The Future of Turkey

Submitted by Gloria Stewart (United States), Jun 26, 2013 at 22:59

My father had a joke he liked to tell, though I realize now that it was really a cautionary tale. He spoke of a man who went up to the 20th floor of a building and jumped out the window. As he passed the 10th floor he yelled: "So far, so good."

Erdogan is an Islamic fundamentalist. To paraphrase one of his comments, he does not mind riding the democracy train as long as the final stop is an Islamic state.

Kemal Ataturk did not create a democracy in Turkey - not even close. He wanted Turkey to take part in Western civilization and realized that Islam was not compatible with modern civilization. The Turkish military took a solemn oath to keep the country secular, and they did step in a number of times when secularism was threatened. This state of affairs is, to be sure, not democratic and would not meet the standards of the EU. Now the Turkish military has seen its power weakened and some of its members on trial.

Is this more democratic? Of course, but who will then protect Turkey from Islam? Women can wear hijabs in government buildings - really democratic, but when Turkey becomes an Islamic state what will happen to the women who want to dress in Western fashion?

In realville, the future of Turkey does not look good.

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