Turkey showed secularism, democracy, Islam coexists: Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar
CHICAGO
Turkey has showed to the entire world that secularism, democracy and Islam can coexist, said Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as she attended the 15th annual MAS-ICNA convention, which gathers Muslim communities in the United States, as a guest speaker.“Turkey showed to the whole world that secularism, democracy and Islam can live side by side. We have become a source of inspiration for other Muslim nations that change and a better future can be maintained,” said Erdoğan Bayraktar on Dec. 26 as she delivered a speech during a panel discussion on “Overcoming Challenges Facing the Ummah: The Turkish Experience.”
Erdoğan Bayraktar, who is the vice chair of the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) in Turkey, also praised the role of her country in providing aid programs to Muslim countries, noting that Turkey was the country that had provided the most humanitarian aid as far as its GDP is concerned and had always stood by people who demand democracy and freedom such as those in Egypt and Syria.
“The success story that Turkey wrote despite the challenges belongs not only to it, but to all the Ummah,” said Erdoğan Bayraktar.
She also talked about the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, narrating the counter-coup actions carried out by thousands of citizens.
“Something that has never happened before in the history of our republic took place that night. The people went to the streets to take back their democracy,” said Erdoğan Bayraktar.
“Dear friends, imagine for a second, that the White House or Congress was bombed by a terrorist group,” Bayraktar said. “How would you react? How would you like your government to react in the face of such violence? You would want retaliation and restoration of justice within the rule of law. That’s exactly what the Turkish people want.”
She added that Ankara was taking steps to “weed out those who support the attack on democracy.”
