Good article. Turkey is very important to us, as it’s been, for decades, a model of democratic government in the Islamic world.
I was there in 1993. I’ve been to 22 countries, and this was my favorite. Went at Christmas with a Jewish friend. Istanbul had more Christmas decorations up than my small leftist politically correct community in WA state. Istanbul was and probably still mostly is an urbane, sophisticated city. We saw about three women in burqas, the rest wore pretty much what you’d see in a not-wealthy American city, though maybe 1/3 of the women did wear head scarves to cover their hair.
I am blonde and female, went around the country in jeans and a blue leather jacket, friend could not have been more obviously Jewish. We were welcomed with real warmth everywhere, even in small towns that were much more conservative than Istanbul. I had one meeting with a Turkish woman dressed in pretty traditional Turkish garb and head scarf...we couldn’t communicate with words, but we liked each other immediately and burst out laughing at our differences, which were so extremely superficial.
The election of Erdogan was a horrible mistake. The peasantry in eastern Turkey apparently voted with one Islamic voice, no doubt spurred on by teachers in madrassas funded by Saudi fundamentalists who have been very busy erecting these centers of treachery and deceit.
Turkey is our chance to effect people in the Middle East in a positive way, but I’m not seeing anything remotely like decent policy toward that country from our State Dept under Bush or Obama. If we lose Turkey as a bastion of democratic thought in the region, we are total idiots. The smart people there love their freedom. But the Islamists can somehow talk them into slavery-—just because they keep talking. What are WE saying to them?
Taksim has been no stranger to violence. In 1977, at least 34 protesters died during May Day clashes with police. May 1 rallies in the square were banned in 1980 and were only allowed to legally resume in 2010. On May Day this year, there were riots after city authorities again refused to grant trade unions and youth groups permission to demonstrate in Taksim, blaming construction work being carried out in the square.These are the "anti-Islamist" "secularists" protesters we've been hearing so much about. Be careful what you wish for.
However, these Westernized and cosmopolitan people are following the same course as most Westernized people everywhere: limiting their families to one or two children. For years they have been outbred by the peasantry in eastern Turkey. Now they are being outvoted by those same peasants. Yes, the election of the AK Party has been and will be a disaster for Turkey, especially for the Westernized Turks. I feel sorry for my friends there. They and their children really have no future in Turkey. Some of those children have already come to the US as immigrants.