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It is question of character

Reader comment on item: Must Islamists Be Autocratic?

Submitted by Nazim Cairo (Denmark), Jul 19, 2013 at 21:42

Erdogan represents a unique combination of cunning, resolve and political pragmatism. He has enough of both brain and brawn to be successful over these 10 years, for all of his crazy faults. Which is why he is so useful for Islamic (or shall we say Neo-Ottoman) project. He somewhat reminds me of the man he probably hates - Ataturk, who was a nationalist dictator but extremely pragmatic type. Ataturk never moved into extreme fascism , although he could have, and thus Turkey survived.

Morsi i however s as dour as they get, together with all bunch of morshids at the helm of Ikhwan. Morsi reminds me of babbling Gorbachev, when he lost control of Soviet Union. All pretty dour and boring bunch. No wonder they lost.

Gul's caution is part of his personal character as a soft spoken compromiser politician he could probably rule in consensus but he could never be able to control all these varios Islamist faction and AKP could split without Erdogan. That is why Gulenists are still with him, although he is clearly getting on their nerves. But if arrogance eventually take him down, they may refuse to go down with him to continue their Ottoman Project, which is bigger than the man himself. So far he never followed on many of his angry outbursts with firm actions, although he can (there is no coup making army anymore). It looks like pragmatist and ideologue are still playing battles inside of him. Lets see if he bans credit cards :)

Submitting....

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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
compare to evolution of christianity [71 words]hablatyMay 21, 2014 14:39214948
Must Islamists Be Autocratic? [294 words]BALARABE ABBAJul 28, 2013 04:12208573
No not specifically [45 words]Empress TrudyJul 21, 2013 17:47208394
Shallow Muslim democracies [109 words]Ken C.Jul 20, 2013 19:19208376
A REPEAT OF RUSSIA'S POLITICS [40 words]JACQUES HADIDAJul 20, 2013 16:37208373
From where do the alternatives come from? [199 words]David W. LincolnJul 20, 2013 13:40208370
Only if they want to be Islamic [7 words]FrankzJul 20, 2013 11:39208369
1Another chance to reform Egypt and the Arab World [98 words]Michael Hanni MorcosJul 20, 2013 06:39208359
2Must Islamists Be Autocratic? [198 words]JudithJul 20, 2013 02:51208355
2Obama's America deliberately decided not stop Iran. [234 words]Robin RosenblattJul 20, 2013 01:53208354
Islamist Parties Had A Serious Flaw [78 words]Tim UphamJul 19, 2013 23:56208351
It is question of character [253 words]Nazim CairoJul 19, 2013 21:42208350
1Clueless Morsi [659 words]dhimmi no moreJul 26, 2013 07:43208350
5Depressing Preference for Prosperity Over Freedom [73 words]DaveJul 19, 2013 20:44208349
Dont be so hard on Turks- Westerners are prone to the same [63 words]ShishirJul 20, 2013 06:24208349
1Who is the real Morsi? [405 words]dhimmi no moreJul 20, 2013 07:23208349
Peace Through Prosperity - A Myth - Even for Aspirations of Ummah [206 words]M. ToveyJul 23, 2013 19:12208349

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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".

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