Mustafa Akyol: Faith versus tradition in Islam

Translator: Samra Cebiric Reviewer: Mateja Nenadovic

Prije nekoliko sedmica,

A few weeks ago, I had a chance to go to Saudi Arabia.

imao sam priliku otići u Saudijsku Arabiju.

And the first thing I wanted to do as a Muslim

Kao musliman, prva stvar koju sam želio uraditi

was to go to Mecca and visit the Kaaba,

jeste da odem u Meku i posjetim Kabu,

the holiest shrine of Islam.

najsvetije mjesto hodočašća u Islamu.

And I did that; I put on my ritualistic dress,

Tako sam i uradio; Obukao sam nošnju;

otišao u svetu džamiju,

I went to the holy mosque,

I did my prayers,

i klanjao;

I observed all the rituals.

posmatrao sve obrede.

U međuvremenu,

And meanwhile, besides all the spirituality,

uz svu duhovnost,

there was one mundane detail in the Kaaba

postojao je jedan svjetovni detalj u Kabi

that was pretty interesting for me:

veoma interesantan za mene.

there was no separation of sexes.

Nema razdvajanja na osnovi spola.

In other words, men and women were worshiping all together.

Drugim riječima, muškarci i žene

su se molili zajedno.

Bili su zajedno za vrijeme tawafa,

They were together while doing tawāf, the circular walk around the Kaaba.

kruženja oko Kabe.

They were together while praying.

Bili su skupa za vrijeme klanjanja.

And if you wonder why this is interesting at all,

Ako se pitate zašto je ovo uopšte interesantno,

morate vidjeti ostatak Saudijske Arabije,

you have to see the rest of Saudi Arabia,

because this a country which is strictly divided between the sexes.

jer to je zemlja

koja je striktno razdvojena na osnovu spola.

In other words:

Drugim riječima,

as men, you are simply not supposed to be in the same physical space

kao muškarci, nije predviđeno da budete

u istom prostoru gdje i žene.

with women.

And I noticed this in a very funny way.

Zanimljivo je kako sam ovo primijetio.

I left the Kaaba to eat something in downtown Mecca.

Napustio sam Kabu

da pojedem nešto u centru Meke.

I headed to the nearest Burger King restaurant.

Otišao sam u najbliži Burger King restoran.

Ušao sam --

And I went there -- I noticed that there was a male section,

i primijetio dio za muškarce

which is carefully separated from the female section.

pažljivo odvojen od dijela za žene.

I had to pay, order and eat in the male section.

Morao sam platiti, naručiti i jesti u dijelu za muškarce.

"It's funny," I said to myself,

"Ovo je smiješno," pomislio sam,

"You can mingle with the opposite sex at the holy Kaaba,

"muškarci se mogu miješati sa ženama u svetoj Kabi,

but not at the Burger King?"

ali ne u Burger Kingu."

(Laughter)

Ironično.

Quite, quite ironic.

Ironično, ali i informativno.

Ironic, and it's also, I think, quite telling,

because the Kaaba and the rituals around it

Kaba i obredi koji se obavljaju oko nje

are relics from the earliest phase of Islam,

su tragovi najranije faze Islama,

that of prophet Muhammad.

iz vremena poslanika Muhammeda.

And if there was a big emphasis at the time to separate men from women,

Da su se u to vrijeme

željeli razdvojiti muškarci od žena,

the rituals around the Kaaba could have been designed accordingly.

obredi oko Kabe bi bili kreirani u skladu s tim.

But apparently, that was not an issue at the time.

Ali očigledno da to nije bilo sporno u to vrijeme.

Tako da su obredi ostali takvi.

So the rituals came that way.

This is also, I think, confirmed by the fact

Po mom mišljenju

podaci o odvajanju žena

that the seclusion of women in creating a divided society

da bi se stvorilo podijeljno društvo

is something that you also do not find in the Koran --

ne postoje u Kur'anu,

u samom temelju Islama -

the very core of Islam, the divine core of Islam --

uzvišenom temelju Islama

that all Muslims, equally myself, believe.

u koje svi muslimani, kao i ja, vjeruju.

