Mustafa Akyol: Faith versus tradition in Islam

Prevodilac: Natasa Golosin Lektor: Ivana Korom

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

Pre nekoliko nedelja,

imao sam priliku da odem u Saudijsku Arabiju.

And the first thing I wanted to do as a Muslim

I, kao musliman, prva stvar koju sam hteo da uradim

was to go to Mecca and visit the Kaaba,

je da odem u Meku i posetim Kabu,

the holiest shrine of Islam.

najvažnije islamsko svetilište.

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

To sam i uradio; obukao sam svoju ritualnu odeću;

I went to the holy mosque,

otišao u svetu džamiju;

I did my prayers,

i klanjao se,

I observed all the rituals.

izveo sve rituale.

U međuvremenu,

And meanwhile, besides all the spirituality,

osim sve duhovnosti,

there was one mundane detail in the Kaaba

video sam i jedan ovozemaljski detalj u Kabi

that was pretty interesting for me:

koji mi je bio veoma interesantan.

there was no separation of sexes.

Nije bilo razdvojenosti po polovima.

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

Drugim rečima, muškarci i žene

su se molili zajedno.

Bili su zajedno za vreme tavafa,

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

kruženja oko Kabe.

They were together while praying.

Bili su zajedno dok su se klanjali.

And if you wonder why this is interesting at all,

I ako se pitate zašto je uopšte to interesantno,

trebalo bi da vidite 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 strogo podeljena između polova

In other words:

Drugim rečima,

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

kao muškarac, ne bi trebalo da budete

u istom fizičkom prostoru sa ženama.

with women.

And I noticed this in a very funny way.

Ovo sam primetio u smešnoj situaciji.

I left the Kaaba to eat something in downtown Mecca.

Napustio sam Kabu

kako bih nešto pojeo u centru Meke.

I headed to the nearest Burger King restaurant.

Uputio sam se u najbliži "Burger King" restoran.

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

Otišao sam tamo -

i primetio da postoji odeljak za muškarce,

which is carefully separated from the female section.

koji je bio pažljivo razdvojen od ženskog sektora.

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

I morao sam da platim, naručim i jedem u muškom sektoru.

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

"Smešno", pomislio sam,

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

"možete se mešati sa suprotnim polom u svetoj Kabi,

but not at the Burger King?"

ali ne i u Burger Kingu."

(Laughter)

Quite, quite ironic.

Prilično ironično.

Ironično, i takođe mislim, govori nam dosta toga.

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

because the Kaaba and the rituals around it

Jer su Kaba i rituali oko nje,

are relics from the earliest phase of Islam,

ostali iz najranijeg perioda islama,

that of prophet Muhammad.

iz vremena proroka Muhameda.

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

I da je u to vreme davano značaja

razdvajanju muškaraca i žena,

the rituals around the Kaaba could have been designed accordingly.

rituali oko Kabe bi bili osmišljeni u skladu sa tim.

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

Ali izgleda da u to vreme, ovo nije bilo pitanje.

Pa su i rituali u skladu sa tim.

So the rituals came that way.

This is also, I think, confirmed by the fact

Ovo je, takođe, potvrđeno

činjenicom da je izdvajanje žena

that the seclusion of women in creating a divided society

u kreiranju podeljenog društva

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

nešto što nećete naći u Kuranu -

jezgru islama -

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

božanskoj suštini islama

that all Muslims, equally myself, believe.

u koji svi muslimani, uključujući mene, veruju.

I mislim da to što ove ideje

And I think it's not an accident

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

nema u samim korenima islama

nije slučajno.

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

Jer mnogi naučnici

koji proučavaju islam -

Muslim scholars or Westerners --

naučnici muslimani ili zapadnjaci -

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

misle da je praksa

fizičkog razdvajanja muškaraca i žena

came as a later development in Islam,

došla u kasnijem razvoju islama,

as Muslims adopted some preexisting cultures

kada su muslimani usvojili

neke već postojeće kulture i tradicije Bliskog istoka.

and traditions of the Middle East.

Seclusion of women was actually a Byzantine and Persian practice,

Isključivanje žena bilo je zapravo

vizantijska i persijska praksa

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

koju su muslimani usvojili

i koja je tako postala deo njihove religije.

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

I zapravo ovo je samo jedan primer

tog mnogo većeg fenomena.

