Umstrittene Schweizer Sicherheitspolitik ... - ETH Zürich

Ausland
Loğoğlu Faruk: Let me first answer your question concerning Turkey’s
role in the EU with regard to religious fundamentalism. I always argue
that Turkey’s primary asset – with or without the EU – is not just its
democracy, but also and especially its secularism. When US-President
Barack Obama came to Turkey, he made an interesting observation. He
did not say that Turkey was a bridge; he said Turkey was a country where
different civilizations and cultures came together. That, I think, is a better
description than the bridge metaphor.
In a way, Turkey – with its democratic and secular character – contributed
to the EU even before joining it. In the course of the debates on
the European Constitution, there was a very lively discussion on whether
or not to include the Judeo-Christian basis of European civilization. Especially
some Catholic countries insisted it should be included. However, in
the end it was not. Turkey did not decide the outcome of this debate, but
it made its views known and did have an impact. Turkey’s intervention
was in favour of a secular underpinning to the European Constitution.
If Turkey protects and sustains its democratic-secular nature, this will
probably be the greatest asset we should be bringing to the EU. That will
tell us that religion is important and that the culture of religion is important,
too. True tolerance for differences in religion and culture, however,
comes and can only thrive on a platform of secularism. When religious
belief rests on a foundation of a secular mind-set, a devout Muslim and
a devout Christian need not clash. Without that secular underpinning,
one may well say to the adherent of a different religion, “I tolerate you”,
yet there will always be a “but”, some qualification, some exclusion of
the other.
Of course, there are reciprocal assets that Turkey and the EU will
bring to each other. I would say that when Turkey joins the EU, that will
prove – to us in Turkey and to moderates in other Islamic countries – that
a country with a predominantly Muslim population is able to become
a member of the EU. This would have a calming effect on the Muslim
communities already living in Europe.
As for your question on territorial defence, I would like to respond
by saying that even Turkey is not really facing a potential attack against
its territory. We have many problematic neighbours but we do not
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