Mislim da nije slučajno

And I think it's not an accident

that you don't find this idea in the very origin of Islam,

što nema ovoga

u samom postanku Islama.

because many scholars who study the history of Islamic thought --

Jer mnogi naučnici

koji izučavaju historiju Islamske misli -

Muslim scholars or Westerners --

muslimanski naučnici ili zapadnjaci -

think that, actually, the practice of dividing men and women physically

zapravo smatraju da praksa

fizičkog razdvajanja muškaraca od žena

came as a later development in Islam,

je nastala u kasnijem razvoju Islama,

as Muslims adopted some preexisting cultures

kada su muslimani preuzeli

neke prvobitne kulture i tradicije Srednjeg Istoka.

and traditions of the Middle East.

Seclusion of women was actually a Byzantine and Persian practice,

Odvajanje žena su zapravo

bile Bizantijska i Perzijska prakse,

a muslimani su to preuzeli

and Muslims adopted it and made it a part of their religion.

i uvrstili kao dio svoje religije.

Actually, this is just one example of a much larger phenomenon.

Ovo je samo jedan primjer

još većeg fenomena.

What we call today Islamic law, and especially Islamic culture --

Ono što danas zovemo islamsko pravo, a posebno islamska kultura -

zapravo ima mnogo islamskih kultura;

and there are many Islamic cultures, actually;

ona u Saudijskoj Arabiji je mnogo drugačija

the one in Saudi Arabia is much different

od one u Istambulu u Turskoj odakle ja dolazim.

from where I come from in Istanbul or Turkey.

But still, if you're going to speak about a Muslim culture,

Ali ipak,

ako ćete govoriti o muslimanskoj kulturi,

this has a core: the divine message which began the religion.

ona ima temeljnu, uzvišenu poruku,

nastalu u religiji,

But then many traditions, perceptions, practices were added on top of it.

ali opet mnoge tradicije, shvatanja,

mnoge prakse su se dodavale.

And these were traditions of the Middle East medieval traditions.

To su tradicije sa Srednjeg Istoka -- srednjovjekovne tradicije.

There are two important messages, or two lessons,

Dvije važne poruke, ili dvije lekcije,

treba naučiti iz stvarnosti.

to take from that reality.

First of all, Muslims --

Prije svega, muslimani -

pious, conservative, believing Muslims who want to be loyal to their religion --

pobožni, konzervativni vjernici odani svojoj vjeri -

ne bi se trebali slijepo držati svega u svojoj kulturi,

should not cling onto everything in their culture,

thinking that that's divinely mandated.

misleći da je to od Boga dato.

Možda je nešto loša tradicija

Maybe some things are bad traditions and they need to be changed.

koja se treba promijeniti.

On the other hand, the Westerners who look at Islamic culture

Sa druge strane, zapadnjaci

koji posmatraju islamsku kulturu

and see some troubling aspects

i vide probleme

should not readily conclude that this is what Islam ordains.

ne bi trebali zaključivati da je to ono što Islam propisuje.

Maybe it's a Middle Eastern culture that became confused with Islam.

Možda je to dio kulture Srednjeg Istoka

koju su zamijenili za islamsku tradiciju.

Postoji praksa ženskog obrezivanja.

There is a practice called female circumcision.

To je nešto grozno, jezovito.

It's something terrible, horrible.

It is basically an operation to deprive women of sexual pleasure.

U osnovi to je operacija

kojom se žene uskraćuju seksualnog zadovoljstva.

And Westerners --

Zapadnjaci, Evropljani ili Amerikanci

Europeans or Americans -- who didn't know about this before,

koji nisu za ovo znali prije

[saw] this practice

saznali su za ovu praksu

within some of the Muslim communities who migrated from North Africa.

od muslimanskih zajednica

koje su se naselile iz zemalja sjeverne Afrike.

