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Does the fact that the majority of Turkey's population is Muslim form a hindrance to its EU membership? According to a recent policy advice by the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), the answer is an adamant 'no'. Why is this issue of Turkish Islam relevant? After all, Turkey should not be judged by standards other than the Copenhagen criteria. The answer is that the public debate outside 'Brussels' will not be limited to these official criteria. Many people in Europe are worried about Turkey's 'Islam factor'. They believe that Muslims are (potentially violent) fundamentalists who want to establish a theocracy. By explicitly examining the role of Turkish Islam and Muslims in Turkey, the WRR wants to contribute to a well-informed European public debate on Turkey's accession. - Bij de vraag of Turkije lid kan worden van de Europese Unie speelt de islam officieel geen rol. Maar binnen en buiten de politiek vragen velen zich af of Turkije als moslimland wel past bij de Europese Unie. Kan de islam samengaan met democratie, mensenrechten en de scheiding van religie en staat? In dit rapport gaat de Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid in op de plaats van religie in de Europese Unie en in Turkije. Het leerstuk van de scheiding van religie en staat vormt hiervan een belangrijk onderdeel. Naast het rapport bevat deze publicatie ook de verkenning van Erik-Jan Zürcher en Heleen van der Linden Zoeken naar de breuklijn, die onder meer ingaat op de houdbaarheid van het wijdverbreide beeld dat er een culturele en religieuze 'breuklijn' loopt tussen Turkije en Europa. Zij hebben deze studie speciaal voor het WRR-rapport geschreven.

Dit boek beoogt een kennismaking te geven met het recht van de klassieke islam en van de contemporaine islam-georie͏̈nteerde wereld. Het is in het bijzonder een beschrijving van het islamitische personen-, familie- en erfrecht, de onderdelen van het islamitische recht die tot op de dag van vandaag in de nationale wetgevingen van de landen van de islamitische wereld doorwerken. Daarnaast volgen inleidingen op het vermogensrecht, bestuursrecht, strafrecht, procesrecht en internationaal publiek- en privaatrecht, onderdelen van het islamitisch recht, die in beperkte of indirecte zin nog van invloed zijn op het hedendaagse recht van islam-georie͏̈nteerde landen

Hans Schippers assesses the position of the Islamic AK Party led by Prime Minister Erdogan in the light of the relationship between religion and the state in Turkey. Although the AK Party won the general elections in 2002, Erdogan has the Damocletian sword of a military coup hanging above his head ever since. The military consider themselves to be the guardians of Kemal Atatürk's legacy of Turkey as a secular state. In the past decades they intervened four times in politics, the most recent one the 1998 'post modern' coup to oust the Islamic Prime Minister Erbakan, whose approach to Iran, critical opinions on the EU and NATO and favourisation of religious education had gone too far in the eyes of the military. Erdogan cleverly avoided the mistakes of his predecessor. He declared the AKP to be a conservative, pro-EU and pro-NATO party that would seek adherence to the mostly christian-democratic European Peoples Party. His government would be liberal and respect people with different opinions on religion. Erdogan did well in regional elections of 2004. However, he met with growing criticism in the following two years. The organisational structure of the AKP is undemocratic and the number of women active in the party is far too limited, his critics remarked. The party is accused of conducting a campaign of 'creeping islamisation' of Turkish society. The military closely monitor every decision of the government near two-thirds majority in parliament and he could They have the support of the secular president have a party member elected. This would increase Sezer who has amended or rejected a large number the chances of military intervention. Erdogan will of Erdogans proposals. A crucial moment for the probably opt for a compromise candidate. However, AKP-government will be the election by parliament until the arliamentary elections of November, the of a new president, coming May. Erdogan has a political.