The Difference Between Islam and Islamism?

The Difference Between Islam and Islamism?

There is simply no other religion that condemns and dehumanizes those who merely believe in other faiths, or those who prefer no faith, to this extent.



During the Ottoman Empire, non-Muslims, including Jews, were dhimmis (tolerated, second-class citizens in an Islamic state, and required to pay the jizya "protection" tax.)



The "modern" Turkish Republic, however, established in 1923, did not provide Jews or other non-Muslims with greater rights and liberties, either.



Even though Turkey is one of the few so-called "secular" Muslim countries, its Jewish, Christian, Alevi, Yezidi and other non-Muslim communities have been exposed to persecution and systematic discrimination -- including ethnic cleansings, massacres, pogroms, forced conversions, forced assimilation and forced displacement for decades under non-Islamist governments.