The diplomats can relax. No one needs to worry about “losing Turkey”. The West’s most trusted Muslim ally (usually described with the cliché “bridge between East and West”) is not shifting its loyalty away from Europe toward the Islamic world. Rather it is opening and seeking good relations with its eastern neighbours as well.
It is precisely because of its political and economic flexibility that Turkey can expect 2011 to be the country’s strongest in centuries, since the star of the Ottoman Empire began its slow descent. Turkey is now a rising economic and political power. The growing self-confidence can be felt especially powerfully in the streets of Istanbul and its increasingly international culture. Like big changes in any relationship long taken for granted, many in the West are uncomfortable with Turkey’s courting of the East and its new assertiveness. But this geo-strategically key country with the world’s 17th largest economy and Nato’s second largest military is not going anywhere.
Turkey does need to be careful to not overextend its reach though or it will learn quickly the limits of geopolitical power. The tensions will become clearer in the highly charged political build-up to parliamentary elections expected in June.
Istanbul’s extraordinary economic development was highlighted last year in a study of the world’s 150 biggest metro areas by the Washington-based Brookings Institute.
The Global Metromonitor found that Istanbul had the most dynamic economy of any big city in the world. Istanbul has recovered from the 2008 global economic downturn better than all the rest, partly because the country was better prepared since going through economic meltdown in 2000-1. Since the Justice and Development Party [AKP] of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002, the country is almost unrecognisable in its economic strength and political assertiveness. As an example of its new eastern orientation, exports to the Middle East as a share of all of Turkey’s exports have doubled from 9 to 18 per cent since 2002 and look set to increase this year as well. During the same period, the share going to the EU fell from 56 per cent to less than half.
In the summer elections, voters will choose whether to give a third mandate to the AKP. The election campaign started long ago and tensions are already building over key issues such as peace with Turkey’s Kurdish minority, Turkey’s international orientation, women’s headscarves and the country’s economic development.
Whatever the outcome, Turkey’s global influence is likely only to grow.
Matthew Brunwasser is a Monocle contributor based in Istanbul
Dr . Emanuel Tanay MD is a well-known forensic psychiatrist who has been an expert witness in many famous cases . He has served as an officer or committee member on the Michigan Psychiatric Society, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and others . He is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and of the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry and a distinguished fellow of the APA and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFC).
A Holocaust Survivor’s View on Islam
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. ‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’
We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march.. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent majority,’ is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts — the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on – before it’s too late.
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Comments (11)
Nina M. Lawrence ·
This article by Dr. Tanay is priceless. Even though we know these different histories of different peoples, to have it written up all together in this format is far more than anything I could do or say. I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, my heart aches for all the peoples of our world who are going through so much. And I know that they will have crowns on the other side.
Blessings,
Dan ·
This is a very good article. Dr. Tanay did it justice and gave it a real flavour from someone who knows. That is important in any article like this. My heart also aches for those in the world that are miss treated in the worst way.
Syed Asad ·
I like your article and personally feel frustrated that silent majority do not have honest, courageous and bold leaders to stand up to fanatics. Politcal goals should be shrouded as a cover for religion. Primarily all religions including Islam are for the betterment of the society.
syed asad ·
I meant the political goals should not be shoruded…..
Juggler ·
Islam can never be reformed unless it’s adherents disown the Koran. The fanatics get their destructive ideology straight from the pages of that book. Sad to say… The TRUE Muslims are the ones who are trying to spread the Islamic philosophies through violence and intimidation.
While it takes nothing away from the content, this was posted on Emanuel Tanay’s blog in 2006, but was actually written by Paul E. Marek, a Canadian blogger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Tanay
Glen Meakem | Conservative Talk Show Host » HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR’S VIEW OF ISLAM
[…] Dr . Emanuel Tanay MD is a well-known forensic psychiatrist who has been an expert witness in many famous cases . He has served as an officer or committee member on the Michigan Psychiatric Society, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and others . He is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and of the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry and a distinguished fellow of the APA and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFC). […]
Perry ·
Although this article hits the nail on the head, others are saying that Dr. Tanay did not write this, including Dr. Tanay himself. It is being attributed to Paul Marek. Just search the internet and you’ll find it. Took me 3 minutes. Does anyone know the true author? It appears to be Paul Marek and what’s his background?
Butch
This is an excellent article. It should be read to every high school student that is awake in cl***, but most important college students should also take this to heart.
