Israeli Diplomat: Erdogan Is Light Islamist

Dr. Alon Liel, a former Foreign Ministry Undersecretary of Israel, who wrote a book entitled, “Demo-Islam: New face of Turkey,” described the Justice and Development Party (AKP) as “Light Islam.” Liel said; People ask me “Who is Erdogan?” I answer, “Light Islam.” This is a new version of Islam. It is modern and mild Islam. Erdogan built a wall between the place of Islam in politics and in society. That is what we were looking for.Liel claimed that a section of the Turkish society longed for an Islamic regime, but Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gul prevented this. Liel named “Erdoganism” as a kind of “Democratized Kemalism.” Liel said; It is an updated version of Kemalism. I was sure that the army would not stop Erdogan. Because even though it wanted to protect democracy and secularism, it did not want to lose the chance of Turkey to be a part of the West. If the Army fiercely opposed Erdogan this would have meant missing the chance of EU for Turkey.