European standardization
Reader comment on item: Turkey to Invade Northern Iraq?

Submitted by Vijay (United Kingdom), Jul 20, 2006 at 12:58

Till, a few years back, Turkey was avowedly secular, with Islamists on the run., and nationalist but not in an imperialist way

Now, Turkey has taken steps to 'integrate' with Europe i.e. in the matter of accomodating islamic fundemntalism. So, Islamic parties are allowed and to form government by the military junta which is of kemalist vintage. A10 years back, such an Islamist ( a soft one admittedly) would not have been tolerated by the Kemalist army officers and politicos who see themselves as gaurdians of modern Turkey.

With the rest of Europe so tolerant of and accomodating to the islamic fundementalists, terrorists, jihadists, wahhabists, sharia-proponenets, why should the Turkish elite be left in the cold. So, they have also joined the 'European Party' by mollycoddling Islamists. So, one can see the Islmaists coming more and more assertive and old kemalist ideals taking a back seat in Turkey's internal and foreign policies.

But the Islamists can be very deft and politically adept. Even while playing the Islam card more and more within Turkey and internationally, to co-opt the military, kemalists and the ordinary Turks, they can play the nationaist card more and more. This means more repression of Kurds within Turkey, more foreign adventures in Iraq or Cyprus and so forth. In fact, Turkey's islamists can kill many birds with one stroke by reviving the idea of Caliphate which was abolished in 1924. That will suit Turkey's Islamists and many other islamists outside Turkey.

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