BY ERGUN BABAHAN
SABAH- Turkey is split between the people who favor and those who oppose the closure of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). This split, which was felt to a certain extent before last summer's general elections before picking up steam, can be seen clearly now, and this is the greatest danger facing Turkey, apart from the possible closure of the AKP and the Democratic Society Party (DTP). Most people don't try to understand people with different views and see them as enemies and the opposing side. It seems unlikely that such a country can continue to move forward. Here, the ruling AKP is at fault, but the rightness of criticizing a party facing the threat of closure like the sword of Damocles is debatable.
The AKP's trouble understanding secularists' worries and concerns has promoted this atmosphere. But the secularists haven't made any effort to understand conservatives either, warning that allowing young women wearing headscarf to enter universities would lead to a chaos. Conservatives are seen as a group who want religious rule, and their efforts to bring about modernization and change haven't been taken seriously.
In Taraf daily yesterday, Etyen Mahcupyan wrote that although conservatives have remained religious, they have been modernizing. Mahcupyan added that the secret of this issue, which is difficult to understand from a modernist point of view, is that religious people have begun adjusting their daily lives to the requirements of the modern world. He added that the headscarves' function of liberating women from the pressure of men and families is an extension of this process of change.
Now these people are being eyed suspiciously, and there are efforts to paint them as dangerous. So the upcoming Constitutional Court ruling won't be just about the future of political parties, but the nation's determination to live together in peace. Turkey has to create an atmosphere in which government institutions and the people don't exclude each other but try to understand each other. When everybody thinks that everyone else is trying to destroy them, society suffers. Our recent past shows the high cost of such polarizations.
A nation (including its ruling party and opposition) which learns lessons from history is capable of seeing the risks of such a course. It's everybody's duty to understand the `other.' Political parties aside, there will always be sectors of society who see each other this way. This is a picture which should disturb everyone. That's why democracy exists.