Tag: AKP

Turkey’s Creeping Islamization

While Western diplomats persist in calling Turkey a “model,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) continues to tweak relatively minor rules to change Turkish society fundamentally. He makes no secret of this. “Do you expect the conservative democrat AK Party to raise atheist generations? This may be your business and objective but not ours,” he declared last February.

Previously, the Turkish parliament tightened licensing on alcohol sales, and has increased taxes more than 700 percent on beer. The ban on alcohol advertisements forced Efes Pilsen, one of Turkey’s most popular basketball teams, to change its name.

Now, the Turkish parliament is pushing along its crusade against alcohol to new levels. The Islamist-dominated parliament (the AKP holds 326 out of 550 seats) will reportedly change a labor law to enable employers to fire without severance any employer who shows up at work having drunk alcohol, as opposed to being drunk with alcohol. Accordingly, if a businessman consumes a single glass of wine or beer at a business lunch, he can be terminated immediately.

Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute conference in Gdansk, Poland, in August 2005, senior State Department official Daniel Fried once commented that Erdoğan’s AKP was simply the Islamic equivalent of a European Christian Democratic party. Alas, it increasingly appears that the State Department has sacrificed the ideal of a Western-oriented Turkey upon the altar of political correctness.

Topics: AKP, Islamism, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

via Turkey’s Creeping Islamization « Commentary Magazine.

May 21, 2012
AS HE LAY DYING by Cem Ryan

AS HE LAY DYING

By Cem Ryan

As he lay dying in those autumn afternoons of 1938, Atatürk had one abiding desire. He longed for those distant days on horseback, just one more afternoon riding in the hills above the Bosphorus. He would go again with his military academy classmate, Ali Fuat, to the sultan’s hunting lodge in Alemdağ. They would once more picnic in that nearby meadow. Oh those cadet days, those days of youth. To be twenty-one again, rejuvenated. But by then the lodge was in ruins and Ataturk could barely walk.

Such is Turkey today. The nation of Atatürk is in ruins, his legacy near death. Think otherwise? Go see the ruination that today is Alemdağ. Go see where once grew the forests on the hills above the Bosphorus.

An emasculated army, a captive media, a politically compromised judiciary, and incompetent political opposition have sealed the fate of secular Turkey. These are the hammer blows to Atatürk’s dream.

Like Alemdağ, Turkey is a ruined landscape. Political corruption and environmental plunder have risen to the level of popular culture. Hundreds of those opposed to the ruling power are in jail. Listening devices and wire taps abound. Comments and demonstrations are stifled. The tone of public political discourse remains rancid. Insults, sex tape disclosures, threats and arrogant boasts are the fare fed to the passive Turkish public. The prime minister and his business cronies propose vast and bizarre infrastructure plans. They will dam all the rivers in order to generate electricity. They will dig a ridiculous canal from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. And they will do it, the Turkish public being what it is. Money. Money. Money. Capitalism on amphetamines.

Meanwhile the needs of the vast armies of the unemployed and the impoverished go unaddressed. The ruling party presents outlandish schemes as fait accompli, so confident is it of an election landslide. Imagine a canal that circumvents the Bosphorus. Imagine two new cities built to extend the already polluted and seething Istanbul. Why? To make Istanbul safer from earthquakes, they say. Such is what passes for logical thinking. Bizarre? Yes, well then consider the prime minister’s plan to build a nuclear reactor along a fault line. Dangerous? Not to worry. It’s no more dangerous than the cooking gas container in your kitchen assures the prime minister at the top of his lungs. So much for the land that Atatürk started on the path to science and knowledge. Turkey lies dying, its natural resources plundered, its brain lobotomized.

Even Atatürk’s Address to Turkish Youth is attacked by the media jackals. Undemocratic, intolerant, authoritarian mentality, illiberal, paranoiac, racist, fascist, are some of the labels that these hacks use to describe Atatürk’s words. How sensitive these petty scribblers are to his cautions about internal enemies, and those in power collaborating with foreign governments. They throw their words, these so-called journalists without being aware of time, history or treacherous religious underbelly that has always prevailed in Turkey. It is no mystery why the Turkish society has been so violent. Just observe the way they drive their cars, cheer on their favorite football teams, conduct their political discussions. It is really ludicrous.

