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"But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled."
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"The Frenchman works until he can play. The American works until he can't play; and then thanks the devil, his master, that he is donkey enough to die in harness. But the Englishman, as he has since become, works until he can pretend that he never worked at all."
"I see Lord Buddha in the 21st Century across national borders, across faith systems, across political ideologies, playing the role of a bridge to promote understanding to counsel patience and to enlighten us with tolerance and empathy."
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Explore more quotes by Recep Tayyip Erdogan
"However, democracy cannot be defined as the existence of parliaments and elections alone."
"I should like to repeat what I stated recently in the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia: It won't be the religion, but rather the world-view of some of its followers that shall be made current."
"A lasting solution to this problem will have an exceptionally positive influence foremost on the peoples of Palestine and Israel, as well as on the region and the international community."
"Even as we ought to accept that each country would progress with a different method and speed toward that goal, the standard for the expected end-state should not be lowered."
"It is essential that policy instruments be developed that would firmly establish democratization on the basis of social consensus and enable transformation on stable grounds."
"According to this view, democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background."
"There exists an unmistakable demand in the Middle East and in the wider Muslim world for democratization."
"A confidence problem exists on the part of the people of the region who desire democratic rule in principle, but remain suspicious of both the fashion with which democratization is presented and the purposes of the democratic world."
"In other words, the bar should be maintained at the level of a pluralistic and participatory democracy."
"Therefore, the observation must be explicitly made: In the Middle East and in the Muslim world, suspicions linger concerning the objectives of the West and notably the US."
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