Is the opposition’s candidate for presidency, İhsanoğlu, a bigot?

With the opposition’s candidate for presidency, I found out I stand no chance of being elected president in Turkey. For both my name and surname are very unusual and difficult to pronounce for Turks.

As someone who has seen many variations of my name and surname in badges (I have a collection of them; favorite being Barçın Yozgat), I was amused to see how people started to make fun of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) joint candidate Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. A lot of people are hearing his name for the first time and I don’t blame them. In contrast, I was saddened, in fact, felt terrified and angry when I saw negative comments on social media purely based on prejudices.

Although a rare name, the choice Ekmeleddin implies a conservative background due to the suffix “din/tin” just like in Necmettin, Selahaddin; etc. While I have known many people with similar names who were not exactly conservative; never mind; prejudices are not based on reality anyway.

So, in the eyes of some of the sympathizers of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), he first lost it from his name.

Second: when you look at his CV, you see the word “Islam” several times. İhsanoğlu served (1980 – 2004) as the founding Director General of the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA). He was also (2005 – 2014) the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Never mind the fact that it is the second largest intergovernmental organization after the U.N.
Just as Western Islamophobics equate “Islam” with terrorism, some CHP sympathizers equate backwardness with Islam.

İhsanoğlu...