The ruling Justice and Development Party has heavily invested in education since it came to power in 2002: It built more than 100 new universities that look like a buildings surrounded by a library and a mosque; and it boasts for having created more than 1.2 million imam school students.
Scientific success, naturally, followed: We are proudly building our 100 percent Turkish aircraft, drones, tanks, satellites, helicopters, aircraft carriers; we have a space agency; but our fast trains derail one after the other; we need U.S. permission to export Turkish helicopters; our Turkish aircraft carrier is a Spanish ship; our helicopters are Italian; our 100 percent Turkish tanks await German engines, transmission and foreign armour. Never mind if 272 defence industry officials, mostly engineers, have immigrated to the West in recent months, citing, most notably, expectations that “the political situation in [Turkey] should normalise” and that "[defence companies] should operate without discriminating people [employees] based on their political ideas, life styles and faith.”
There will surely be new recruits to replace the deserters/traitors from among the huge and growing army of imamschool graduates. Before the infidel West has completed its Industry 4.0 our homegrown, faithful brains will be half the way into Industry 5.0. Useful software technologies will be key to scientific advancement.
A Turkish math teacher and user behind the controversial Twitter account named “Allah” has been convicted by a court. He was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison which the court converted to a fine amounting 7,000 Turkish liras.
The Twitter user had been sued by an unidentified citizen for “insulting religious values.” [read: insulting Sunni Muslim values.] The plaintiff said he would appeal the verdict because the suspect “should have been sent to prison for making fun of Allah and prophets.”
Do our leaders think what disaster would have happened if the plaintiff in this case, a good servant of God, had not complained to the prosecutors about the Twitter account? What if the suspect was not punished by a court?
We are racing ahead fast in the age of hi-tech but, apparently, not fast enough. Google, for instance, recently approved a new app to be downloaded from its application marketplace that allows users to report religious blasphemy directly to the Indonesian government. The app, known as Smart Pakem, allows users to report “deviant” religious ideas directly to Indonesian authorities.
Turkish engineers for sure could do better. Several years ago this columnist suggested the Turkish government should invent the world’s first “Muslim-metre” that would gauge an individual’s devoutness, a record that should be used in employing government workers, among other purposes. Unfortunately the call remains unanswered.Turkish Industry 5.0 should at once develop new software technologies to boost the country’s peace and welfare. Like an app that detects Muslims who pretend to be fasting during Ramadan; or those who secretly drink alcohol at their homes. Alternatively a new app could be developed to measure devotion to the leader:
- Do you love our president?
- Yes, I do.
- Well, let’s see... Sorry, the app says your love for him is measured at 5.8 out of 10. You don’t love him enough.
Or, a unique anti-terror app:
- Are you a crypto Gulenist?
- No, God forbid!
- Wait till I measure it ... Oh, this app says in the year 2012 you were 78.4 percent Gulenist. You’re under arrest.
Work harder, gentlemen. Where is Turkish Industry 5.0?
Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey’s leading journalists, was recently fired from the country’s most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum