► (124) ◄ A Statement About Menderes' Konya Speech

A Statement About Menderes' Konya Speech

The Prime Minister says that his words have been deliberately misinterpreted. (From our private correspondent.)

Ankara: Prime Minister Adnan Menderes replied as follows to a question asked by the newspaper Zafer concerning press reports of his speech in Konya.

"I too have regretfully seen how the part about secularism (laiklik) in the speech I delivered to my esteemed fellow citizens in Konya, who had gathered in a large crowd in Government Square, has been misrepresented by certain ill-willed journalists. They wrote that some of things I said would pit brother against brother, that they challenged right-wing politicians, and had raised the ban on certain sacred matters, therefore infringing one of the main principles of the reforms.

"What struck my attention in all these articles, was that my speech in Konya had been distorted and misrepresented in line with the aims they were following and the results they wished to obtain. So that this question should be properly understood, I want to firstly to take a look at what I said in Konya, and then to repeat what the Anadolu Press Agency released that day. That day I said this:

"I now want to speak to you about my understanding of secularism. On the one hand, secularism means the separation of religion and politics, and on the other, it means freedom of conscience. We have not the slightest doubt or hesitation that religion and politics should be separate. As for the question of freedom of conscience: the Turkish nation is Muslim and will remain Muslim. It is an undeniable fact that if it is to remain Muslim in perpetuity, religion must be taught to it and to the coming generations, and the rules, injunctions, and principles of religion be taught to them. How- ever, when there is no religious instruction in schools, the citizens who want their children to be taught their religion are bereft of this opportunity. Muslim children should not be deprived of the entirely natural right of learning their religion. It cannot be said that such deprivation and lack of opportunity is congruent with freedom of conscience. To have religious instruction in our middle schools is an apt and appropriate measure.

"We do not believe that an irreligious society and nation will be stable and enduring. We know how even the most advanced nations persist in their attachment to religion after they have separated religion from the questions of politics and this world. It is not permissible that our noble nation be deemed bigoted when it has reached the level it has today. Just as