scholar with a Ph.D. in Islamic jurisprudence Dr. Ahmet Kurucan, such a quest to compare Islam and a regime type is mistaken in the first place. “It is like comparing Islam and the West, it should be West and the East,” Kurucan told Sunday's Zaman. According to him, it is not possible to talk about an “incompatibility” of Islam with democracy since Islam does not suggest a constant and universal regime type. Moreover, Kurucan unequivocally rejects the idea of restriction of rights and freedoms since there is no such premise in verses or hadiths of the Quran.