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

Ono što danas zovemo zakonom islama, i posebno islamskom kulturom -

a postoje mnoge muslimanske države;

and there are many Islamic cultures, actually;

Saudijska Arabija je mnogo drugačija

the one in Saudi Arabia is much different

od Istanbula ili Turske, 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 pričate o muslimanskoj kulturi,

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

ona ima temeljnu, uzvišenu poruku,

koja je započela religiju,

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

ali potom su mnogi običaji, opažanja

i praksa bili pridodati tome.

And these were traditions of the Middle East medieval traditions.

A ovo su bile tradicije bliskog istoka - srednjevekovne tradicije.

There are two important messages, or two lessons,

Postoje dve važne poruke, ili dve lekcije,

to take from that reality.

koje se mogu naučiti iz toga.

First of all, Muslims --

Prvo, muslimani, pobožni, konzervativni muslimani

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

koji veruju i koji žele da budu odani svojoj religiji -

ne bi trebalo da se drže slepo svega u svojoj kulturi

should not cling onto everything in their culture,

thinking that that's divinely mandated.

misleći da to bog zapoveda.

Možda su neke stvari loše tradicije

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

koje bi trebalo promeniti.

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

S druge strane, zapadnjaci

koji posmatraju islamsku kulturu

and see some troubling aspects

i vide neke probleme

should not readily conclude that this is what Islam ordains.

ne bi trebalo da odmah zaključuju da je to nešto šta nalaže islam.

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

Možda je to kultura Bliskog istoka

kojom se zamenjuje islam.

Postoji običaj koji se zove žensko obrezivanje.

There is a practice called female circumcision.

Nešto užasno, grozno.

It's something terrible, horrible.

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

To je operacija

kojom se ženi oduzima mogućnost da uživa u seksu.

And Westerners --

I zapadnjaci, Evropljani ili Amerikanci,

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

koji za ovo nisu znali ranije,

[saw] this practice

susreli su se sa time

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

u nekim muslimanskim društvima

koja su migrirala iz severne Afrike.

And they've thought,

I pomislili su: "Kakva grozna religija

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

kad može da nalaže ovako nešto."

Ali međutim, kada pogledate, žensko obrezivanje

But when you look at female circumcision,

you see that it has nothing to do with Islam;

nema nikakve veze sa islamom,

to je severo-afrički običaj,

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

koji je nastao pre islama.

It was there for thousands of years.

Postojao je tamo hiljadama godina.

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

Neki muslimani su ga usvojili kao sopstvenu praksu.

Muslimani u severnoj Africi, ne na drugim mestima.

the Muslims in North Africa, not in other places.

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

Ali isto tako i ne-muslimanske zajednice u severnoj Africi -

animisti i čak i neki hrišćani

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

pa čak i jevrejsko pleme u severnoj Africi

are known to practice female circumcision.

praktikuje žensko obrezivanje.

So what might look like a problem within Islamic faith

Tako da ono što može izgledati kao problem

u islamskoj veri

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

može da se ispostavi da je tradicija

koju su muslimani preuzeli.

The same thing can be said for honor killings,

Isto može da se kaže za ubistva iz časti,

which is a recurrent theme in the Western media --

koja su česta tema u zapadnjačkim medijima -

and which is, of course, a horrible tradition.

i što je, naravno, užasna tradicija.

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

Vidimo, zaista, u nekim muslimanskim društvima ovaj običaj.

Ali u ne-muslimanskim društvima na Bliskom istoku,

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

kao što su neke hrišćanske zajednice,

such as some Christian communities, Eastern communities,

vidimo isti običaj.

you see the same practice.

We had a tragic case of an honor killing

Imali smo tragičan slučaj ubistva iz časti

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

unutar jermenske zajednice u Turskoj

pre samo nekoliko meseci.

Now, these are things about general culture,

Ovo se odnosi na kulturu generalno,

but I'm also very much interested in political culture

ali ja sam takođe veoma zainteresovan za političku kulturu

and whether liberty and democracy is appreciated,

i da li su sloboda i demokratija poštovane,

or whether there's an authoritarian political culture

ili postoji autoritarna politika

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

kojom država nameće pravila građanima.

