American Islamophobia, Obama and Turkey

While revealing the limits of American tolerance for the “other” and how misguided their conception of Islam is, the project to build an Islamic center near “Ground Zero” has left President Barack Obama in a difficult situation. Stuck between two options, either positioning himself firmly on the side of freedoms America is said to cherish or distancing himself from that position as his identity as a politician requires, President Obama felt obliged to retreat from his earlier declaration of support for the Islamic center project at the Iftar dinner he hosted at the White House. The president, who had said the day before that it was American Muslims’ constitutional right to build the Islamic center, said the day after that he would not comment on if the project was a wise idea or not.

Although some of Obama’s liberal supporters described his retreat as intellectual cowardice, his opponents’ attacks continued apace. For example, Newt Gingrich, who is speculated to be a prospective Republican presidential candidate and, who has expressed irresponsible and populist remarks lately, did not stop charging the President of “pandering to radical Islam.”

Establishing a lousy association between Obama, Muslims and Islam, especially radical Islam for that matter, no doubt benefits the Republicans. They carry this out in a very systematic way too. It is not, therefore, without reason that one in five Americans think that Obama is a Muslim. These widespread prejudices among Americans against Islam and Muslims are in fact turning the image, which the Republicans try to create of Obama, into a political risk. One out of three Americans also think, according to Time magazine, that a Muslim should not even be allowed to run for American presidency. Four out of every ten Americans hold negative feelings for Muslims.

In such a tough atmosphere, Obama would be expected to normally avoid expressions and gestures that might be perceived sympathetic to Islam for his own political survival. After all, he already elicited a lot of suspicions because of his family’s roots in Islam, the fact that he spent part of his childhood years with his step-father in Indonesia in a Muslim environment and his middle name, Hussein. At the same time, as the president of the U.S. he must foster understanding of and tolerance towards Muslims and Islam. Otherwise, not only would he not be honoring his oath to remain faithful to the American constitution, he would also be overlooking the international interests of his own country.

The Republicans are abusing the Islamophobic feelings, which spread more after the 9/11 attacks, for their own narrow political interests. They handled Islam totally different when they were in firm control of the White House for eight years and Congress for six years during George W. Bush’s term. George W. Bush visited a mosque in Washington a few days after the 9/11 attacks and continuously emphasized that Islam is a peaceful religion, and this was not because he fell for the “dark eyes and dark eyebrows” of the Muslims. It was the interests of the United States that obliged him to act that way. If a few zealots had at the time conducted bloody acts against Muslims in order to take revenge for 9/11, this would have caused colossal damage to domestic order and peace inside the U.S. and for American foreign policy. Appealing to the Muslims, whose population is currently hovering around 1.5 billion and who live in the most important geopolitical areas in the world, is a chief American interest. Especially following its invasion of two strategically significant Muslim countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, based on its purported “War on Terror,” the United States accords greater significance to its public diplomacy so that its political moves will not be perceived as a “War on Islam.” The American president is therefore not only the commander in chief of the army but also the chief actor in U.S. public diplomacy. I assure you that even if Americans elected Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin or even someone like Hitler, the elected U.S. president would have played the same role, no matter if he or she liked the Muslims or not…

I am not implying that Americans are delusional enough to elect a leader like Hitler. Although there are a few, they form the minority. In spite of intensive propaganda and misbehaviors of some Muslims, the majority of Americans are not yet hostile to Islam and Muslims. The surveys have shown that those Americans who personally know an American Muslim tend to view Islam more positively. The fact that only four out of ten Americans personally know a Muslim tells us why such prejudices still prevail in American society and how they can be overcome. This comforting detail, of course, is not to say that the current atmosphere in the United States for Islam and Muslims is risk-free, will lead to peace or even help U.S. foreign policy. The solution is to be found, as always, in education, engagement, dialogue, mutual understanding, respect and wisdom.

When it comes to Turks, the particular conception of Muslims in the minds of Americans does not include us. Only few Americans actually know that Turks are Muslims. Therefore, Turks and Turkey are not yet affected from the negatives image of Muslims and Islam in America. Yet, we should note the recent increase in the number of comments and news in the American media that try to establish a positive or negative association between Turkey and Islam. Regarding the Turkish-American relations, it is not practically possible for Turkey to have a “model partnership” with an Islamophobic country. In other words, the gradual rise in Islamophobia in the U.S. might upset Turkish-American relations in the long term.