In Turkey, Can Islam and Democracy Coexist?

For over a thousand years, Istanbul (then Constantinople or New Rome) was the capital of the Christian Roman Empire. For nearly 600 years, it was the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Today it remains on the cusp of continents and may well hold the key to stability in the Middle East.

As virtual dictatorships throughout the Arab world crumble – Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria – America has learned a costly lesson. The Islamic reality of the Middle East is neither monolithic nor predictable. The complexities of Islam in the modern world and the currents of fanaticism and radicalism cannot be regulated by Western-style democracy or military intervention.

However, there is one country in the Islamic world where the democratic formula seemingly works: Turkey. The past 30 years have seen Turkey evolve from a secular military sovereignty into the first truly possible Islamic democracy. The man behind this evolution is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and now is his moment. Erdogan has successfully re-introduced Muslim traditions into Turkish society without breaching utterly the Kemalist levee – the principles upon which Turkey was founded. But in order to succeed in promoting democracy, he must embrace the very core of democratic values, which includes the protection of minority rights. . . .

Continue reading this article, written by Anthony Limberakis, and Jordan Sekulow on Washington Post.