And it is no secret

I nije tajna

that many Islamic movements in the Middle East

da mnogi islamistički pokreti na Bliskom istoku

tend to be authoritarian,

imaju tendenciju da budu autoritarni

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

i neki od takozvanih "islamskih režima"

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

kao što su Saudijska Arabija, Iran

i najgori slučaj, Talibani u Avganistanu

they are pretty authoritarian -- no doubt about that.

oni su prilično autoritarni, u to nema sumnje.

Na primer, u Saudijskoj Arabiji

For example, in Saudi Arabia,

there is a phenomenon called the religious police.

postoji fenomen zvani verska policija -

And the religious police imposes the supposed Islamic way of life

koja nameće

pretpostavljeni islamski način života

on every citizen, by force --

svakom građaninu, silom -

like, women are forced to cover their heads --

na primer žene su prisiljene da pokrivaju svoje glave -

nose hidžab, koji pokriva glavu.

wear the hijab, the Islamic head cover.

To je prilično autoritarno,

Now that is pretty authoritarian,

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

i ja sam prilično kritičan u odnosu na to.

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

sa istog područja

ponekad rade to isto

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 čitave regije, a ne u islamu.

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

Daću vam primer: u Turskoj, odakle ja dolazim,

which is a very hyper-secular republic,

a koja je veoma sekularna republika,

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

sve do skoro

imali smo ono što ja zovem sekularnom policijom

koja je kontrolisala da se na univerzitetima

which would guard the universities against veiled students.

studentkinje ne pokrivaju.

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

Drugim rečima, oni su terali studentkinje

da otkriju svoje glave.

And I think forcing people to uncover their head

I mislim da je terati ljude da otkriju glavu

is as tyrannical as forcing them to cover it.

jednako tiranski kao terati ih da je pokriju.

It should be the citizen's decision.

To bi trebalo biti odluka građanina.

But when I saw that, I said,

Ali kad sam to video, rekao sam:

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

"Možda je problem

autoritarna kultura u regionu,

and some Muslims have been influenced by that.

koja je uticala na neke muslimane."

Ali i svetovno orijentisani ljudi mogu biti podložni ovim uticajima.

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

Maybe it's a problem of the political culture,

Možda je ovo problem političke kulture,

i moramo misliti o tome

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

kako da promenimo tu političku kulturu.

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

Neka od pitanja

o kojima sam razmišljao pre nekoliko godina

when I sat down to write a book.

kada sam počeo da pišem knjigu

I said, "Well, I will do research

bila su: "Napraviću istraživanje

o tome kako je islam postao ono što je danas

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

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

i kojim je putevima išao,

a kojima je mogao da ide."

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

Ime knjige je: "Islam bez ekstrema: borba muslimana za slobodu".

And as the subtitle suggests,

I kako podnaslov kaže,

I looked at Islamic tradition and the history of Islamic thought

posmatrao sam islamsku tradiciju i istoriju 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.

i pokušao sam da pronađem prednosti

u vezi sa individualnom slobodom.

And there are strengths in Islamic tradition.

I postoje prednosti u tradiciji Islama.

Islam je zapravo, kao monoteistička religija,

Islam, actually, as a monotheistic religion,

which defined man as a responsible agent by itself,

definišući čoveka kao odgovornog samog po sebi,

created the idea of the individual in the Middle East,

stvorio ideju pojedinca na Bliskom istoku

i spasio je od komunitarizma, kolektivizma

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

plemena.

You can derive many ideas from that.

Iz ovoga možete izvesti mnogo ideja.

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

Ali osim toga, video sam takođe probleme u tradiciji islama.

But one thing was curious:

Ali jedna stvar je bila interesantna:

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

za većinu problema se ispostavilo da su stigli naknadno,

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

ne iz svetog jezgra islama, Kurana,

but from, again, traditions and mentalities,

nego iz, ponovo, tradicija i mentaliteta

ili interpretacije Kurana

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

koje su muslimani napravili u srednjem veku.

Kuran, na primer

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

ne odobrava kamenovanja.

There is no punishment for apostasy.

Nema kazne za otpadništvo.

There is no punishment for personal sins like drinking.

Nema kazne za lične stvari, kao pijenje alkohola.

These things which make Islamic law,

Ove stvari, koje čine islamski zakon,

the troubling aspects of Islamic law,

problematične stavke islamskog zakona,

were developed into later interpretations of Islam.

kasnije su bile razvijene, u potonjim interpretacijama islama.

