Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted governing party says it is on a mission: to prove that Muslim identity is compatible with modern democracy.
So, Turkey appears to be an ideal host for a two-day summit that began yesterday at which political and civil leaders from Muslim countries will address the struggle for democracy in the Islamic world. Yet, even within Turkey, the idea of combining democracy and Islam is a tense issue.
Erdogan's push has been hailed by some in the West who are looking for an example of an overwhelmingly Muslim country that has embraced democracy. But others in Turkey fear that heightened Islamic sentiment in the government could weaken the country's official secularism.
"I do not claim, of course, that Turkey's experience is a model that can be implemented identically in all other Muslim societies," Erdogan said in Washington earlier this year.
"However, the Turkish experience does have a substance which can serve as a source of inspiration for other Muslim societies, other Muslim peoples," he said.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher is participating in the congress, as are representatives from a dozen other countries, such as Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Bahrain and Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, representatives of Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose human rights records have been criticized by the US, will not be attending.
"Islam began to be perceived as a religion of terrorism," said Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, the government's spokesman at the conference.
"Let me clearly state that [terrorism] has nothing to do with the essence of Islam ... Democracy, human rights and rule of law are very urgent needs for the Islamic community," he said.
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