Jamie Howell 
Staff Writer

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, a panel of experts met at UNC-Greensboro to discuss terrorism and violence as it relates to faith and ideology.

The panel was called “War? Terrorism? It is bloody good business!” and the main focus was on Islam in France and the broader meaning of terrorism around the world.

On the panel was Edip Yuksel, J.D., professor of law at the University of Arizona

and the co-founder of Muslims for Peace, Justice and Progress (MPJP). Another member of the panel was Dr. Roberto Campo, a French professor at UNCG, the director of the International and Global Studies Program and the Graduate Director for French and Francophone Studies.

“I am not a scholar in an ivory tower.” Yuksel said. “At the same time, I am a rebel on the street.”

He said he has an understanding of the causes of war and terrorism that is different from a scholar’s understanding because he has seen it first-hand.

Yuksel said that he was held in prison in Turkey for four years because of his beliefs.

“I was tortured in Turkish prisons, but those torturers, they were trained by the United States,” Yuksel said. “This country which I love so much and I hate so much.”

“What does terrorism mean?” Yuksel asked the crowd. “To me, the issue is very simple, the causes are out there glaring but we are blindfolded. We aren’t honest about our definition of terror. If terror is killing civilians to reach a political gain, the biggest terrorist organization in the world in the United States,” he said, referencing events such as the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“But there is difference between us and them,” Yuksel said.

He said that “These barbarians” in ISIS chop people’s heads off and “we don’t do these kinds of things, we’re civilized.” He said with an air of irony. “What do we do? We drop the bombs”

Yuksel discussed Iran and the bombing of the country saying that the U.S. thought “we [were] dropping democracy on those people.” He said that many people died as a result of those bombs, but the U.S. only cared about the heroes who dropped the bombs.

“We didn’t even count the dead there,” Yuksel said.

Yuksel said he loves the freedom of voice in the U.S. but fears the military industrial complex and the culture of violence that he sees. According to Yuksel countries make a profit from conflict around the world.

“It is good business to have conflict,” Yuksel said.

He stated that countries scam citizens with conflict to make money and take their freedoms away. “

Forgive me, I am passionate because millions of people are dying because of our disinterest, our cowards,” Yuksel said.   

According to Dr. Campo, the French became involved in the Middle East and North Africa as long ago as the 11th century during the crusades, and French involvement continues on even today.

Dr. Campo stated that France has had a long tradition of secularism, and that became expressed in the law of 1905, which officially established the separation of church and state.

According to Dr. Campo, the law wasn’t originally directed towards Islam; it eventually became an issue in some cases. For example, in public schools, girls weren’t allowed to wear a Hijab.

Strict separation of church and state was infringing on people’s abilities to practice their faiths, according to Dr. Campo, and things didn’t start to improve for Muslims in France. According to Dr. Campo the law of March 15, 2004 made it illegal to wear religious items in public schools at all.

In 2009, according to an article in The Telegraph, French president Nicolas Sarkozy publicly condemned the Burka saying “it is a sign of subservience.” He continued saying “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic.”

According to Al Jazeera, after the November attacks on Paris, President François Hollande proposed new security changes in the constitution which would include expanding and enlarging the police force all across the country, stretching surveillance power and the shutting down of religious buildings whose occupants have been deemed a threat.

According to Dr. Campo, the population of France is 66 million, and the Muslim population in France is about 6 million. He said that Muslims in France face discrimination, limited housing opportunities and unemployment.

Dr. Campo stated that the unemployment rate for Muslim regions of France is about 50 percent, and in order to address how high that number is, he said that the overall unemployment rate in France is 10 percent, and that in the U.S. it’s currently at about 5.5 percent.

Dr. Campo discussed at the end of his section of the panel a French professor named Olivier Roy, who wrote “France’s Oedipal Islamist Complex.”

Dr. Campo said that Dr. Roy points out that terrorist attacks in France, such as what happened in November and the Charlie Hebdo, attack were committed by young people who were born and raised in France and who are using Islam as a way of waging their own personal wars.

The final panel member was Mark Sandlin, a minister at Vandalia Presbyterian church; he didn’t give a designated speech, and he said he preferred to just answer questions at the end. The panel’s moderator was Dr. Ali Askerov, an assistant professor in the department of peace and conflict studies.