[Fabozz]

"There is NO Country on God's green earth where these people are in a majority that has any peace or freedom."

"Any"? Sure there is: Turkey. I'll grant you, Turkey's no Switzerland, but it does okay by world standards, and certainly has more than "any" peace and freedom. It does so because a single strong leader, Kemal Ataturk, forcibly imposed secular democracy on the country—in effect, while most people have to be liberated from their government, Turkey's government was liberated from its people. Islamic nations don't have the cultural foundations to become democracies on their own the way the United States did, but then again neither did Asian nations like Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

[Mamzelle]

Turkey's is certainly Switzerland compared to any of its Muslim neighbors.

They don't allow female politicians to wear hijab in official capacity, and there's been squawking about that. Kinda draws attn to the fact that women ARE politicians in Turkey, doesn't it? If hijab were allowed, how long would women be allowed in office?

[KentuckyWoman]

You're right that Turkey is certainly no Switzerland! For the most part, the country still lives in third world conditions excepting the larger urban areas like Istanbul, they still look upon most women as property and they still participate in the slave trade. Depite the fact that Turkey is definitly still moving in the right direction, it's still not what anyone could call "free". Sure, the government ALLOWS small pockets of other religions to exist that have been in existance for centuries but the mass of the population is still (and has been for thousands of years) highly intolerant of faiths other than Islam. Besides, what happens when those currently in power die or are deposed? Right back to the old way of doing things, I'll bet.

It all keeps coming back to the fact that Islam does NOT teach peace. It teaches the assimilation/annihiliation of "non-believers" and, sadly, too many Islamics still believe this is the road to their salvation (hence, the suicide bombers, etc.).

[ewchil]

Turkey isn't an Arab country.

[Tom Jefferson]

He was talking about Arab countries. Turkey is not an Arab countries. There is a distinction between Arab countries and all other Moslem countries as to which century they are living in.

[Snuffington]

Sure there is: Turkey.

Not sure if you were responding to KentuckyWoman's post, or Derbyshire's. If the latter, you should realize that Derbyshire was speaking of Arabs in particular, not all Muslims. Turks are not Arabs. Neither are Persians or Pakistanis, and Derbyshire didn't mention them either.

[rmlew]

The Turks of Asia minor are not Arabs.