Lessons from Taksim Square

The civilian protests in Turkey are not socioeconomic in nature. The protesters confronting Turkey's brutal regime are not hungry for food. They're after liberty.

Erdogan, in his aspiration for absolute power, and for erasing Turkish secularism and advancing Islamic strength, does not know when to stop. He used force to seize control of the media, and whoever wrote or broadcast anything against him was either fired or imprisoned.

Turkey today is the world champion (ahead of China) of jailed journalists. Erdogan institutionalized religious coercion and has gradually excluded women from the government and judiciary. Elected officials, among them mayors and members of parliament, are sitting behind bars.

The "Turkish model," which many in the West have praised as a shining example of how political Islam can coexist with democracy, has been exposed in all its repugnance as a dictatorship. The enraged Turkish protesters are motivated by the similar awakening fueling the Egyptian protesters in Tahrir Square -- who have quickly sobered up from the illusion of the "Muslim Brotherhood" revolution.

It is too early to determine how the Turkish protests will end. However, we have already learned, at least from what sparked them -- a clear lesson. Political-religious Islam (the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, the Hamas movement) is not willing and is unequipped to share power. It demands and forcefully takes complete, dictatorial, control of government.

Even if its rule begins moderately and democratically, it ends in extremism and tyranny. It ignores the needs of the secular public, even if its size is considerable; instead forcing strict Islamic law on it. Political-religious Islam does not believe in democracy, but it uses it to seize total, undemocratic control.

It is the Arabs of all peoples who best understand this lesson today. The Palestinians paying lip service to "national unity" know the truth: No other political entity can breathe (literally), under Islamist rule (Hamas, in the Palestinians' case).

All of the democratic Western countries still indulging in illusions, translating them into policies of appeasement toward the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood, still need to heed this lesson. First and foremost is the United States, which still courts the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and still pins its hopes on President Mohammed Morsi. Perhaps the hesitance to militarily support the Syrian opposition is the first expression of the understanding that the Islamists are not friends but an enemy -- firstly to all those who support modernization and democracy in their own countries.

It is important for all those preaching for "Palestinian reconciliation" to learn this lesson as well, and it would be wise to keep in mind that Erdogan, compared to Hamas' leaders, is a relatively tolerant and enlightened democrat.

The fault line splitting the planet is a chasm between those who champion democratic values and progress, and those who espouse extremist-religious fascism. It also splits the Arab-Muslim world, with no bridge in sight.