Turkish Democracy

Submitted by Edward Halper (United States), Jun 9, 2010 at 18:35

Turkish democracy was hardly perfect, but there were elections and basic civil rights and freedoms. Compared to the rest of the Islamic world it was and should have remained a shining example of the possibility of Islam embracing modernity. Instead, Turkey is on the path to Islamization. That is sad.

I do not think that Turkey is and will always be a police state. Nor do I think that other Muslim countries cannot embrace democracy. They can and ultimately will, but that day may not be any time soon especially if people in the west continue to apologize for western societies.

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