And they've thought,

Pomislili su, "To je grozna religija

"Oh, what a horrible religion that is, which ordains something like that."

koja određuje tako nešto."

Ali ako zapravo bolje istražite,

But when you look at female circumcision,

žensko obrezivanje nema nikakve veze sa Islamom,

you see that it has nothing to do with Islam;

to je samo praksa u zemaljama sjeverne Afrike,

it's just a North African practice which predates Islam.

koja je nastala prije Islama.

It was there for thousands of years.

Postojala je hiljadama godina.

And, quite tellingly, some Muslims do practice it --

Neki muslimani su usvojili tu praksu.

Muslimani na sjeveru Afrike, a ne na drugim mjestima.

the Muslims in North Africa, not in other places.

But also the non-Muslim communities of North Africa --

Čak i ne-muslimanske zajednice na sjeveru Afrike -

animisti, čak i neki kršćani

the animists, some Christians and even a Jewish tribe in North Africa --

čak i jedno jevrejsko pleme na sjeveru Afrike

je poznato po ženskom obrezivanju.

are known to practice female circumcision.

So what might look like a problem within Islamic faith

Ono što se smatra problem

u Islamu

might turn out to be a tradition that Muslims have subscribed to.

može zapravo biti tradicija

koja se prepisala muslimanima.

The same thing can be said for honor killings,

Isto se može reći i za ubistva iz časti,

which is a recurrent theme in the Western media --

tema koja se ponavlja u medijima na zapadu -

and which is, of course, a horrible tradition.

to je naravno užasna tradicija.

And we see, truly, in some Muslim communities, that tradition.

U nekim muslimanskim zajednicama zaista postoji ta tradicija.

Ali i zajednice na Srednjem Istoku,

But in the non-Muslim communities of the Middle East,

kao što su neke kršćanske ili istočne zajednice,

such as some Christian communities, Eastern communities,

također imaju istu praksu.

you see the same practice.

We had a tragic case of an honor killing

Tragičan slučaj ubistva iz časti se desio

u armenskoj zajednici u Turskoj

within Turkey's Armenian community just a few months ago.

prije nekoliko mjeseci.

Now, these are things about general culture,

Ovo sve je dio opće kulture,

but I'm also very much interested in political culture

ali mene interesuje i politička kultura

and whether liberty and democracy is appreciated,

i da li su sloboda i demokratija cijenjene,

or whether there's an authoritarian political culture

ili da li postoji autoritarna politika

in which the state is supposed to impose things on the citizens.

prema kojoj država nameće pravila građanima.

I nije tajna

And it is no secret

that many Islamic movements in the Middle East

da su mnogi islamski pokreti na Srednjem Istoku

autoritarni,

tend to be authoritarian,

and some of the so-called "Islamic regimes,"

i neki takozvani "Islamski režimi"

such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and the worst case, the Taliban in Afghanistan,

kao u Saudijskoj Arabiji, Iranu

i najgori slučaj talibanskog režima u Afganistanu,

they are pretty authoritarian -- no doubt about that.

oni su poprilično autoritarni -- bez sumnje.

Na primjer, u Saudijskoj Arabiji

For example, in Saudi Arabia,

there is a phenomenon called the religious police.

postoji fenomen nazvan vjerska policija.

And the religious police imposes the supposed Islamic way of life

Vjerska policija nameće

navodni islamski način života

on every citizen, by force --

svakom građaninu, silom -

like, women are forced to cover their heads --

kao što su žene primorane da pokriju glavu -

da nose hidžab, pokrivanje glave.

wear the hijab, the Islamic head cover.

Ovo je prilično autoritarno,

Now that is pretty authoritarian,

i ja to mnogo kritikujem.

and that's something I'm very much critical of.

Ali kada sam shvatio

But when I realized that the non-Muslim,

da ne-muslimani,

or the non-Islamic-minded actors in the same geography

ili oni sa istog područja koji nisu naklonjeni Islamu,

ponekad se ponašaju slično,

sometimes behaved similarly,

I realized that the problem maybe lies

shvatio sam da je problem

in the political culture of the whole region, not just Islam.

u političkoj kulturi čitavog područja, ne samo u Islamu..

