Umstrittene Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik ... - ETH Zürich

Ausland
enhance Swiss security through its sustained promotion of economic
development, human rights, and good governance in the rest of the world.
To end with, and to give you an idea of my background, I should
perhaps add a word or two about what I did during the 35 years I worked
for the Turkish Foreign Service. I was mostly involved in political affairs
and, at one point, served as Deputy Undersecretary for Security Affairs.
I was also Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry for two years, which
exposed me to all aspects of security issues in Turkey.
I read the 1999 Swiss Security Report, and some of the observations
I have made are based on elements of that report. Since some of those
elements coincide with my own assessment, a few of my observations
may be familiar to you.
Diskussion
Catrina Christian: It is always good to have the opportunity to listen to
someone who is looking at things from a different point of view, even if
certain things you said – take the list of threats and dangers – are indeed
familiar to us. However, if you say that your view is similar to our view,
then that in itself is a message, a message that is very useful to us.
A question that comes immediately to my mind when I have the
opportunity to talk to a representative of Turkey is what your long-term
expectations with regard to Islamist fundamentalism are. Do you think
Islamist fundamentalism will turn out to be a passing problem, or do you
rather think it will be a long-term subject? We would not put Islamist
fundamentalism on the list of threats because in our view only people’s
actions, not people’s beliefs, can pose a problem.
Loğoğlu Faruk: Religion – its place, its role, and its influence – is on
the rise everywhere, not just in the Islamic world, but also in the US
and, I suspect, in Europe. Religion is not per se a negative influence, but
what is a very dangerous and explosive mix is religion and politics. We
are witnessing that especially in the Islamic world. However, it is not so
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