Prof. John L Esposito continues his efforts to enlighten the academia on the importance of interfaith and intercultural dialogue work. He recently co-edited a book on the Gulen movement and its contribution to this vital area of work. The following is the text of an interview Dr. Esposito gave to Turkish Review.
An alternative elite group is emerging in Turkey, and Turkey is moving at a good pace in terms of democratization. Certain people speaking to the American audience define the debate in Turkey as a clash between secularists and Islamists, but it is more an issue of democratic versus more authoritarian politics.
Where do you see Turkish democracy moving towards?
I think that Turkey is moving forward at a good pace in terms of democratization. In the past, there was a legal sense that somehow the military was the protector of democracy and therefore could intervene in politics. That goes against the whole notion of democracy. I think what I see unfolding now is a process of capability. What is being said is that this is going to be a real democracy, and you cannot have sectors of the military thinking of or planning a coup, whether it's an actual coup or a soft coup. Also, if one looks now at the Turkish landscape in terms of positions in society, in government, in security, in the military or in the corporate world, we see an extended arena where there are people from different backgrounds. These people are becoming more and more represented.
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