Turkey is a secular country, where secularism was won after hard fought struggle that involved nearly two decades of reforms under its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Secular Turkey has always been a friend of the West, and its ardent followers have chosen a lifestyle similar to that in the West.

Now, for the past few years, the Islamist AKP government in Turkey has taken gradual steps to detach Turkey from the Western civilization.

Here are some alarming facts:
- Based on a recent survey, in less than 5 years, the number of women wearing the Islamic "turban" quadrupled!!!
- Alcohol is being banned in an increasing number of areas.
- Almost no secular person can get a new government job unless she or his wife wears a headscarf.
- People who have been seen drinking alcohol in their private life lose their jobs every day.
- To be promoted in a top government job, you are de facto required to belong to militant Islamic organizations (which are actually illegal and banned since the 1920s). The most prominent one is the Gulen Islamic community.
- To win a government contract as a Turkish citizen, you have to be "alcohol free" and put your wife under a veil.
- To have access to information, media members are strongly urged to abstain from criticising the government.
- Prime Minister Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul have lacked the slightest tolerance to criticism, suing dozens of journalists and artists who drew their caricatures.
(E.g.: A highly respected secular journalist criticized the new President, and the Prime Minister openly asked him to leave the country if he does not like him!)

All of this sounds as a joke. But this is the reality of Turkey today in 2008. It is confirmed by hundreds of incidents every week, still reported by several brave journalists.

The worst of all, the AKP government uses the words "freedom" and "democracy" almost on an hourly basis. And the EU and the US governments buy that rhetoric, blinded by their unjustified beliefs that "moderate" Islamic Turkey can serve their short term goals better than "secular" Turkey.

But look at the government's own media (which is becoming mainstream already) and you can see their real face. You will easily notice a huge appreciation for Muslim suicide bombers all over the world, an abomination of any signs of a Western lifestyle as opposed to an admiration for the restrictions on the lifestyle of people in Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic dictatorships, and an unimaginably high regard for the Talibans in Afghanistan. Not to mention, the lack of tolerance to other religions.

People all over the world should realize that Turkey is heading towards an Islamic dictatorship. One should never forget that Adolf Hitler also used and "abused" democracy to serve his own vision.

We urge everyone to join this manifesto and support Turkey remain secular and oriented towards the West. Please invite anyone who believes in real freedom and real democracy.


TURKEY WILL FOREVER REMAIN MODERN, SECULAR AND A PART OF THE WESTERN WORLD. AN ISLAMIC/FASCIST REGIME IS ALREADY ON THE RISE. BUT AS WINSTON CHURCHILL TOLD THE NAZIS "WE SHALL FIGHT, WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER!"



Thanks for this writing.