Let me give you an example: in Turkey, where I come from,

Evo primjera: ja dolazim iz Turske,

which is a very hyper-secular republic,

visoko-sekularne republike,

until very recently, we used to have what I call "secularism police,"

sve do nedavno

imali smo, kako sam ja nazvao, policiju za sekularizam,

koja je čuvala univerzitete

which would guard the universities against veiled students.

od pokrivenih studentica.

In other words, they would force students to uncover their heads.

Drugim riječima, tjerali su studentice

da otkrivaju glave.

And I think forcing people to uncover their head

Mislim da je prisiljavanje žena da otkriju glave

is as tyrannical as forcing them to cover it.

okrutno isto kao i prisiljavanje da se pokriju.

To treba biti odluka građana.

It should be the citizen's decision.

But when I saw that, I said,

Kada sam to vidjeo, rekao sam,

"Maybe the problem is just an authoritarian culture in the region,

"Možda je problem

u autoritarnoj kulturi regiona

and some Muslims have been influenced by that.

koja je utjecala na neke muslimane."

Ali može utjecati i na sekularne ljude.

But the secular-minded people can be influenced by that.

Maybe it's a problem of the political culture,

Možda je problem političke kulture,

i mi moramo razmisliti

and we have to think about how to change that political culture."

kako promijeniti tu kulturu.

Now, these are some of the questions I had in mind a few years ago

Evo nekoliko pitanja

koja sam imao prije nekoliko godina

when I sat down to write a book.

kada sam počeo da pišem knjigu.

I said, "Well, I will do research

Pomislio sam, "Napraviću istraživanje

kako je Islam postao ono što je danas,

about how Islam actually came to be what it is today,

kojim se putevima krenulo

and what roads were taken and what roads could have been taken."

i kojima se trebalo krenuti."

Naziv knjige je "Islam bez krajnosti: Slučaj muslimana za slobodu."

The name of the book is "Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty."

And as the subtitle suggests,

Kao što podnaslov sugerira,

I looked at Islamic tradition and the history of Islamic thought

ispitivao sam islamsku tradiciju i historiju islamske misli

from the perspective of individual liberty,

iz perspektive individualne slobode,

and I tried to find what are the strengths with regard to individual liberty.

pokušavao sam utvrditi koja je moć

individualne slobode.

And there are strengths in Islamic tradition.

Postoje pozitivne strane Islamske tradicije.

Kao monoteistička religija,

Islam, actually, as a monotheistic religion,

which defined man as a responsible agent by itself,

koja je definisala čovjeka odgovornog za svoje postupke,

created the idea of the individual in the Middle East,

Islam je zapravo kreirao ideju individue na Srednjem Istoku

a sačuvao je od zajednice, kolektivizma

and saved it from the communitarianism, the collectivism of the tribe.

plemena.

You can derive many ideas from that.

Iz toga se mogu izvući mnoge ideje.

But besides that, I also saw problems within Islamic tradition.

Ali pored toga, ja sam uvidio i probleme unutar islamske tradicije.

But one thing was curious:

Ali jedno je zanimljivo:

most of those problems turn out to be problems that emerged later,

većina ovih problema se pojavila kasnije,

not from the very divine core of Islam, the Koran,

ne iz samog uzvišenog temelja Islama, Kur'ana,

but from, again, traditions and mentalities,

već iz, opet, tradicija i mentaliteta,

ili tumačenja Kur'ana

or the interpretations of the Koran that Muslims made in the Middle Ages.

koje su muslimani pravili tokom Srednjeg vijeka.

Kur'an, naprimjer,

The Koran, for example, doesn't condone stoning.

ne oprašta kamenovanje.

There is no punishment for apostasy.

Ne postoji kazna za izdajništvo.

There is no punishment for personal sins like drinking.

Ne postoji kazna za privatne stvari kao što je opijanje.