Which means that Muslims can, today,

Što znači da danas muslimani mogu

look at those things and say,

da pogledaju ove stvari i da kažu:

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

"Jezgro naše religije

je tu i ostaje sa nama.

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

To je naša vera i bićemo joj odani."

But we can change how it was interpreted,

Ali mi možemo da promenimo ove interpretacije,

because it was interpreted according to the time

jer su one nastale u odnosu na vreme i milje u srednjem veku.

and milieu in the Middle Ages.

Sada živimo u drugačijem svetu

Now we're living in a different world,

sa drugim vrednostima i drugačijim političkim sistemima.

with different values and political systems."

Ova interpretacija je prilično moguća i izvodljiva.

That interpretation is quite possible and feasible.

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

Da sam ja jedina osoba koja ovako razmišlja,

we would be in trouble.

bili bismo u nevolji.

But that's not the case at all.

Ali to nije slučaj.

Actually, from the 19th century on,

Zapravo, od 19. veka na ovamo

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

postoji čitav trend revizionističke, reformističke -

kako god hoćete -

tradicije,

a trend in Islamic thinking.

trenda u islamskoj misli.

These were intellectuals or statesmen

To su bili intelektualci i državnici

19. i kasije 20. veka,

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

which looked at Europe, basically,

koji su posmatrali Evropu

and saw that Europe has many things to admire,

i primetili da ona ima mnogo toga za poštovanje,

like science and technology.

kao nauku i tehnologiju.

But not just that; also democracy, parliament,

Ali ne samo to, takođe demokratiju, parlament,

ideju predstavništva,

the idea of representation,

the idea of equal citizenship.

ideju jednakosti među građanima.

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

Ovi islamski mislioci, intelektualci i državnici

19. veka, su posmatrali Evropu i videli sve te stvari.

looked at Europe, saw these things, and said,

Rekli su: "Zašto mi nemamo sve to?"

"Why don't we have these things?"

Pogledali su muslimansku tradiciju,

And they looked back at Islamic tradition,

i primetili da su to problematični aspekti,

and saw that there are problematic aspects,

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

ali oni nisu jezgro religije i možda se mogu drugačije razumeti,

i Kuran se može ponovo čitati

and the Koran can be reread in the modern world.

u modernom svetu.

That trend is generally called Islamic modernism,

Taj trend

je generalno nazvan islamski modernizam,

and it was advanced by intellectuals and statesmen,

i promovisali su ga intelektualci i državnici,

not just as an intellectual idea, though,

ne samo kao intelektualnu ideju,

but also as a political program.

već kao i politički program.

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

I zato, u stvari, u 19.veku

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

Otomansko carstvo, koje je tada zauzimalo ceo Bliski istok,

uvodi veoma važne reforme -

made very important reforms --

reforms like giving Christians and Jews an equal citizenship status,

kao izjednačavanje građanskog statusa

hrišćana i jevreja

prihvatanje ustava,

accepting a constitution,

accepting a representative parliament,

predstavništva u parlamentu,

advancing the idea of freedom of religion.

i ideje religijskih sloboda.

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

I zato se Otomansko carstvo poslednjih decenija

turned into a proto-democracy, a constitutional monarchy,

pretvorilo u ustavnu monarhiju.

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

I sloboda je bila veoma važna politička vrednost tog vremena.

Similarly, in the Arab world,

Slično, u arapskom svetu,

there was what the great Arab historian Albert Hourani defines

postojalo je nešto što veliki arapski istoričar Albert Hourani

definiše kao "slobodno doba"

as the Liberal Age.

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

On ima knjigu: "Arapska misao slobodnog doba",

gde "slobodno doba" definiše

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

kao 19. vek i rani 20. vek.

Sasvim izvesno, to je bio dominantni trend

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

početkom 20. veka

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 imamo tu i jedan zanivljiv obrazac

u nastavku 20. veka.

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

jer vidimo oštar pad

u ovom islamskom modernizmu

And in place of that,

I na mesto toga,

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

islamizam raste

kao ideologija koja je autoritarna,

which is quite strident,

i prilično oštra,

which is quite anti-Western,

prilično anti-zapadnjačka,

i koja želi da oblikuje društvo

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

na osnovu utopijskih vizija.