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Yet another lie put out by the disinformation campaign that seeks to destroy anyone who dares think outside the box when it comes to Islam and America’s blind support of Israel.
The government is working to overcome legal obstacles to reopening the Halki (Heybeliada) seminary, closed since 1971, said Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc yesterday.
“There are some legal obstacles,” said Arinc, paying a New Year’s visit to the Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and Patriarch Bartholomew. “We will overcome them. This is not something we can grant. We need to do what the law requires us to do.”
Patriarch Bartholomew said Arinc’s visit had bolstered his hopes, explaining, “We expect our school to reopen. This year is the 40th anniversary of our school’s closure. We hope the government will put its good will into practice.”
The patriarch added that under the initiative of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, clergymen who live in other countries but who serve the patriarchate have been given Turkish citizenship. “This is a very important step for the functioning of our patriarchate,” he said. “We expect Turkey to continue to be successful in the new year and to become a member of the EU soon.” Arinc is the highest-ranking government official to visit the patriarchate since the 1952 visit of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.
Reopening the seminary has been linked by the EU to improving democracy and human rights in Turkey.
via Arinc: We will overcome legal barriers to reopening the Heybeliada Greek seminary.
Press freedom is an area in which Turkey is slipping, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. Hürriyet photo
British magazine The Economist, which has published an index of the strength of democracy in 167 countries, said Turkey dropped two levels since 2008 and now ranks among the world’s “hybrid regimes.”
The 167 countries were examined according to their electoral systems, pluralism, civil freedoms, government executions, political participation and political culture and awarded a quantitative evaluation ranging from 1 to 4, representing “authoritarian regimes,” 4 to 5.9, representing “hybrid regimes,” 6 to 7.9, representing “incomplete democracies,” and 8 to 10, representing “complete democracies.”
Of the 26 countries nominated as complete democracies, Norway ranked as the most democratic country in the world, receiving an average evaluation of 9.8 out of 10.
In the category of incomplete democracies, Cape Verde, Greece, Italy, South Africa and France took place in the top five.
Turkey, however, was accorded average of 5.3 and ranked as a “hybrid regime,” a category characterized by a tendency for increased corruption, where non-profit organization representation is inadequate and press freedoms are incomplete.
The research showed Turkey was among the countries where press freedoms were deteriorating rapidly. From 2008 to 2010, 36 countries, including Turkey, Italy and France, slipped in their protection of press freedoms, the research said.
Turkey ranked 89th in the democracy index and only advanced 0.04 percent within the category, compared to the past two years, during which it ranked 87th, with an average of 5.69. As other countries became more democratic Turkey slipped from its former ranking.
Other nations evaluated as hybrid regimes were Nikaragua, Tanzania, Palestine, Uganda, Sierra, Leona, Pakistan and Haiti.
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Turkish Forum yeni bir web tasarımı ile ve çok kaliteli Yazarlarla yeniden hizmetize girdi.Emniyet programlarına gelince, tümüyle upgrade edildi (güncelleştirildi) , fakat devamlı üzerinde çalışmak ve yeni programları devreye sokmak gerekmekte. Bu çok masraflı çalışmada Uzmanlar ve arkadaslarımız tarafından aralıksız devam etmekde. Avrupa’daki operasyonlarımız genişlemekde.
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Önümüzdeki bahar içinde ve TUZUK kurallarımız dahilinde. yeni yönetimi seçecegiz. BU ÖNEMLİ SEÇİME AİDAT ÖDEMELERİ GÜNCEL OLAN ÜYELERİMİZ OYLARI İLE KATILACAKDIR. gerekli atamaları HEP BİRLİKDE yapacagız. Bu safhayı gerçekleştirmek için seçime girecek adayları belirleme devresindeyiz.
Bu sene hakikatten çok çalışmamız ve yeni bir çehre almamızın senesi olarak başladı. Çalışmalar aralıksız olarak sene sonuna kadarda bu şekilde devam edeceğe benzemekte. Geçtiğimiz hafta yönetim kurulumuzun almış olduğu karara istinaden YENİDEN DOĞUŞA DESTEK VERMİŞ ÜYELERİMİZE KURUCU ÜYE SERTİFİKALARI E-MAİLLE ULAŞTIRILDI.
