It's not 1924 anymore

Submitted by Pat (United States), May 16, 2007 at 23:59

The nation founded by Kemal Ataturk is dead.

Since its founding, Turkey had to worry about being swallowed up by the USSR, which had seen its own revolution less than a decade before. Its alliance with the West was strategic, not cultural. Look back and you see that we had our strongest relationship with Turkey when it was run by military dicatatorships during the Cold War.

The Cold War ended, the Soviet threat faded and Turkey sought genuine democracy. Over seven decades the Turkic population went from fifty percent Christian to ninety eight percent Muslim. It continues to drive out non-Muslims. Its demographics are reflected in the leaders it chooses and the policies it pursues. It's not 1924 anymore. It's not even 1984. The world has changed, and Turkey along with it. Should we have expected otherwise?

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