A Turning Point, Yes. But In Which Direction?
This article was published in the October 25 2007 The New York Review of Books, “Turkey at the Turning Point” by Christopher Bellaigue. It’s an interesting in-depth analysis of recent conditions in Turkey and is interesting to read in light of what has happened since. For the full article, click here. Among other things, there is a discussion of widespread anti-EU attitudes in the Turkish military. Here are the prescient closing paragraphs:
A danger for the future is that as the PKK watches the AKP gain popularity in the southeast, it may intensify its attacks on the security forces, hoping that the reaction will radicalize normal Kurds, who are mostly fed up with war. Another danger is that the Turkish army could decide to intensify the war against the PKK. That would strike another blow at Turkey’s already frustrated European aspirations.
A third danger is that Erdogan and his allies will recklessly allow some of their old Islamist instincts to reassert themselves. There is little doubt that, if Erdogan insists on reversing the ban on head-scarved women in universities, there will be another crisis. It would be a mistake for the AKP to assume brazenly that the age of coups is over. On balance, however, Turkey gives ground for hope. It is possible that an Islamist movement with a history of intolerance and bigotry will succeed in transforming Turkish politics along genuinely democratic lines. This seems to be the task that the AKP has set itself; with what degree of determination, time will tell. The 2007 general election, as much a triumph for democracy as it was for the AKP, may one day be seen as a turning point.
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