Ono što čini islamsko pravo,

These things which make Islamic law,

the troubling aspects of Islamic law,

uznemirujući aspekti islamskog prava,

were developed into later interpretations of Islam.

su nastali iz kasnijih tumačenja Islama.

Which means that Muslims can, today,

To znači da muslimani danas mogu

look at those things and say,

se osvrnuti i reći,

"Well, the core of our religion is here to stay with us.

"Pa temelj naše religije

ostaje sa nama.

It's our faith, and we will be loyal to it.

To je naša vjera i bićemo joj odani."

But we can change how it was interpreted,

Ali možemo promijeniti način na koji se tumači,

because it was interpreted according to the time

jer se tumačila u skladu sa vremenom i ambijentom Srednjeg vijeka.

and milieu in the Middle Ages.

Sada živimo u drugačijem svijetu

Now we're living in a different world,

sa drugačijim vrijednostima i političkim sistemima.

with different values and political systems."

Tako tumačenje je sasvim moguće i izvodljivo.

That interpretation is quite possible and feasible.

Now, if I were the only person thinking that way,

Da sam ja jedina osoba koja tako misli,

we would be in trouble.

onda bismo bili u nevolji.

But that's not the case at all.

Ali to nije slučaj.

Actually, from the 19th century on,

Zapravo, od 19-og stoljeća pa dalje,

there's a whole revisionist, reformist -- whatever you call it -- tradition,

postoji čitava revizionistička, reformistička --

nazovite je kako god --

tradicija,

a trend in Islamic thinking.

pravac u islamskoj misli.

These were intellectuals or statesmen

Bili su to intelektualci ili državnici

19-og vijeka, i kasnije, 20-og vijeka,

of the 19th century, and later, 20th century,

which looked at Europe, basically,

koji su zapravo bili okrenuti ka Evropi

and saw that Europe has many things to admire,

i divili su se onome što Evropa nudi

like science and technology.

kao što su nauka i tehnologija.

But not just that; also democracy, parliament,

Ali i demokratija, parlament,

ideja o predstavništvu,

the idea of representation,

the idea of equal citizenship.

jednakosti među građanima.

These Muslim thinkers, intellectuals and statesmen of the 19th century,

Ovi mislioci, intelektualci i državnici

19-og vijeka vidjeli su ovo u Evropi.

looked at Europe, saw these things, and said,

Rekli su, "Zašto mi nemamo ovo?"

"Why don't we have these things?"

Gledajući unatrag u islamsku tradiciju,

And they looked back at Islamic tradition,

vidjeli su sporne aspekte,

and saw that there are problematic aspects,

but they're not the core of the religion, so maybe they can be re-understood,

koji nisu temelj religije, ali možda se mogu ponovo razmotriti,

Kur'an se može ponovo čitati

and the Koran can be reread in the modern world.

u modernom svijetu.

That trend is generally called Islamic modernism,

Taj pravac

se općenito zove "Islamski modernizam",

and it was advanced by intellectuals and statesmen,

napredovao je zahvaljujući intelektualcima i državnicima,

not just as an intellectual idea, though,

ne samo kao ideja,

but also as a political program.

već i kao politički program.

And that's why, actually, in the 19th century,

Zato je u 19-om stoljeću

the Ottoman Empire, which then covered the whole Middle East,

Osmansko carstvo, koje je tada pokrivalo čitavo područje Srednjeg Istoka,

učinilo značajne reforme --

made very important reforms --

reforms like giving Christians and Jews an equal citizenship status,

kao što je pružanje jednakog statusa

kršćanima i jevrejima,

prihvaćanje ustava,

accepting a constitution,

accepting a representative parliament,

prihvaćanje parlamenta,

advancing the idea of freedom of religion.

promoviranje ideje o slobodi religije.

That's why the Ottoman Empire, in its last decades,

Zato je Osmansko carstvo u svojim posljednjim desetljećima

turned into a proto-democracy, a constitutional monarchy,

postalo proto-demokratija,

ustavna monarhija.

and freedom was a very important political value at the time.

