Turkey once had prospects of entering the world of modern civilisation. It appears the majority of Turks have instead "gone Arab", and regressed to a stone-age Islam that worships the primitive past of bloody violence.* Exploiting the population's disgust with government corruption, Islamists gained power through the ballot box - and immediately started dismantling the secular legacy of Kemal Ataturk.Much more at Source.
* On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Turkey stabbed the United States - its only dependable ally - in the back, denying passage to our troops in the fateful illusion that Ankara could save Saddam.
* Turkey strangled its (always faint) chance of membership in the European Union with internal repression, ludicrous prosecutions, farcical legislative efforts to Talibanize society and its stubborn denial of the Armenian genocide.
* Instead of winning Europe's approval, the government-sponsored anti-American hate speech poisoning Turkey's media only strengthens European convictions that Turks "aren't our kind."
* Impatient to send Turkish troops into Iraq to attack the PKK (a radical Kurdish group with a terrorist past), Ankara might face a startling military embarrassment, further alienate Washington - and finish off its last prayer of EU membership. (The Europeans just want excuses to keep Turkey out - and Turkey has a genius for providing them.)
* Despite the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship with Iraqi Kurdistan - where Turkish businessmen make substantial profits - the Ankara government obsesses about preventing the emergence of a Kurdish state. Betting on Iraq's Sunni Arabs (who despise the Turks but use them), Turkey has set itself up to lose big if Iraq dissolves.
* With its mischief-making in Iraq, cloak-and-dagger monkey business with Syria and failure to appreciate Iranian deviousness, Turkish foreign policy is in a self-destructive shambles unrivaled since the foundation of the modern Turkish state.
All of this leaves me in sorrow, since I spent decades arguing that Turkey's strategic importance required us to be patient as this land of enormous potential found its way to the future.
For an enthusiastic visitor to Turkey for three decades, it's been heartbreaking to watch its society and economy come to life - only to fall prey to Islamist vampires.
Islam belongs to the bloody past of humanity. For humans to proceed into a future of promise, they must discard the bloody cloak of islamic barbarism. Turkey has chosen to regress--and descend into a bloody morass. Other parts of the world--particularly Europe--will have to make the same choice soon.
It is not too early to begin to prepare for the worst.
Cross-posted at Abu Al Fin.
.....i like your style.
ReplyDeleteI quit paying attention to Peters when he accused certain bloggers (he didn't name names, but he meant Robert Spencer, inter alia) of being Islamophobic. Also it didn't help during the Paris intifada when he got all gleeful because the Frenchies hypocrisy was exposed, in his view, as far as their notion that generous entrenched benefits lead to social harmony. Peters is right about socialism being crap, but it's tragic that this once great nation is ready to fall to Islam. It's nothing to be gleeful about.
ReplyDeleteIn this article, Peters calls Turkey our "old friend." True, Islam in Turkey may have been held at bay or pushed beneath the surface for almost a century thanks to Ataturk. But, Turkey engineered the jihad genocide of over a million Armenians. Asia Minor was once Christian. Then, the Turks came. Did the indigenous people shower the path of the incoming Muslim conquerers with rose petals, eager to be enlightened by this beautiful new religion? I don't think so, I think Islam came in with a storm of beheaddings, rapes, burnings, etc., just as it has everywhere else. Since then, Turkey has acted literally as a bridge for evil to enter Europe. Islam in the Balkans led to the ethnic divisions which sparked WWI, which set in motion the downfall of Europe. Turkey is only our "old friend" in the way that the Saudis are currently our "friends." This sums up Peters' view of the world nicely. The evil we're seeing bubbling up in Turkey now is nothing new, it's just that the kid (Ataturk) with his finger in the dyke has given way, and the flood which was there all along (Islam) is ready to reemerge.
Thanks, Oberon.
ReplyDeleteAs for Peters, I get frustrated with a lot of the ideas he expresses as well. But I feel that his descriptions of his personal experience of watching Turkey implode on itself because of a descent into islamism, are worth sharing.