Will Turkey Turn from Ataturk?
This is a terrible development.
12 years ago, when I spent an extended stay in Turkey, I'd have responded to this article with a firm, "No way---Turkish reverence for Mustapha Kemal's secular revolution remains way too strong for Islamists to overcome." Today, I'm not so sure. Much has changed in Turkey. Resentment over the EU and the Kurdish ulcer have driven Ankara further from the West than was imaginable then.
12 years ago, when I spent an extended stay in Turkey, I'd have responded to this article with a firm, "No way---Turkish reverence for Mustapha Kemal's secular revolution remains way too strong for Islamists to overcome." Today, I'm not so sure. Much has changed in Turkey. Resentment over the EU and the Kurdish ulcer have driven Ankara further from the West than was imaginable then.
Labels: War on Terror
posted by Teflon at 10:57 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
IMHO the Turkish people would be much better served by ending this foolish EU charade once and for all, to stop pleading on their hands and knees to join the EU and take charge, and pride, as the great nation that they are.
Notice that in this dispute between the Islamists and the secularists, the EU has squarely taken the side of the Islamists. Either the EU is hopelessly naive about Turkey's history-- and the need for secular leaders to take a firm stand against creeping Islamism-- or this is just a Machiavellian attempt by the EU to destroy Turkey altogether, by crushing the very secularist soul of Turkey that was instituted by Ataturk himself.
Many in the EU, especially the British and French, hate Ataturk and his memory. It was Ataturk, after all, who was responsible for Britain's humiliating defeat at Gallipoli, and forces led by Ataturk and others defeated the British, French, Italians, Greeks and others who tried to break Turkey's strength and partition our nation after WWI.
So the best they can do is to attack Mustafa Kemal's legacy and try to break the very foundation of his nation. Thus, the official EU support for the Islamists and their own stealth efforts to bring down the secularist heart of Turkey.
While I can't stand the French, I find myself vitriolically despising the British and their duplicity.
At least the French don't make any pretenses about being a friend to Turkey.
The British, meanwhile, try to pretend that they're Turkey's best friends in Europe, and that British foreign policy "already considers Turkey a part of Europe."
If the British actually believed this, then they would open their nation to Turkish workers who simply want to improve their lives and work in Britain, as would be required in the Turkish accession that Britain says it already recognizes. Instead, the UK's doors remain firmly slammed in the face of Turkey and our people, who are now allowed access to Britain even under the best of circumstances.
The British need to put up or shut up-- as do Australia, the USA and Canada, which are also claiming accession and labor rights for Turkey. If all these countries are just full of crap, which I suspect, then they should just do like France and Cyprus, acknowledge their enmity to Turkey, and be done with it.
OTOH, if they really do claim to be friends of Turkey, then they should put their money where their mouth is and open their doors to Turkish labor-- especially the UK, which is in the EU itself and pretending it's Turkey's best friend. This double-dealing by the British is atrocious.
Frankly, like I said, I don't see why Turkey is prostituting itself anymore to be a member of the EU, an aging, decrepit union of soon-to-be-failing states that Turkey will be rising past soon anyway. Turkey should instead assume the leadership of a conference of North African and Near Eastern states, which Turkey's history and progressive instincts are best equipped to manage.
IOW, rather than being a sycophant of the corrupt and effete European Union, with its overpriced currency and lack of a work ethic, Turkey should be a leader in the southern Mediterranean and Near East. That has historically been Turkey's role, and should be once again.
Well said, Kemalist.
The only thing I would add is that Turkey has been a staunch ally of America for most of modern history. Korea vets in particular can attest to the fighting ability and spirit of the Turks.
In addition to missing out on the benefits of having hard-working, pro-Western immigrants, the Euros are also missing out on gaining some of the world's best cuisine by rejecting Turkish immigration.
If it's any consolation, though, the girly-men of Brussels didn't invite America to join their little club either. We'd rather beat them than join them anyway.
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