Among many other things—military leader, tactician, strategist, political scientist, social philosopher, educator—Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a revolutionary thinker. He placed his trust in education and science. He trusted the future. For him, the future resided in the nation’s youth, not only in age but in mind. Such “youth” saw the way to a better world through the enlightened, founding principles that Atatürk embraced and applied to the new, revolutionary Turkey. That Turkey is dead.

The Turkish War of Independence was a great struggle for survival. The improbable victory was against all odds. The occupying great and not-so-great powers were sent away as they came. The backward, repressive five-century rule by religious dictators called sultans was consigned to the garbage dump of history. Youth was served. Instead of dark-minded ignorance there was the promise of education and enlightenment. Turkey was a young, revolutionary country, rid at last of the exclusive claims of religion, structured and heading towards a democratic future. But guess what? Turkey has a new sultan now, one with a sour face and an attitude to match. And the likes of him and his army of business jackals and covered women have the field to themselves. The treacherous political opposition works for its archaic itself. Turkey heads headfirst into the abyss, sleeping all the way.

A parting word on the political opposition. On Election Day, 12 June 2011, twenty-three separate parties stand in opposition to one party, the ruling party, the AKP. Representation in parliament requires gaining at least 10 percent of the total vote. The leading opposition party, the CHP, the party of Atatürk was the only opposition party sure of gaining some representation. It takes a special brand of ineptitude to be unable to find common ground to unify the opposition, an opposition that represents the majority of the total vote. The CHP, like Nero, fiddles around in nonsensical internal fights and petty arguments. But take a bold, active stand? Never! Rally the people? Impossible! It has been the best friend AKP. Who could imagine, a political weakling bearing the name “Ataturk’s Party.” Shameful!

Atatürk’s Turkey is in an existential struggle against the forces of fascist Islam. The Turkish army, the guarantor of Atatürk’s legacy, licks its wounds in silence. It’s generals run to America for help and instructions. The political opposition is doomed by its smug, selfish arrogance. The Turkish people, Atatürk’s beloved people, stand paralyzed, like the sheep on the eve of Kurban Bayram. Whither Turkey? Don’t ask.

Atatürk’s close friend, biographer and confidant, Falih Rıfkı Atay, wrote in 1968: “What would Atatürk do if he were alive today? Shall I tell you? He would curse the lot of us.” *

Cem Ryan

Istanbul

15 May 2012.

*Atay, Falih Rıfkı. The Atatürk I Knew, Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi, Istanbul, 1973, p. 252.

May 15, 2012
Turkey: Modern Assertiveness in a Globalized World

Ari Katz

Turkey is a predominantly Sunni Muslim, ethnically Turkish country with a Kurdish minority. Its role in several ongoing geopolitical sagas, its increasingly public Islamic conservatism, and its newly assertive nature has positioned Turkey squarely on the international stage.

Historical Background

After a brutal war for independence from Western WWI victors, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk led a group of military officers who successfully instituted secular and western reforms, including the restriction of Islam in the public sphere. Heralded as exemplary, “Kemalism” drove Turkey’s destiny to become a successful, liberal and modern power.

Following World War II, Turkey moved forward as a largely secular, constitutional parliamentary republic that became increasingly allied and integrated with the Western geopolitical framework.

Coups and the subsequent splintered political landscape led to the ascendancy of the socially conservative, fiscally liberal Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by the current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The AKP, elected in 2002, has presided over fiscal growth, a push to join the European Union (EU), and an institutional social conservatism.

Domestic Politics

Turkey has leaned more conservative in recent years, but maintains a relatively stable political atmosphere with healthy civic participation. The success of the reigning AKP, with Erdogan at the helm, has sparked fears of a developing Islamist shift. Although this conservatism appeals to elements of the Turkish population, for others, it runs counter to ostensibly important secular norms and curbs on Islam in the public sphere. Whether this Islamist characterization is true, Erdogan rejects the label to avoid the associated stigma from both external and internal actors.

Aside from the AKP, two other major political parties are acting in Turkey: the center-left leaning Republican People’s Party and the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party. The former espouses a populist, secular ideology in the tradition of Ataturk, while the latter has a nationalist Pan-Turkic agenda.

