Two "modernist-secularist" female celebrities made similar statements in the past few days. One of them is Pınar Kür, a famous writer and the other is Leman Sam, a famous singer.

Appearing on CNN Türk (the channel of White Turks), Kür said that she will not accept an invitation from the presidency because President Abdullah Gül's wife wears a hijab. She added, "I think the hijab is a sign of obscurantism. I do not see any distinction between the mentalities of a hijabi woman and a naked woman that poses in Playboy magazine. Both present themselves not as a subject but rather an object. One says that she will attract men by showing off her legs and breasts, while the other wears hijab not to seduce men."
Sam said, "Everyone has right to do what he or she wishes. But, I will never visit the Kaaba as I do not want to make Arabs earn money."
Well, while these opinions are welcomed by some parts of society, they also caused outrage among the others. But this did not prevent these two women from expressing their views. This was discussed in the past and is still being discussed today. These two typical statements are very significant to express the historical dichotomy in Turkey.

These statements that humiliate hijabi women and Arabs do not have constructive or destructive effects on the opinion.It merely shows us the rotten mentality of some pro-Western people in Turkey. Belittlement of religious people underlies the argument that suggests there is a growing polarization in Turkey. This belittlement is on such a high level that it unexpectedly takes people to almost a kind of racism.
Also in the past, there were hijabi women and bearded men in Turkey. However, they did not constitute a problem as they were servants and doormen of the secularist elites. When they obtained their civil rights thanks to the AK Party and its successful leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the hijab started to pose a threat. What bothered them was not the hijab itself but rather the equalization of religionists with the secularists. In short, totalitarian secularists were losing power and using secularism as a means of keeping control of the power, which is highly favored by the West.This is why outrage is directed at Erdogan.

The statements of the opposition party leaders and secularist media in Turkey are full of racist discourse. Imagine that the editor-in-chief of daily Hürriyet, the biggest media outlet of the secularists, says, "We will spit at Erdogan's tomb when he dies," in his column. Saying "Turkish media is under pressure," the same people complain about Turkey to the EU and U.S. They do not deploy any hijabi or democratic writers in their own media, whereas it is possible to see all kinds of writers in pro-government media. As an Armenian democrat, I am writing columns for religious-democratic Yeni Safak and central-democratic Daily Sabah.

Then who are the true seculars, democrats and liberals? The West has to see the fact that in Turkey, religionists represent the true secularism in democratic terms, while the so-called secularist-nationalists represent obscurantism. In this respect, Daily Sabah has provided a big opportunity for a true understanding of Turkey. Instead of following totalitarian and secularist media, which is in a constant power struggle with the AK Party and resort to anti-democratic ways, those who want to have an idea about Turkey may have access to more balanced opinions through Daily Sabah.