‘AK Party’s use of mosques against principles of religion and secularism’
Opposition parties accused the ruling
Justice and Development Party (
AK Party) of breaking the principles of both religion and secularism after news emerged of AK Party parliamentary candidates using mosques in
Düzce province to address the public during election campaigns.
According a report the Doğan news agency released on Thursday,
Faruk Özlü and Ayşe Keşir, who are AK Party candidates for Düzce province in the upcoming June 7 general election, spoke with people in mosques in the
Akçakoca and
Yığılca districts recently to seek the support of worshippers. AK Party deputy
İbrahim Korkmaz and the mayor of Yığılca were also present during some of these events.
Opposition voices have called the AK Party candidates' use of places of worship in their political campaigns a violation of secularism and disrespectful to religious feelings.
Nationalist Movement Party (
MHP) Düzce branch
President Onur Özen said the move is disrespectful to people who go to mosques to pray to God. The AK Party deputy candidates who engage in politics in mosques are failing to show respect to religion, the principle of secularism and the principles of the
Turkish Republic, Özen said.
Main opposition
Republican People's Party (
CHP) Düzce branch President Müjgan Çakman told Doğan that she was not surprised to hear the news because the AK Party exploits the religious feelings of people at every opportunity. However, people are aware of the AK Party's abuse of the religious feelings of people and know that it has impoverished them, Çakman added.
In a similar instance in May concerning the alleged exploitation of religion,
Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci asked the imam of
a mosque in Denizli province to bring those who pray at his mosque to a planned public speech by
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. In another instance, at a breakfast event held by nongovernmental organizations in the city on May 3,
Zeybekci asked students from
Merkezefendi Anatolian İmam Hatip
School who were in attendance as well as members of nongovernmental organizations to attend
Davutoğlu's rally.
Concerns over the AK Party's use of religion were also raised when a replica of the
Kaaba -- a building at the center of
Islam's most holy mosque in
Mecca -- was unveiled by the AK Party-run
Üsküdar Municipality on the
Asian side of
İstanbul on
April 19. It had been put up in honor of
Holy Birth Week, which commemorates the birth of the
Prophet Muhammad, but was secretly removed by municipal workers after attracting heavy criticism. The
Religious Affairs Directorate released a statement regarding the Kaaba replica, saying it was a great sin to try to perform the ritual of tawaf, or circumambulating the Kaaba, around a replica of the original.