A third organization, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), is a militant, leftist revolutionary organization that claims to represent the interests of the ethnic Kurdish population in Turkey. The PKK is banned in Turkey and has been designated as a terrorist group, but it continues a sporadic armed insurrection against the Turkish government in its quest for increased Kurdish minority rights and the eventual establishment of a separate Kurdish state.

Foreign Politics and Geopolitical Significance

Turkey has become an increasingly strong, assertive regional power that has shown some foreign policy independence from the US strategic framework, while still remaining a key American/NATO ally in the Region. In this respect, Turkish military power is burgeoning on the heels of an evolving modernization program, and its participation in the US F-35 Stealth Fighter Program could dramatically alter power dynamics with its neighbors.

Turkey is also experiencing a recent surge in soft-power. Its recent rebukes and strained dealings with Israel over the Palestinian issue have earned it admiration across the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). Synergizing with this, Turkey also propagates a populist image by claiming support for popular uprisings in the Arab world. The flagship aspect of this policy has been the public criticism of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and limited logistical support of the Syrian rebels in the current uprising.

With regards to Tehran, historically closer ties have given way to recent tension both over Ankara’s negative disposition towards Iran’s ally in Damascus, and its participation in the NATO antiballistic missile system. This cooperation with the NATO program is a manifestation of Turkey’s increasing desire – seen also in its bid to join the EU – for increased integration with the West, especially Europe. Far from assured, however, this quest for EU membership is challenged by European fears of an ostensible Turkish Islamic resurgence under Erdogan along with an indecisiveness stemming from recent internal EU political and economic upheaval.

A burgeoning power at the crossroads of the West and Asia and the nexus of many critical international issues, Turkey will continue to play a key role in regional and global politics. It is a critical broker among internal MENA actors and ultimately between the West and the East.

via Turkey: Modern Assertiveness in a Globalized World | Fair Observer°.

May 9, 2012
General Asymmetrica Rhymes With America

“Probes are ‘asymmetric, psychological,’ says ex-army chief” shouted the headline in the Hurriyet Daily News, another media mouthpiece of the Turkish government, this one for consumption by English speakers. It seems that former Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ claims his recent jailing was designed to dishonor the Turkish Armed forces. “Freedom is not only about being outside,” said the general, “I feel just as free in here.” Surely Başbuğ is joking. There are hundreds of others in jail on trumped up charges, some for almost five years. And the general feels free? Free from what? Responsibility? You, sir, continue to delude yourself. You and your military predecessors and successors are responsible for the demise of Atatürk’s secular republic. You all comprise a long line of general officers who seem to have forgotten what motivated you to the noble endeavor of defending your secular, democratic country.

Generals like Işık Koşaner, who succeeded Başbuğ, and a year later suddenly resigned along with the leaders of the army, navy and air force with the feeble excuse that they could no longer protect their subordinates. This spineless, unexplained act was the final blow that destroyed the Turkish army, and the hope and security of the Turkish people. It was a self-inflicted wound.

Like Yaşar Büyükanıt who asked for a sign of support from the people. Millions of Turks responded. They filled the streets for a series of wildly enthusiastic demonstrations to preserve the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Soon thereafter Büyükanıt had a secret meeting with the prime minister. He retired and promptly disappeared. Enter Başbuğ.

Like Hilmi Özkök, Büyükanıt’s predecessor, who spent a good deal of his energy redesigning the buttons on the military uniforms, that is, removing Atatürk’s image. He has since specialized in saying very little of relevance. Consulting his profile in Wikipedia reveals the telling remark that he “opposed his peers’ plans to stage a coup.” So much for his leadership skills. Supposedly he now writes poetry.

Like Kenan Evren, a torturer and executioner, a Turkish Pinochet, he was one of America’s “guys” who “did it” for Jimmy Carter with the 1980 US-backed military coup. A professed believer in the enlightened principles of Atatürk, he and his fascist regime instead destroyed them along with many people. He also took up the ‘leftist arts’ in retirement and became a painter.

