Muslims, Turkey and ISIL

Muslims all over the world rightly hate to be held responsible for the atrocities committed by some groups or organizations (like ISIL recently) in the name of Islam. Yet, they (in fact, “we”) have the responsibility to engage in an open debate on those issues without seeking refuge in arguments about Islamophobia.

Similarly, all Muslims rightly hate to be asked to prove that they are “good Muslims.” However, we have to prove that we are honest and sincere about denouncing evil deeds in the name of Islam, without surrendering to a “persecution complex.” Finally, Muslims are justifiably skeptical about foreign meddling and interventions in the affairs of their countries. However, we first have to decide if foreign interference has always been unwanted in the past and is still undesirable. Moreover, we have to admit that the matter at hand is politics, political principles, interests and conflicts, rather than the West against Muslims or vice versa.  Then, we can have an honest debate on the issue of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Concerning the issue of ISIL, most Muslims still seem and sound at least quite “confused,” if not ambiguous, even in Turkey. There is no doubt that the conservatives/Islamist circles of Turkey do not identify with the brutal acts and radical ideology of ISIL. Nevertheless, ISIL has been criticized more for being a product and tool of “Western interests” than anything else. Besides, after ISIL entered Mosul, it has been argued that that it was not only a reaction of Sunnis against former Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki’s sectarian politics, but also the natural outcome of the exclusion of Sunnis from Iraqi politics in the wake of the U.S. occupation. As for ISIL’s declaration of a Caliphate...