U to vrijeme sloboda je bila veoma važna politička vrijednost.

Similarly, in the Arab world,

Slično, u arapskom svijetu,

there was what the great Arab historian Albert Hourani defines

postojalo je nešto što veliki arapski historičar Alber Hourani

naziva "Liberalno doba".

as the Liberal Age.

He has a book, "Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age,"

Njegova knjiga se zove "Arapska misao u liberalnom dobu."

On definira liberalno doba

and the Liberal Age, he defines as 19th century and early 20th century.

kao 19. i 20. stoljeće.

Ovo je osobito bio značajan trend

Quite notably, this was the dominant trend in the early 20th century

u ranom 20. stoljeću

among Islamic thinkers and statesmen and theologians.

među islamskim misliocima, državnicima i teolozima.

But there is a very curious pattern in the rest of the 20th century,

Ali postoji veoma zanimljiv obrazac

u ostatku 20. stoljeća,

because we see a sharp decline in this Islamic modernist line.

jer svjedočimo brzom gubitku

modernizma u Islamu.

And in place of that,

Umjesto toga,

what happens is that Islamism grows as an ideology which is authoritarian,

dešava se da Islamizam raste

kao autoritarna ideologija,

which is quite strident,

sasvim prodorna,

which is quite anti-Western,

anti-zapadnjačka,

koja oblikuje društvo

and which wants to shape society based on a utopian vision.

na osnovu utopijske vizije.

So Islamism is the problematic idea

Stoga, Islamizam je problematična ideja

that really created a lot of problems in the 20th-century Islamic world.

koja je zapravo kreirala mnogo problema

u islamskom svijetu 20. stoljeća.

And even the very extreme forms of Islamism

Čak i veoma ekstremni oblici Islamizma

led to terrorism in the name of Islam --

su doveli do terorizma u ime Islama --

što je, po mom mišljenju, čin protiv Islama,

which is actually a practice that I think is against Islam,

but some, obviously, extremists, did not think that way.

ali, očigledno, neki ekstremisti ne misle tako.

But there is a curious question:

Zanimljivo je pitanje:

If Islamic modernism was so popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries,

ako je islamski modernizam bio tako popularan

u 19. i ranom 20. stoljeću,

why did Islamism become so popular in the rest of the 20th century?

zašto je Islamizam postao tako popularan

u ostatku 20. stoljeća?

Ovo je pitanje, po mom mišljenju,

And this is a question, I think, which needs to be discussed carefully.

o kojem se treba pažljivo raspraviti.

In my book, I went into that question as well.

U svojoj knjizi, tražio sam odgovor na to pitanje.

And actually, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that.

Ne morate biti naučnici da biste to razumjeli.

Just look at the political history of the 20th century,

Dovoljno je da pogledate političku historiju 20. stoljeća,

i vidjećete da su se stvari mnogo promijenile.

and you see things have changed a lot.

Kontekst se promijenio.

The contexts have changed.

In the 19th century,

U 19. stoljeću,

when Muslims were looking at Europe as an example,

kada su muslimani vidjeli Evropu kao primjer,

they were independent; they were more self-confident.

bili su neovisni, više samouvjereni.

In the early 20th century, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire,

Početkom 20. stoljeća, padom Osmanskog carstva,

the whole Middle East was colonized.

cijeli Srednji Istok bio je koloniziran.

And when you have colonialization, what do you have?

A šta dolazi sa kolonizacijom?

You have anti-colonialization.

Anti-kolonizacija.

So Europe is not just an example now to emulate;

Evropa nije samo primjer koji treba oponašati;

it's an enemy to fight and to resist.

već neprijatelj protiv kojeg se treba boriti.

So there's a very sharp decline in liberal ideas in the Muslim world,

Dolazi do veoma naglog slabljenja

liberalnih ideja u muslimanskom svijetu,

to je veoma odbrambeni,

and what you see is more of a defensive, rigid, reactionary strain,

kruti, nazadnjački napor,

which led to Arab socialism, Arab nationalism

koji je doveo arape do socijalizma, arapskog nacionalizma

and ultimately to the Islamist ideology.

i na koncu do islamističke ideologije.

