Another Ataturk or regional wars

Submitted by Ilona Melstrads (United States), Apr 13, 2004 at 17:49

Your idea is excellent, but Americans would have to create a quasi-Ataturk. America would have to pretend to fight this man, so that he would not be perceived as a total American puppet. This might be difficult for the USA. Also, Ataturk was self-created, a unique 20th century person, probably not even of the Turkish nationality, but incredibly brave for Turkey. Such imaginative people rarely appear.

Another outcome of the Iraq war might be a total but more rational reorganization of the Middle East – a Kurdistan embracing the Kurds of Iraq, Turkey and Iran; Turks taking the Turkish-speaking part of Iran and parts of Turkic-speaking former "Russian" republics; Iran taking parts of the Farsi-speaking parts of former "Russian" regions or "republics"; Arabs taking the Arab parts of Iran, etc. This will entail a lot of fighting – but people seem to like that! This sounds like a repeat of European history in the 17th century and the 20th century. But very few people seem to learn from history.

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