The tragic fiasco continues. Forget the AKP. It does as its told and is irrelevant in this situation. Ex-army chief Başbuğ, himself, is ASYMMETRIC. He’s in jail. He and his successor and predecessor generals have betrayed the founding principles of the nation. They have dawdled, temporized, rationalized, and collaborated. When the public begged for details and reliable information, the generals spoke in vague generalities. They have tortured. They have executed. And finally they have collapsed in a shameful surrender. Secular Turkey was founded by the military, freeing the Turkish people from hundreds of years of Ottoman incompetence and ignorance. Haven’t any of these senior officers understood Nutuk? It is they, the generals, who have dishonored the Turkish Army. Not the ruling power and certainly not the government’s tragically laughable Alice-in-Wonderland judicial system.

Now these generals can watch the destruction of the Republic in their retirement villas or from their jail cells. Now General Asymmetrica knows how all the leftists felt that his predecessors jailed during the disgraceful USA-inspired coups. Now General Asymmetrica knows that all the secret collaboration with America has yielded bitter fruit indeed. And that all the recent talk about military coup plots has been simply palaver. The real blow delivered to the Turkish nation was the civilian coup, engineered by America’s new “guys,” the AKP. Through the years, the generals collaborated with everyone except their one true ally…the heirs and children of Atatürk. They thought that the secular state could coexist with religion. They failed to protect their troops and failed to know their enemy, the two cardinal principles for an army at war. And for all this they were destroyed. That’s asymmetry. Think about what Atatürk would have done to them all. They would be begging for the days of their youth. That’s the ultimate asymmetry, and it is terrible.

Cem Ryan
Istanbul
12 March 2012

Below is the full text of news article:

Former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ has described the recent probes that landed him in jail as a “asymmetric, psychological movement to dishonor the Turkish armed forces” in a recent interview. Speaking through his lawyer, the jailed former general told Toygun Atilla of daily Hürriyet that “freedom is not only about being outside.” “I feel just as free in here,” Başbuğ said.
“I fought against unjust slander in the public eyes of the Turkish Armed Forces personnel. And yes, I fought with all my strength against any negative impact that the unity and discipline of the Armed Forces may go through. And yes, I told relative authorities about all the problems we faced, and I, from time to time, told the public about my views. This is what I’ve done, and what I’ve tried to do,” he said.
“Now I see I was jailed, and retired, simply for talking,” Başbuğ said. “This cannot be seen simply as personal. To call the head of the Turkish Armed Forces a terrorist is a heavy charge against the whole of the Armed Forces.”
Başbuğ also said the recent probes were causing the public to have a negative view of the Turkish justice system. It is impossible to avoid seeing that the public conscience is uncomfortable with all this,” he said.

Hurriyet Daily News 11 March 2012

İlker Başbuğ

March 13, 2012
Janus-faced Turkey’s Syria Challenge

Janus-faced Turkey’s Syria Challenge

Niklas Anzinger: Turkey’s success story of combining moderate Islam and democracy is being challenged by the ruling AK Party’s power grab. In this game, the struggle for power trumps ideology, but the religious resurgence remains an element of unpredictability in foreign policy. Regarding Syria, reality mugged the ill-guided Middle Eastern adventures of Turkey.

Democracy, secularism and Islam in Turkey are part of an immensely complex puzzle of identity, ideology and politics. The Islamic resurgence in Turkish society coincides with a major shift in the political establishment, the outcomes of which are: the rule of law under siege, authoritarian tendencies and ill-guided foreign policy adventures. Ignoring the nexus of the religious-secular label, a grab for power by the ruling AK Party poses severe challenges for Turkish democracy. Almost exclusively controlling political offices, AKP hosts different group interests; above all, the Islamist sect of Fethullah Gülen holds eminent positions of power in the media and education in the shadows of the state apparatus.

The AKP rule is credited as a moderate Islamic-conservative alternative to obstacles to Turkish democracy – the deep state of the military and the traditional Kemalist elite. In fact, AKP’s power game has in several instances shown to dismiss constraints on the rule of law and its ideological apparatus is far from being moderate. Along with the constitutional amendments of September 2010 to widen the AKP’s influence in the judiciary branch, a pro-AKP media empire ensures the ruling class’s exclusive immunity. The “Ergenekon” case shows vividly the enormous deterioration of balances of power. Ergenekon refers to an alleged coup plot from 2003 involving media, academia, military and judiciary to topple the democratically elected government. Fabricated evidence, systematic media disinformation and massive violations of judicial independence allowed for the mass arrests of journalists, activists and military officers. Even elected parliamentarians, a total of 9 MPs (6 BDP, 3 CHP, 1 MHP), have been jailed on Ergenekon accusations.

