Turkey

Last week Turkey banned access to video sharing site YouTube because of a video..

...which has now been taken down, showing Greeks criticizing Turkey and insulting Turkey’s national flag and founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

As expected, some were quick to blame this block on "Muslims" which makes absolutely no sense as the ban was a response to an insult to the non other than Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk was the founder of "modern" Turkey and the man who tried to purge Turkey of its Ottoman and Islamic character by introducing a tradition which I call "Extremist Secularism". From replacing the Arabic script to abolishing religious law and education, Atatürk tried to wish away a long and rich period of history in which the Turks led the Islamic Empire. Given the character of Turkey and the extent to which Islam is ingrained in the fabric of the society, Atatürk's purge was the equivalent of a national lobotomy.

Trying to impose an ideology that is foreign to a nation can only be done by force, intimidation and coercion. And this is why the form of secularism in Turkey manifests itself in this sort of extremism and intolerance. Anything that remotely challenges the idea of secularism and the icons of secularism (in this case Atatürk himself) becomes a threat to the status quo and thus needs to be rooted out.

Take for example another ridiculous ban in Turkey - that of disallowing headscarfs in universities and in Parliament. To everyone (except possibly the French) this seems like a ridiculous measure - I mean, we're meant to embrace diversity aren't we?

Extremism in any form is bad news - even if the alternative to it is "not secularism". Trying to enforce "secularism above all other" will lead to something that looks uglier than fascism...