Yaroslav Trofimov Quotes

To try to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy is absolutely crazy. Islam has no understanding of the separation between church and state because they don't understand Islam to be a church.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salifist parties are a real force in the Egyptian society. No civil, liberal government can succeed, even after new elections, if the Islamists are forced to work underground as a foe and the country remains divided.

The Egyptian military plays positive and negative roles in Egypt, but the most significant single thing it did under Mubarak was to guarantee an Islamist victory once he left the scene.

The majority of the world's Muslims do not believe that terrorism is a legitimate strategy or that Islam is incompatible with democracy.

But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the major international question was the relation between Islam and democracy.

History suggests that the main obstacles facing Muslims in their attempts to achieve open political systems and democratic governments are 1) a deeply rooted authoritarian political culture, and 2) manipulated interpretations of the Koran.

I would like to pause for a moment and take stock of what we as the Muslim World are faced with today. We need to attempt to determine the issues and shortcomings that continue to hamper our progress at home. We have a spiritual heritage of peace, harmony, tolerance and affection. It should strengthen our inspiration for achieving freedom, peace, prosperity and democracy.

Islam and democracy are not only compatible. Their association is inevitable. In a Muslim society, one without the other is not perfect.

Why is the Muslim world plagued by instability, undemocratic governments, and sectarian violence?

No Muslim country is going the way of Turkey. Even Turkey has stopped going the way of Turkey.

I do not believe in a clash of civilizations in this world. As Turkey we are in an ideal position to be a bridge….We have been able to show that a Moslem country can have a strong democracy…. We have to have a common platform to fight against terrorism. All terrorists are bad no matter what religion the come from.

An Islamic democracy is not intended to be a "theo-democracy," but a democratic system founded upon an Islamic moral framework, devoted to preserving Islamic ideals of pluralism and human rights as they were introduced in Medina, and open to the inevitable process of political secularization. There can be no question as to where sovereignty in such a system would rest. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people can be established or demolished solely through the will of the people. After all, it is human beings who create laws, not God. Even laws based on divine scripture require human interpretation in order to be applied in the world. In any case, sovereignty necessitates the ability not just to make laws but to enforce them. Save for the occasional plague, that is a power God rarely chooses to wield on earth.

Democracy can shield the Islamic community from autocrats

We are Muslim democrats, not Islamists

There can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it.

The principles and form of government that form the basis of democracy are compatible with Islamic values.

Many Muslims in Saudi Arabia believe that the core values of Islam, namely acknowledgement of God's sovereignty and basic human equality before God, are themselves compatible with liberty, equality and free political choice.

Democracy is not a Beloved Republic really, and never will be. But it is less hateful than other contemporary forms of government, and to that extent deserves our support.

The United States of America or the Western countries, they don't have a problem with Islamists as long as they are neoliberal capitalists and promoting the economic order. And the best example is the petro-monarchies. The petro-monarchies, they don't want democracy. They say there is no democracy in Islam. But they are within the economic system.

In the United States, the day when you pay your taxes is a day of mourning because this alien force - the government - is coming to rob you of your hard-earned money. That's the general attitude, and it's a tremendous victory for the opponents of democracy, and, of course, any privileged sector is going to hate democracy. You can see it in the healthcare debate.

The problems that exist on Wall Street today go to the center of a debate in this country about wealth and democracy. We cannot keep our democracy if those who are in charge of handling the engines of our economy are not honest with their shareholders. That's why there is a role for government regulation here. That role for government is breaking up the monopolies, insisting on public disclosure, insisting on public audits, insisting on restitution whenever someone has been cheated.

You just can't have a position where some pumped up bunyip potentate dismisses an elected government.

We are not seeking revolution. We just want democracy.

The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management.