Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu: A very good choice

In the past couple of months, a curious theme in Turkish politics was the candidate that opposition parties would show for the presidential race in August. It had become clear that the governing AKP (Justice and Development Party) would support its leader Tayyip Erdoğan for this top post. So, the opposition needed a name who could challenge this “Great Master.” A candidate who would reflect the values of only the CHP (People’s Republican Party) or the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) would be destined to lose. What was needed was a “joint candidate” as MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli put it well.

But who would this “joint candidate” be? This was speculated for weeks, but finally, June 16, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his counterpart Bahçeli announced their choice: Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, a long-time professor of history of science and the former president of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

This, I believe, is a very smart decision for two reasons. First, Prof. İhsanoğlu is a very qualified man who would be a perfect fit for Turkey’s presidency. Secondly, he has the Islamic credentials that might balance those of Erdoğan in a way that no secularist candidate could.

İhsanoğlu’s long career as an academic is already very impressive, but it is his work at the OIC, which he directed for a decade between 2004-2014 that made him globally famous. Under his supervision, the old-school and uber-conservative organization went through significant reforms, under the motto, “modernization and moderation.” The concept of “human rights” was introduced to OIC texts, while İhsanoğlu had many efforts toward dialogue between Islam and...