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Saving Turkey -- Saving Western Civilization?

Reader comment on item: Erdoğan's Decade as Prime Minister of Turkey

Submitted by GWK (United States), Mar 14, 2013 at 13:47

As the European Baby Bust unfolds into its 3rd generation (it's been 60 years since Europe's Baby Boom began to burst, and every one of Europe's annual cohort of newborns since 1964 has been smaller than the preceding year's cohort), the likelihood that Europe will survive another 100 years as a stalwart of Western Civilization is appearing grimmer and grimmer.

It was just 330 years ago (September 12, 1683) when the Ottoman Turks were defeated at Vienna and the decline of the Ottoman Empire began. For centuries after the misguided Western European Crusaders sacked and mortally weakened the militarily non-threatening cosmopolis of Constantinople, Western Europe allowed a new threat to press against its borders from Asia Minor. The Siege of Vienna in 1529 led by Suleiman the Magnificent, was the first of several attempts by the Ottomans to capture the city of Vienna, Austria and thereby dominate the heart of Western Europe. Yet, despite the defeat of the Ottomans 300+ years ago, the British and French decided to abet fundamentalist Arab reactionaries under the tutelage of Sheik Abdullah ibn Wahab to further weaken the power and wealth of the Ottoman Turks. (Thus began the House of Saud and the 1st time that Ottoman power over post-Crusades Mecca and influence over the rest of the Muslim world began to wane.)

In retrospect, it is amazing to reflect on the flashback that has resulted from Europe's historic pattern of opting to support theological Muslim extremists instead of mercantilist Muslim moderates. Sure, the Aramco treaties allied the House of Saud and Western financial interests, but the House of Saud annually invests a substantial portion of its oil proceeds into undermining theological interests that are moderate, and into its promotion of Wahabist (or as they prefer to call it, "Salafist") Islam.

As a historical aside, in the 1950s when it seemed that the Post WW2 Middle East was likely to opt for a politically nationalistic or socialistic path, Western strategists overtly decided to support Islamist forces within the region to challenge secular politicians who might shift the Middle East away from Western financial preferences. Again, what was the US National Security Council thinking??

The path that diminished the threat of Arab nationalism of the 1950s to eventually see the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Al Qaida in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Islamic Republic of Iran has not been a straight line, and the path from 18th C British support for Arabia's Sheik Wahab over the Ottoman Turks has not been directly responsible for the rise of global Islamism today. But certain linkages are clear.

IMHO, as Europe's Generations X and Y and Millenials begin to assume the reins of their survival and destiny, they have to take a stand for Western Civilization's 2,400 year old values … democracy, freedom of thought, speech and culture. Instead of opting to support those who endow the expansion of "shariah" and the spread of repressive theology, they need to make a choice between oil with a venomous after-bite, and supporting theologically moderate systems across the burgeoning Muslim world that promote freedoms for the Muslim World's women and educated liberals. If the West's successors to the Baby Boom cannot do this, then Western liberalism and values are all but doomed. As the good book says, "We reap what we sow."

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Reader comments (21) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Erdogan's "Neo-Ottoman" Ambitions [121 words]Scott CraigSep 17, 2020 09:42260469
1"Is Erdogan losing touch with reality?" by Kadri Gursel, Columnist, Turkey Pulse, Almonitor [56 words]LudvikusJan 17, 2015 09:23220441
1TURKEY İS GUİLTY OF THE GENOCİDE COMMİTTED İN WEST ARMENIA. [755 words]HakiApr 9, 2013 09:08205041
1TURKEY NEEDS ISRAEL [132 words]JACQUES HADIDAMar 27, 2013 17:27204748
Islamism could win [125 words]mythMar 20, 2013 09:34204527
Turkey's future is bright [118 words]Nazim CairoMar 16, 2013 18:48204395
Self-appraisal grows [63 words]BenMar 23, 2013 17:07204395
liar erdogan [27 words]erkanAug 9, 2014 05:05204395
The antichrist rises [4 words]Bongo watsonMar 15, 2013 16:50204371
to bongo watson [5 words]moMar 17, 2013 11:20204371
5Astounding failure of US Middle East policy [215 words]SoloviewMar 14, 2013 18:18204340
Who Knows [128 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
john w. mcginleyMar 14, 2013 17:04204332
1You asked about The Gatekeepers [322 words]Ron ThompsonMar 15, 2013 08:34204332
5Nothing but a Thug [49 words]Michael Hanni MorcosMar 14, 2013 14:57204325
4Erdo [25 words]Steven LMar 14, 2013 14:56204324
5Saving Turkey -- Saving Western Civilization? [560 words]GWKMar 14, 2013 13:47204322
It is Still Erdoğan's Turkey - For the Moment - The West Still Does Not Know Him [208 words]M. ToveyMar 14, 2013 19:27204322
2Erdogan is the biggest liar among the Turkish Prime Ministers [64 words]Quasi democracyMar 15, 2013 02:39204322
1Great Summary [19 words]Turkish secularMar 15, 2013 03:26204322
Irony of Restating the Obvious [115 words]M ToveySep 17, 2020 22:00204322
3An Implosion Down the Road? [197 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Ron ThompsonMar 14, 2013 12:33204319

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