So Islamism is the problematic idea

Dakle, islamizam je problematična ideja

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

koja je zaista napravila dosta problema

u islamskom svetu 20. veka.

And even the very extreme forms of Islamism

I kada su veoma ekstremni oblici islamizma

led to terrorism in the name of Islam --

doveli do terorizma u ime islama -

što je zapravo praksa za koju ja smatram da je 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 nisu tako mislili.

But there is a curious question:

Ali tu je zanimljivo pitanje:

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

ako je modernizam u islamu bio toliko popularan

u 19. i ranom 20. veku,

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

zašto je islamizam postao tako popularan

i u ostatku 20. veka?

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

I ovo pitanje, ja mislim,

zahteva pažljivu diskusiju.

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

U mojoj knjizi sam se bavio ovim pitanjem između ostalog.

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

I zaista ne morate da budete veliki naučnik da biste to razumeli.

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

Samo pogledajte političku istoriju 20. veka

i videćete da su se stvari dosta promenile.

and you see things have changed a lot.

Kontekst se promenio.

The contexts have changed.

In the 19th century,

U 19. veku,

when Muslims were looking at Europe as an example,

kada su muslimani posmatrali Evropu kao primer,

they were independent; they were more self-confident.

bili su nezavisni i mnogo samopouzdaniji.

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

U ranom 20. veku, sa padom Otomanskog carstva,

the whole Middle East was colonized.

ceo Bliski istok je bio kolonizovan.

And when you have colonialization, what do you have?

A kada imate kolonijalizam, šta još imate?

You have anti-colonialization.

Imate anti-kolonijalizam.

So Europe is not just an example now to emulate;

Tako Evropa nije primer za imitiranje;

it's an enemy to fight and to resist.

već je neprijatelj protiv koga se istrajno bori.

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

Tako da imamo oštro opadanje

liberalnih ideja u muslimanskom svetu,

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

i ono što vidimo je više od odbrambenog

rigidnog, reakcionarnog naprezanja

which led to Arab socialism, Arab nationalism

koje je dovelo do arapskog socijalizma i nacionalizma

and ultimately to the Islamist ideology.

i konačno, 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,

umesto njega smo imali

uglavnom sekularne diktatore

koji kažu da su oni država,

which say they're a country,

but did not bring democracy to the country,

ali nisu doneli demokratiju državi,

and established their own dictatorship.

i uspostavili su diktaturu.

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

I mislim da je zapad ili barem neke snage na zapadu,

particularly the United States,

posebno SAD,

made the mistake of supporting those secular dictators,

napravio grešku i podržao te sekularne diktatore,

thinking that they were more helpful for their interests.

misleći da će podržati njihove interese.

But the fact that those dictators suppressed democracy in their country

Ali zapravo su ovi diktatori

potisnuli demokratiju u svojim zemljama

and suppressed Islamic groups in their country

i potisnuli islamističke grupe

actually made the Islamists much more strident.

i zapravo načinili muslimane mnogo oštrijim.

So in the 20th century,

Tako smo u 20. veku

you had this vicious cycle in the Arab world,

imali taj začarani krug u arapskom svetu

where you have a dictatorship suppressing its own people,

gde imate diktatore koji potiskuju svoj sopstveni narod

including the Islamic pious,

uključujući i muslimanske vernike,

and they're reacting in reactionary ways.

i onda oni reaguju u skladu s tim.

There was one country, though,

Jedna država je doduše

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

uspela da izbegne

taj začarani krug.

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

I to je država iz koje sam ja: Turska.

Turkey has never been colonized,

Turska nikad nije bila kolonizovana

i ostala je nezavisna nacija nakon pada Otomanskog carstva.

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

That's one thing to remember;

Zapamtimo to.

Oni se nisu okrenuli anti-kolinijalnijalizmu

it did not share the same anti-colonial hype

koji nalazimo u ostalim državama u regionu.

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.

pre bilo koje od država o kojima pričamo.

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

1950. Turska je imala svoje prve slobodne i ravnopravne izbore,

which ended the more autocratic secular regime,

kojima je završena vladavina autokratičnijeg, sekularnog režima,

which was in the beginning of Turkey.

što je bio početak Turske.

And the pious Muslims in Turkey

I religiozni muslimani u Turskoj

saw that they could change the political system by voting.

videli su da glasanjem mogu da promene politički sistem.

