Ianus seems to know about everything (negative) on Turkey

Submitted by Isaac Haskiya (Denmark), Apr 20, 2009 at 04:06

1- My person is none of you business. You don´t know me. I discard your first introductory lines!
2- Mustafa Kemal transformed Turkey from a "caliphate" into a a republic. Not a perfect democracy, of course, during these years of transformation since the equation sultanate on Monday, a republic on Tuesday does not exist. Thus both multi-party elections and trade unions came later on.
3- I was in Istanbul during September 6/7. I do not know of any Army participation in these acts of vandalism, which are bad enough per se, but calling them "pogrom" is an unjustified extension of the word. Pogroms meaning wanton killings are the speciality of Russia as No. 1 and Poland as a good No.2.
4- The nominal phrase "Kemalist Janisseries" and a Pan-Turkic Empire belong in political science fiction, if any.
5- You are wrong about calling Turkey as "East", especially if you define East as in Iran or Pakistan or China, perhaps. Clear definitions make a better argument than the thousands of words you have used to make your point.

To sum things up, you seem to be obsessed with a negative stance towards Turkey. Atrocities in history are not exclusive of Turkey. Europe itself has heavier heritage in that aspect. I repeat what I know about today´s Turkey once again. The Constitution of the Turkish Republic stipulates a laical/secular State. The Turkish Armed Forces are its guardians whatever the political party in power. The Constitution is a constant, government a variable.

I personally wish Turkey the best of luck, whether inside or outside the EU.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".