WITH his scruffy beard, baggy trousers, plastic slippers and prayer beads, Ihsan Eliacik seems the archetypal conservative Muslim. He is anything but that. At a gathering of anti-government protesters in Istanbul’s secular Besiktas neighbourhood he was applauded when he railed against Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after breaking the Ramadan fast, the Iftar (pictured), with a motley bunch of students, hippies and gays.
Mr Eliacik has emerged as the public face of anti-capitalist Muslims, a loose group of pious activists, who deplore what they see as the venality, hubris and ostentation of Mr Erdogan and a new Islamic bourgeoisie that has thrived under his Justice and Development (AK) party. “Islam is about social justice, not about rituals like praying five times a day, or women covering their head,” says Mr Eliacik. “Its rules are simple: don’t hurt others, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t remain silent in the face of wrong, and respect the environment.”
The group joined the protests that have ripped through Turkey. These were ignited by a violent police crackdown on greens protesting against plans to build a shopping complex over Gezi Park near Istanbul’s Taksim Square. The protests swiftly turned into general anger at Mr Erdogan’s determination, through giant construction projects, restrictions on booze, rants against abortion or censorship of the arts and the media, to impose his Islamist view.