Economic growth, domestic power, and international cheering for the Turkish model increased the confidence of Turkish policymakers to look abroad. While Turkey was applauding and legitimizing the terrorist group Hamas and seeking common ground with the revolutionary Islamist, anti-Western axis of Syria and Iran, it looked like Islamist and neo-Ottoman perceptions had trumped the reality of being a considerably modern nation state integrated in the Western economic and security structure. Far from being a moderator in the Arab world, Turkey exploits the widespread anti-Israel sentiments for the benefit of appealing to the masses. Since the Davos affair in 2009 and the Gaza flotilla incident in 2010, the once close alliance between Israel and Turkey has disintegrated.

The Turkish decision-makers in foreign policy, represented by Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu, may not share Western values, but the past has shown that Turkey and the Western states share interests, which often lead to considerable and warm cooperation.

The outcome of the Arab Spring, especially the fighting and brutal crackdown in Syria, led once again to reality overcoming ideology. The “Middle Eastern PKK-circle”, as formulated by Soner Cagaptay, explains the situation: the Kurdish terrorist organization remains the most crucial aspect of Turkey’s security policy. The Syrian regime’s crackdown on protests let Turkey emerge as Syria’s key opponent because of Turkey’s alleged protector role of Sunni Muslims and the ongoing refugee influx from the Syrian border. Thus, “the more people Assad kills, the more hardline Turkey’s policies will become against Syria. This will, in turn, drive Iranian-Syrian action against Turkey through PKK attacks from Iraq”. In the short-run, what first began as counter-activities against US-EU policies on Iran may now ironically drive Turkey to be a major contributor to countering Iran’s hegemonic ambitions by toppling Iran’s main ally and weapon hub for Hamas and Hezbollah activities.

Turkey appears as a Janus-face: a pragmatic, calculating Western NATO ally and an ideologically driven, power-grabbing bully. The process of domestic authoritarianism, assault on the free press, the rule of law and independence of the judiciary along with economic growth and emerging political relevance in the region paved the way for a new political elite that plays a game of power and ideology. The processes in the region are likely to lead to antagonisms between Turkey and the Western states, but the events in Syria could just as easily bind the two together.

The Western states should make sure to keep control over important strategic resources. The US has to remain in control of the important Turkey-based NATO missile defense radar. Recently, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that intelligence from the radar system will not be shared with Israel and that missile defense does not concern a specific country. Turkey wishes for Israel’s alienation from NATO military cooperation, but other NATO states should calm the Israel-Turkey relationship because both states are vital to NATO. Turkey’s stance towards Iran remains unclear and blurred, while NATO defense should be concerned with Iran and Syria. NATO Members must confront Turkey about the the country’s murky NATO agenda.

In addition, the severe violations of democratic principles in the domestic sphere and the counter-productive foreign policy moves in the Middle East must be subject to international criticism. Turkish society has to be reminded and convinced of a mutually beneficial Western orientation, while EU decision-makers must concede failure in alienating Turkey from Europe.

Niklas Anzinger is a student of Philosophy and Economics at the University of Bayreuth.