And when the colonial period ended,

Kada se kolonijalni period završio,

what you had in place of that was generally secular dictators,

umjesto toga

uglavnom su došli sekularni diktatori,

koju su govorili da vode državu,

which say they're a country,

but did not bring democracy to the country,

ali nisu uvodili demokratiju,

and established their own dictatorship.

već su uspostavili svoju diktaturu.

And I think the West, at least some powers in the West,

Mislim da je zapad, pogotovo neke sile sa zapada,

pogotovo Sjedinjene Američke Države,

particularly the United States,

made the mistake of supporting those secular dictators,

napravo grešku podržavajući te diktatore,

thinking that they were more helpful for their interests.

misleći da odgovaraju njihovim interesima.

But the fact that those dictators suppressed democracy in their country

Ali činjenica da su ti diktatori

potisnuli demokratiju

and suppressed Islamic groups in their country

i islamske grupe iz svojih država

actually made the Islamists much more strident.

je učinila islamiste još oštrijima.

Stoga u 20. stoljeću,

So in the 20th century,

you had this vicious cycle in the Arab world,

u arapskom svijetu postojao je začarani krug

where you have a dictatorship suppressing its own people,

gdje je diktatura potisla vlastiti narod

including the Islamic pious,

uključujući pobožne islamiste,

and they're reacting in reactionary ways.

koji su reagovali na nazadnjački način.

There was one country, though,

Ipak bila je jedna zemlja

which was able to escape or stay away from that vicious cycle.

koja je uspjela pobjeći

iz tog začaranog kruga.

And that's the country where I come from, Turkey.

To je zemlja iz koje ja dolazim; Turska.

Turkey has never been colonized,

Turska nikada nije bila kolonizirana,

ostala je kao nezavisna zemlja nakon pada Osmanskog Carstva.

so it remained as an independent nation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

To treba imati na umu.

That's one thing to remember;

Oni nisu sprovodili anti-kolonijalnu kampanju

it did not share the same anti-colonial hype

kao druge zemlje regiona.

that you can find in some other countries in the region.

Secondly, and most importantly,

Drugo, i najvažnije,

Turkey became a democracy

Turska je postala demokratija

earlier than any of the countries we are talking about.

ranije nego bilo koje druge zemlje o kojima govorimo.

In 1950, Turkey had the first free and fair elections,

Godine 1950. u Turskoj je održan prvi slobodan i pravedan izbor,

koji je okončao apsolutistički sekularni režim,

which ended the more autocratic secular regime,

which was in the beginning of Turkey.

i koji je značio početak Turske.

And the pious Muslims in Turkey

Pobožni muslimani u Turskoj

saw that they could change the political system by voting.

vidjeli su da mogu promijeniti politički sistem glasanjem.

And they realized that democracy is something compatible with Islam,

Shvatili su da je demokratija u skladu sa Islamom,

s njihovim vrijednostima,

compatible with their values,

and they've been supportive of democracy.

i oni su podržavali demokratiju.

That's an experience

To je iskustvo

that not every other Muslim nation in the Middle East had,

koje nisu svi muslimani Srednjeg Istoka imali

sve do nedavno.

until very recently.

Secondly, in the past two decades,

Drugo, u posljednje dvije decenije,

thanks to globalization, thanks to the market economy,

zahvaljujući globalizaciji i tržišnoj ekonomiji,

thanks to the rise of a middle class,

zahvaljujući usponu srednje klase,

we in Turkey see what I define as a rebirth of Islamic modernism.

u Turskoj svjedočimo

ponovnom rađanju islamskog modernizma.

Now, there's the more urban middle-class pious Muslims

Postoji urbanija srednja klasa pobožnih muslimana

koji, opet, gledaju u svoju tradiciju

who, again, look at their tradition

i vide da postoje određeni problemi.

and see that there are some problems in the tradition,

Shvataju da se moraju promijeniti, ispitati i poboljšati.

and understand that they need to be changed and questioned and reformed.

