Turks have complexes too!

Submitted by Marianna (United States), Oct 4, 2006 at 00:49

This is in response to "Omer's" post.

The Greeks may have been under Ottoman rule for 400 yrs but look at where they are now and look where Turkey is at present! Greece is light years ahead of Turkey! So who has the real complex now? Also, I think that Turkey will never improve and become a truly democratic country unless Kemalism is wiped out entirely! Does Turkey fit in with the rest of Europe? My answer is yes and no.

Turkey has historically been linked with Europe and has been at its foot hills but the culture, religion, etc. these are things that aren't shared bewteen the West or Europe and Turkey. Turkey as secular country, this is something that Kemal Ataturk tried to impose and did succeed to some extent but we see now that Turkey doesn't function as a purely secular society. And regarding the Cyprus issue, Turkey had no right to invade the island. Turkey was basically a pawn of the British and the Americans, used to fullfill a purpose. Let us not forget that Cyprus was strategically important to Britain, they didn't give a rat's ass about human rights issues nor did they care about the Greek or Turkish Cypriots! Turkey did however take full advantage and launched the Attila operations with moderate success!

And don't kid yourself, Cyprus has historically been primarily populated by Greeks but with that said there has been a small population of muslims or Turkish Cypriots (remnants of the Ottoman invaders). Anyway, both the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots were guilty of attrocities and it is really stupid to put blame just on one side! And to conclude about the Cyprus isse, the only reason that the Greek Cypriots voted "NO" to the UN referendum was because it was UNFAIR to the Greek Cypriot side! And anyone with half a brain knows this!

To conclude, I would like to see a more democratic and European Turkey, I believe it can only benefit the Europeans, especially the Greeks and that is why the Greeks have been supporting Turkey because they are clever enough to realize that if Turkey becomes more European, they will have less to deal with in the future! Peace out!

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".