March 8, 2012
… nation at a crossroads

Letter from Turkey

… nation at a crossroads

HORIZONS BY DR.JAVID IQBAL

An aerial view, as the aircraft descends for a landing at Istanbul’s Ata Turk international airport, brings into focus, the wide expanse of Bosporus, the waterway provides the continental divide between Asia and Europe. Turkey, by the very nature of its geographical layout is a nation at crossroads, being one and only Eurasian State. The erstwhile Soviet Union could claim to be another; however with its break-up, the Central Asian States are an entity apart from European Russia.
Istanbul, that was Christian ‘Constantinople’ Arabic ‘Qastantaniya’ ‘Islambol’ of Othman Turks has changed names, as well as faces, much like other great historical cities. For anyone conversant with its past, even a short stay, a cursory look at the print and the electronic media throws open the dilemmas, the contradictions, the idiosyncrasies, as well as the challenges facing Turkey. Ankara might be the Turkish capital; Istanbul continues to be commercial and cultural hub–the soul of the Nation!
Turkey is a democracy, one of the few Islamic nations that practices the desirable. However within an otherwise secular polity, in election after election, in ballots fair and square, Islamist forces since 2002 elections have emerged as clear winners. The rising graph of vote share of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s modernistic Islamist force–Just and Development (AK) party is indicative of new trend in Turkey. The party got 34% vote in 2002 election, 46.6% in 2007 and 49.83 % in 2011 [327 members in a house of 550 members].
Question remains—Is Just and Development (AK) party not secular enough? The secularists would like to believe that Islamists are anything but secular. Secularists also called Kamalists [followers of Ata-Turk Mustapha Kamal Pasha] paint Islamists in negative shades. Ata-Turk—father of secular Turkish state did away with Othmans [Khalifat-e-Usmaniya in vernacular] the last Islamic caliphate in 1922/23. Turkey by then was labeled the ‘Sick-man’ of Europe. Ata-Turk did well to get Turkey out of dire straits. The deed done, he faltered in his assessment of Turkey’s past, as well as future needs. The Othmans he ridiculed were in an earlier era masters of Balkans [Eastern Europe]. Turkish Ghazis—the warriors were the feared lot. Much more than all the European intrigues against Othmans, the inherent weaknesses of Othman Caliphate made Turkey; the ‘Sick-man’ Europe started calling it. It was not Islam per-se or Islamic practices that undid Turkey, but the sickening degradation of Turkish Court. As 20th turned into 21st century, Turks started realizing yet again the glory inherent in Islam.
Islamists turned around the sinking Turkish economy, making modernizing economy a priority consistent with Islamic practices. Erdogan should have felt increasingly comfortable; however Kamalist power structure has much more than an elected legislature and political executive to shape the state. Apart from powerful army, the oversight of secular constitutional court constitutes the road block that Erdogan is up against. The secularists tend to reverse whatever Erdogan comes-up with. It has however a dilemmatic dichotomy.
Secular Turkish army forms a powerful wing of NATO; an aspect Erdogan keeps up with, America thus remains unperturbed with Erdogan’s Islamic belief. Turkey’s plea for full European Union [EU] membership has Erdogan taking it to logical conclusions. Though Turkey has been granted trade concessions, full membership is years shy. Nevertheless, Erdogan has worked for legislation to fulfill membership obligations—improving the human rights record, a fair deal to Kurds at odds with the Turkish state and women’s rights.
Women’s rights are in straits. While as secularists favour women’s liberation, Islamists opt for right to wear a scarf. The secularists had banned students from wearing a scarf in higher educational institutions. Turkish army implied a ban on entry of any woman with scarf inside army buildings. In 2007, Erdogan’s wife wearing a scarf was stopped at entry point of an army building. Far from a pressing the panic button, Erdogan took it with stoic resolution to undo practices inconsistent with Islamic beliefs. The effort to do away with ban on scarf resulted in constitutional court trying to do away with Erdogan’s Islamist Party. The court has the powers to ban political parties, whatever their public support or bench strength. While as secular opposition in Turkey’s unicameral legislative body [Bayuk Millet Meclisi—Bayuk (Grand) Millet (National) Meclisi (Assembly—Majlis in vernacular)] powerful elements within judiciary and army would love to throttle Islamists, their public support puts them on hold.
Erdogan’s efforts to preempt such a move entailed putting his ilk-Islamist Abdullah Gul as President in 2007, holding a referendum on constitutional reforms in 2010 and legislation off and on to affect change. The effort is geared to restructure the stifling constitutional court and curb the army by making it answerable to elected civilian authority, as well as civilian courts for offences it might commit. Army has been throwing hints that upholding secular values might prompt it to repeat what it did in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997—coup! The fear however is of burning fingers in present power dispensing.
Modern Islamist Turkey poses an interesting question—does the mere pronouncement of secularism provide immunity from moves against democratic practice? While Turkey gropes for an answer, Erdogan is strengthening ties with Islamic world while maintaining links with Israel, USA and EU. The world is increasingly seeing in Turkey a moderating Islamic force that might be help in dousing the fires of what is erroneously called civilizational war between western and Islamic world! No to war and yes to a tolerant view of variation in values constitutes the desirable—Turkey provides the example worth emulating!
Yaar Zinda, Sohbat Baqi [Reunion is subordinate to survival]

February 27, 2012