No Turkish Delight
Reader comment on item: Turkey, Still a Western Ally?

Submitted by Rebecca Moulds (United States), Dec 5, 2007 at 23:16

Because of Turkey's unique geographic location, straddling that area between Europe, the Middle East and Western Asia, it has been closely associated with Western civilisation because of the European influence, and at the same time, at the crossroads of trade with Asia. Although it has been a viable culture for centuries, Ataturk may have thrown a spanner into the works by trying to turn Turkey into a secularist country. It seems that he really didn't succeed; it was just a hiccup in history.

Although the Turks dress in Western garb, their written alphabet Romanized, they seem to be even more Islamic than Muslims in more traditional Muslim countries. The Turkish government is staunchly anti-Christian compared to Egypt, for instance, and this shackling of freedom of religion seems to have a direct connection to the ability to truly modernize and become part of the 21st Century.

How can Turkey honestly think itself ready to become part of the European Union when it continues to insulate itself from the rest of the progressive world? Even given the fact that Turkey isn't really a part of Europe, it doesn't have a hope in heaven of rubbing elbows with Europe unless it shows that it can be free of social, religious, political and territorial prejudice. Turkey will have to choose which way it will go for it's own prosperity, because "neither here nor there" just isn't good enough.

Playing both sides in the political arena often ends in a stalemate, and in this case, a country's entire future rests on making the sensible decision of dropping the extremist Islamic shroud for a more modern and moderate ideology.

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