Turks Knock on Europe’s Door With Evidence That Islam and Capitalism Can Coexist - New York Times

Turks Knock on Europe’s Door With Evidence That Islam and Capitalism Can Coexist - New York Times

The New York Times bends over backwards trying to explain that an anti-Western religion can thrive in the West.

“In European countries, workers take a 15-minute smoking break; here we take a 15-minute prayer break,” said Ahmet Herdem, the mayor of Hacilar, a town of 20,000 people in central Anatolia, a deeply religious and socially conservative region which has produced some of the best-known Turkish companies. “During this time, you are in front of God, and you can ask him to help improve business and this is good for morale.”

Many Europeans and secular Turks have dismissed this poor, largely agricultural region as the “other” Turkey, a non-European backwater where women in head scarves are more prevalent than businessmen in pinstripes. Islam, they argue, never went through its own Reformation and so is not receptive to capitalism and innovation.

Yet Kayseri and surrounding towns like Hacilar have produced so many successful Muslim entrepreneurs that the area has earned the title of “Anatolian tiger.”

Carpet weavers are being supplanted by textile companies that produce clothing for fashion houses in Paris and Milan, while sheep farmers now share land with giant furniture manufacturers. Companies that have started here include Orta Anadolu, which makes 1 percent of the world’s denim; Boydak Holding, a giant conglomerate that includes a bank, a transport arm and the largest Turkish cable factory; and Istikbal, a furniture company whose yellow and blue label can be found in stores across Turkey.

The region’s mix of Muslim values, hard work and raging capitalism has even prompted sociologists to coin a new term to describe the phenomenon: Calvinist Islam.

As Turkey seeks to join the European Union amid growing skepticism in Europe about the prospect of integrating a large agrarian Muslim country into one of the world’s biggest trading blocs, the case of Kayseri presents one of the strongest arguments that Islam, capitalism and globalization can be compatible.