RELIGION: ‘Islam Can be Democratic’

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Hilmi Toros

ISTANBUL, Apr 15 2004 (IPS) - A global "Congress of Democrats from the Islamic World" has called for "regular multi-party elections" in Muslim countries.

The meeting declared that Islam and democracy are compatible and can reinforce one another.

The declaration Wednesday followed a three-day meeting in Istanbul of "political practitioners" from mostly Muslim countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Delegates included present and former heads of state and government, cabinet ministers, members of parliament and political party leaders.

In a go at authoritarian regimes, the declaration demanded "free, fair and regular multiparty elections that enable a peaceful transfer of power."

It called also for freedom of expression, media pluralism, equal rights, the rule of law, abolition of torture, reduction of poverty and "specific advantages" in favour of women and youth. The declaration noted that Islamic societies need to apply rather than flout Islamic principles of tolerance, justice and participation.

"If parts of the Islamic world are not democratic, it cannot be attributed to Islam," Yemen’s Human Rights Minister Ms Amat al-Aleem Alsoswa told IPS in an interview.

Democracy in the Islamic world is a "historic necessity", she said. "If people want democracy, they can have it. It depends on their willingness to fight for it and the willingness of the political elite for change. Democracy is the proper medicine for relieving the ills of governance and development."

The young are becoming more active in pressing for democratic reforms, she said. Economic well-being would also play a role in bringing political change. Fundamentalism is "a topic of much concern" but not confined to one religion or culture, she said.

Some delegates said Islam should not be judged by the developments and violence in the Middle East or the Arab world. "We are Muslims and European and see no problem between the two," said former prime minister of Bosnia- Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija.

The congress produced a declaration but stopped short of a plan of action, Lagumdzija said, because each Islamic country needs to determine its own course in democratisation.

Host Turkey presented itself as an example of a predominantly Muslim but also a secular republic, but made no push to be emulated.

Delegates said they would follow up the congress with networking among "democrats from the Islamic World". President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal issued a statement to say that he would organise a Christian-Islamic dialogue next year.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, whose Islamic-rooted party has been in power for 15 months said "a Muslim society could transform and improve itself while protecting its own values and identity."

There are embryonic actions in the Islamic world already that may be called experiments in democracy, Gul said. But the general picture, he acknowledged, is one of gloom.

Leaders in most parts of the Islamic world are not accountable to anyone, he said. Islamic countries should introduce good governance, transparency and accountability, fundamental rights and freedoms, and uphold gender equality.

Two years in the preparation, and held with the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the first congress specifically of "Muslim Democrats" also took a swipe at U.S. President George W. Bush’s ideas on the application of universal democratic values in the Middle East. The congress rejected outside interference.

Nurcin Yildiz, analyst of Islamic societies, told the meeting that "the fear of many Muslims is that the notion of democracy and human rights, in the name of universal values could be a pretext for America to impose its values onto the Islamic and Third worlds."

Ahmet Akyurek, president of the non-governmental organisation Anatolian Development Foundation, said that with the fall of communism, the Christian Western world had lost its biggest enemy.

"Since then they are insistently trying to create a new enemy in order not to break their unity," he says. "This enemy is obviously Islam. Anything bad that happens is automatically related to Muslims. Even though country leaders in their official speeches state that this has nothing to do with Islam, yet they pinpoint by all means the Muslim religion."

As concerns intensify over a perceived ‘clash of civilisations’, the Istanbul gathering was not the first to promote better understanding of Islam and reform within Islamic societies. Turkey had hosted a powwow earlier between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Other forums too have considered democratisation in the world of Islam.

"There are problems facing Islam," King Abdullah of Jordan said during his recent trip to Turkey. "The silent majority should stand up and make its voice heard. We, as moderate Muslims, should stand up against the extremists and say ‘this is not what Koran says, this is not how Islam is’. We should say ‘enough’ and explain to the world that these people do not represent our beliefs."

Abdullah called for better education and for tackling the root causes of terrorism and radicalism, such as poverty.