Originally Posted by Skybird
I am not that naive as you imply. I have been in Turkey, mainly in Istanbul, anbkara as well as the central-Anatolian areas and the Eastern kurdish areas. that was in the early and mid 90s, and I was no tourist, but with a group pf British-Belgian correspondents. Back then, there was already a huge differen ce between the few metropoles, which were pretty much Westernised, and the rural places, where around 80% and more of your population live. The latter territories and population there are extremely conservative both in patriarchalic and Islamic regard. These were the grounds were the AKP has risen from - it were not the cities, bu7t the countryside where consrvative Islamic spirit always has just slept over othe winter of Ataturk'S time - it was never goine away, it just evaded, and laid in wait. With the rise of the AKP, fundamentalism moved from the countryside into the cities, taking over the state'S highest offices, legislation, and immediately starting to work on reducing the status of the military which by your constitution is the guardian of secular state order in Atatürk's vision of what turkey should be like, as a state.
I compare my own experiences at location from 15, 18 years ago, with turkey as it is in the present. And right by this time gap I see the massive, most fundamental change the AKP has already brought while making it's fundamentalistic doctrine and reversing of Atatürk's experiment (which has failed) unavailable to crticial analysis by demanding the freedom for it'S religious operation by refering to "democracy".
So do not tell me about the sociological influence of the AKP, some bits and pieces I really have learned about it.
"Democracy is just like a train which you get off when you reach your destination. The mosques are our barracks, the minarets are our bayonets, the domes are our helmets and the faithful are our soldiers."
Do you know who has said this? It was your own current prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoghan. And he also said this, when being asked about the European assumtoion that there could be something like a "moderate Islam":
"These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it."
Since he is in power, the guardian of your constitutional secularism, the army, has been thrown back, the quota of women in high public offices and state offices has signficantly decreased, patriarchalic networks in the admimnstration system hinders women's careers more than before, the headscarf for women was actively made more attractive and partially making it mandatory and trying to allow it in instances (education sector) where for the protection of secularism it was forbidden (to separate state'S auhtority and religious claims for power); Erdoghan has repeatedly confronted the US, has closed ties with the regime in Syria, legitmised the regime in Iran, defends the Iranian weapon program, and tries to sharpen his profile by winning the admiration of the crowds when cooperating with terror organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah - and then making a big show when the Israelis no longer trust Turkey.
I'm sorry, but Turkey no longer is a trustworthy ally, nor is it's political-religious ambition compatibel with Western values and policies. I thank Turkey for several decades of being secular, and being a trustworthy and solid ally of NATO. But with the AKP arriving, it has set a course that no longer can be ours. And if I am allowed to give one advise to the Turks, then this: get rid of the AKP and it's doctrine and move back to the path of establishing a truly secular society - which you currently are loosing. But that is like calling in an empty desert, i know. The AKP will try to give you the benefits of modern living conditions, if it can - but only at the price of leading your minds back into the medieval and putting your critical intellect back into Islamic chains and the stagnation and apathy your society has suffered from since over one thousand years.
n this incident offcoats Gaza, I stick with my assessement of the general situation. It is a provocation designed to enforce this and no other reaction from Israel, and Turkey did not stay away from cooperating in this dirty trick in order to raise it's profile and popularity with the mob on Middle-Eastern streets. If this realyl would have been about aid dloveries for Gaza, they would have accepted the transportaiton method offered by the Israelis days in advance, and again in hours of radio communication before the raid began. But a peaceful delivery of these goods was the last thing that they wanted.
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