14 December 2011

Senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader says Turkey’s secularism not suitable for Arab states

Turkey’s Western-like secular political structure is not suitable or compatible for Middle Eastern countries in the post-Arab Spring era, Ali-Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said at a news conference.

Turkey’s model of “secular Islam” was a version of western liberal democracy and is unacceptable for countries that are going through what he said was an “Islamic awakening,” the Financial Times reported Velayati as saying on Tuesday. [Al Arabiya News] Read more [via National Secular Society]