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Aidat ve bağışlarınızı kredi kartı veya banka havalesi ile yapabilmeniz için https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/bagislar-ve-uye-aidatlari/ sayfasında emniyetli sistemler ve alternatife methodlar ayrıca geliştirilmiştir
Hepinize başarılar dolu bir devre daha dilerim
Dr. Kayaalp Büyükataman, Baskan
Turkish Forum * Dünya Türkleri Birliği
NOT: Turkish Forum 250 kişiye yaklaşan danışma kurulu ve 300.000 kişiye yaklaşan abone sayısı ile merkezi Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde bulunan, Dünya üzerinde pek çok ülkede örgütlenmiş bir düşünce kuruluşudur. Turkish Forum kar amacı gütmeyen, vergiden muaf kuruluş statüsündedir. Tüm Türk ve Türk dostları üye olabilirler.
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kurucu uyelerin ve danisma kurulumuzun ve yonetim kurulumuzun listesi icin tiklayiniz https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/turkish-forum/
By CARL BILDT, FRANCO FRATTINI, WILLIAM HAGUE, and ALEXANDER STUBB
European Union enlargement, the transformation of a mainly Western European Club into a truly pan-European Union, has been one of the E.U.’s greatest success stories. But the historic mission to bring further stability, democracy and prosperity to the whole Continent is not yet finished.
On Monday, we will meet our colleagues from around the European Union at the General Affairs Council in Brussels to set out perspectives for the enlargement process and the countries moving down the path to E.U. membership. This will clearly be a significant occasion to turn around the inward-looking tendencies of recent years and revitalize the vision of an open Europe.
The economic crisis has underlined Europe’s need for much greater dynamism. Emerging from the crisis, we cannot afford to overlook the opportunity of expanding the free flow of capital, goods, services and labor.
Moreover, E.U. integration is about strengthening the rule of law and common European values and standards all over the Continent. This is apparent not least in Turkey, where E.U.-inspired liberal reforms have turned the country into one of Europe’s principal growth engines.
The crucial question is not whether Turkey is turning its back on Europe, but rather if Europe is turning its back on the fundamental values and principles that have guided European integration over the last 50 years.
In some quarters there is clearly some anxiety regarding the consequences of a Turkish E.U. membership. The doubts over admitting a large and self-confident nation are as explicit now as they were when Britain once applied — facing strong opposition from older members of the club. Voices of opposition were also heard when Sweden and Finland knocked on the door to the E.U.
Concerns are legitimate — but the counter-argument is clear: New members can help Europe return to economic dynamism and take on its proper weight in world affairs. By pushing prospective candidates toward liberal reforms and full respect for human rights, the European space of stability and growth can expand further.
In the back of our minds we should also remember that Turkey, like no other country, has the ability to advance European interests in security, trade and energy networks from the Far East to the Mediterranean.
The newly released Commission Enlargement Strategy clearly shows that
the membership perspective is still a forceful agent of change.
Fifteen years after the conflict in the Western Balkans, all the countries of the region now have a clear European perspective. Turkey is in the midst of a far-reaching reform process. The application of Iceland, which is now at the start of its membership negotiations, proves that the E.U. remains attractive all over Europe.
Turkey is in a class of its own. It is an influential actor on the world stage with considerable soft power. Its economy is expected to expand by more than 5 percent this year, compared with a eurozone average of 1 percent. The O.E.C.D. predicts that Turkey will be the second-largest economy in Europe by 2050.
Turkish entrepreneurs in Europe already run EURO 40 billion worth of businesses and employ 500,000 people. A Turkish economy in the E.U. would create new opportunities for exporters and investors, and link us to markets and energy sources in central Asia and the near east. So the security and economic case for Turkish membership is strong.
That said, if we are all to reap those benefits, Turkey needs to play its full part. We want to see movement on important areas of fundamental human rights. Economic reform must continue and E.U. single-market rules must be implemented. We encourage Turkey to continue with the steps it has taken along this path.
Yet it is undeniable that the ongoing enlargement process is following a slower pace than the earlier waves of accession. This is partly a reflection of the economic situation in the Union, and weak administrations, shyness on reforms and prospective candidates falling short of fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria.
Let us be clear: The Union’s exacting standards of democracy and rule of law require a welcome but time-consuming reform process. However, the magnetism and the transformational capacity of enlargement works only if commitments are kept on both sides.
We, the member states, must stick to our established principles and benchmarks in order to safeguard the integrity and credibility of the process.
At its coming General Affairs Council, the E.U. should restate its strong commitment to further enlargement.
Carl Bildt, Franco Frattini, William Hague and Alexander Stubb are the foreign ministers, respectively, of Sweden, Italy, Britain and Finland.
Perry ·