And they realized that democracy is something compatible with Islam,

I shvatili su da je demokratija kompatibilna sa islamom.

compatible with their values,

sa njegovim vrednostima,

and they've been supportive of democracy.

i podržavali su demokratiju.

That's an experience

To je iskustvo

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

koje sve do skoro nisu imale

sve muslimanske nacije na Bliskom istoku.

until very recently.

Secondly, in the past two decades,

Drugo, u poslednje dve decenije,

thanks to globalization, thanks to the market economy,

zahvaljujući globalizaciji i tržišnoj ekonomiji,

thanks to the rise of a middle class,

zahvaljujući napretku srednje klase,

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

u Turskoj vidimo

ono što ja definišem kao ponovno rođenje modernizma u islamu.

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

Sada imamo više modernih vernika iz srednje klase.

Koji, ponovo, posmatraju tradiciju

who, again, look at their tradition

i vide da tamo ima izvesnih problema.

and see that there are some problems in the tradition,

Oni razumeju da to mora da bude promenjeno, ispitano i reformisano.

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

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

Vide Evropu

i vide ponovo primer koji će slediti.

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

Ili makar koji će ih inspirisati.

Zato proces Evropske Unije

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

i trud Turske da bude član EU,

podržavaju unutar Turske

has been supported inside Turkey by the Islamic pious,

muslimanski vernici,

while some secular nationalists were against it.

dok su neke sekularne nacije bile protiv toga.

Well, that process has been a little bit blurred

Proces je doduše bio malo pomućen

činjenicom da nisu svi evropljani srdačni po tom pitanju -

by the fact that not all Europeans are that welcoming,

but that's another discussion.

ali to je druga stvar.

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

Ali pro-evropski sentiment u Turskoj u poslednjih desetak godina

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

postao je gotovo islamski pokret

podržan od strane islamističkih liberala

and the secular liberals as well, of course.

i sekularnih liberala, naravno.

And thanks to that,

I zahvaljujući tome,

Turkey has been able to reasonably create a success story

Turska je uspela da stvori uspešnu priču

in which Islam and the most pious understandings of Islam

u kojoj islam i njegova najreligioznija shvatanja

have become part of the democratic game,

postaju deo demokratske igre

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

i čak doprinose demokratskom i ekonomskom

napretku zemlje.

And this has been an inspiring example right now

Ovo je bio inspirišući primer

za neke islamističke pokrete

for some of the Islamic movements

or some of the countries in the Arab world.

ili neke od zemalja u arapskom svetu.

You must have all seen the Arab Spring,

Sigurno ste svi videli "Arapsko proleće",

which began in Tunis and in Egypt.

koje je počelo u Tunisu i Egiptu.

Arab masses just revolted against their dictators.

I mase Arapa

koji su protestovali protiv svojih diktatora.

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

Zahtevali su demokratiju, zahtevali su slobodu.

And they did not turn out to be the Islamist boogeyman

I nije se ispostavilo da su islamističke baba-roge

that the dictators were always using to justify their regime.

koje su diktatori uvek koristili

da opravdaju svoj režim.

Rekli su: "Hoćemo slobodu i demokratiju.

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

We are Muslim believers,

Mi smo vernici, muslimani,

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

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

Of course, this is a long road.

Ovo je naravno, dug put.

Demokratija se ne može uspostaviti preko noći;

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

to je proces.

Ali ovo je obećavajuće doba

But this is a promising era in the Muslim world.

u muslimanskom svetu.

I ja verujem da je islamski modernizam

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

koji je nastao u 19. veku,

but which had a setback in the 20th century

ali je doživeo pad u 20. veku

zbog političkih nevolja u muslimanskom svetu,

because of the political troubles of the Muslim world,

is having a rebirth.

na putu da se ponovo rodi.

I mislim da je poruka iz toga

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

da islam,

despite some of the skeptics in the West,

uprkos nekim skepticima na zapadu

has the potential in itself

ima potencijal u sebi

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

da stvori sopstveni put ka demokratiji, sopstveni put ka liberalizmu,

create its own way to freedom.

sopstveni put ka slobodi.

They just should be allowed to work for that.

Treba im samo dozvoliti da rade na tome.

Hvala mnogo.

Thanks so much.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)