Vide Evropu

And they look at Europe, and see an example, again, to follow.

kao primjer koji treba slijediti.

They see an example, at least, to take some inspiration from.

Vide barem primjer koji će ih inspirisati.

Zato je E.U. proces,

That's why the EU process, Turkey's effort to join the EU,

trud Turske da se prikljući Evropskoj Uniji,

bio podržan unutar Turske

has been supported inside Turkey by the Islamic pious,

od strane pobožnih vjernika,

while some secular nationalists were against it.

dok su neke sekularne nacije bile protiv.

Well, that process has been a little bit blurred

Taj proces je bio malo zamagljen

činjenicom da nisu svi Evropljani tako gostoljubivi --

by the fact that not all Europeans are that welcoming,

ali to je za neku drugu diskusiju.

but that's another discussion.

But the pro-EU sentiment in Turkey in the past decade

Ali naklonost ulasku Turske u E.U. u prošloj deceniji

has become almost an Islamic cause and supported by the Islamic liberals

je postao skoro pa islamski cilj,

i podržan od strane islamskih liberala

and the secular liberals as well, of course.

i seukularnih liberala, također.

And thanks to that,

Zahvaljujući tome,

Turkey has been able to reasonably create a success story

Turska je mogla napraviti uspješnu priču

in which Islam and the most pious understandings of Islam

u kojoj su Islam i najpobožnija shvatanja Islama

have become part of the democratic game,

postali dio demokratske igre,

and even contributes to the democratic and economic advance of the country.

i čak doprinelii demokratskom i ekonomskom

napretku zemlje.

And this has been an inspiring example right now

Ovo je sada inspirativni primjer

jednog islamskog pokreta

for some of the Islamic movements

ili neke od zemalja iz arapskog svijeta.

or some of the countries in the Arab world.

You must have all seen the Arab Spring,

Svi ste vidjeli arapsko proljeće,

which began in Tunis and in Egypt.

koje je počelo u Tunisu i u Egiptu.

Arab masses just revolted against their dictators.

Arapske mase

su se protivile svojim diktatorima.

They were asking for democracy; they were asking for freedom.

Tražili su demokratiju; tražili su slobodu.

Nisu ispali islamistička strašila

And they did not turn out to be the Islamist boogeyman

that the dictators were always using to justify their regime.

koje su njihovi diktatori koristili

da opravdaju svoj režim.

Rekli su, "Želimo slobodu, želimo demokratiju.

They said, "We want freedom; we want democracy.

We are Muslim believers,

Mi smo muslimani,

but we want to be living as free people in free societies."

ali želimo da živimo kao slobodni ljudi u slobodnim društvima."

Naravno, ovo je dug put.

Of course, this is a long road.

Demokratija se ne postiže preko noći;

Democracy is not an overnight achievement; it's a process.

to je proces.

Ali ovo je era koja obećava

But this is a promising era in the Muslim world.

u muslimanskom svijetu.

Ja vjerujem da se islamski modernizam

And I believe that the Islamic modernism which began in the 19th century,

koji je počeo u 19. stoljeću,

but which had a setback in the 20th century

ali je nazadovao u 20. stoljeću

zbog političkih teškoća u muslimanskom svijetu,

because of the political troubles of the Muslim world,

sada ponovo rađa.

is having a rebirth.

Mislim da bi oproštajna poruka

And I think the takeaway message from that would be that Islam,

bila da Islam,

despite some of the skeptics in the West,

uprkos nekim skepticima sa zapada,

has the potential in itself

ima potencijal

to create its own way to democracy, create its own way to liberalism,

da stvori svoj put ka demokratiji, ka liberalizmu,

create its own way to freedom.

da stvori svoj put ka slobodi.

They just should be allowed to work for that.

Samo im treba dozvoliti da to i postignu.

Hvala.

Thanks so much.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)