Analysis: Turkey's democratic dilemma

CNN ^ | February 20, 2003 | Bill Schneider

[Mortimer Snavely]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- See if this makes sense: Turkey is Islamic. But not Arab. So it has good relations with Israel.

It has a secular, democratic tradition. But it's currently governed by an Islamic party that supports the United States against Iraq. Wow!

[Mortimer Snavely]

'Bout time something like this hit the mainstream media.

[Mortimer Snavely]

How's y'all's ping list be looking?

[zarf]

This pretty much sums it up. Democracy's a bitch.

The lame stream press play it up as a fracture between the US and Tukey....which is BS.

[zarf]

or the US and Turkey.....Tukey went to take a shower.

[a_Turk]

Unique!

[Dog Gone]

Turkey is the role model for all other Islamic countries. If all goes well, Iraq will soon be another.

[a_Turk]

I remember our Ambassador to the US make that point in a speech to a US audience in 1991. There was genuine euphoria that it was going to be achieved. But nothing ever came of those hopes..

This time we're in there with you and, no matter what your next administration looks like, we will keep this ball rolling as a matter of Turkish national security.

[Grampa Dave]

The left wing maggots at the Clinton Non News net are up to their old tricks.

$crew them. No one watches the Clinton Non News anymore except the darksiders who stole a tv set to watch it.

[DontMessWithMyCountry]

No one watches the Clinton Non News anymore except the darksiders who stole a tv set to watch it.

I gotta' tell you, Grampa Dave, you crack me up. I swear, some days, you're the best medicine. LOL

[FreeCanuckistan]

Bill Schneider as a 'mouthpiece' is rather dubious.

Nonetheless, Turkey is a good role model for its Muslim neighbours. Hopefully its citizen's feel that way too. Having 95% of its people against the war on Iraq is cause for concern.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks! To some I'm like the really bad medicine that hurts going down, while in them and coming out.

The Clintoon Non News net is as predictable as Reuters is with any article in this time period.

[PsyOp]

Last November, the voters elected another party with Islamic roots, which immediately set out on a very non-Islamic path -- continuing efforts to join the European Union and siding with the United States against Iraq. Turkey's new Islamic government wants to prove to the military it can be trusted.

So the Turkish government needs to show it's trying to avoid war. And it's forcing the U.S. to pay a price for Turkish support. Not because the government is Islamic. Because it's democratic.

No cognative dissonance there. This particular democracy may not last much longer. The Islamists are gaining ground. Sooner or later they are going to turn turkey into an Islamic state or the military, if it remains secular, is going to have to stage a coup. The excuse may be democracy, but a growing Islamic fundamentalism is at its heart.

Let's not forget that after we went to bat for them in NATO is when they decided to extort more aid from us.

Democracy is a bitch precisely because it can be easliy used to mask more sinister political movements. It is a paradox that Democracy was the vehicle for Hitler to rise in Germany. Let's hope that is not what is happening here.

[Dubya]

In a speech in London late last year U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said, "Turkey offers a valuable model for Muslim majority countries striving to realize the goals of freedom, secularism and democracy."

BUMP

[a_Turk]

>>Having 95% of its people against the war on Iraq is cause for concern.

1. The Iraki people are our friends, and the last US intervention did them no favors. Why should my nation be convinced that the US is now resolved to actually help them?

2. The Turks have lost a lot of dough thanks to GW1, and this war will cause all foreign tourists to cancel their trips there. That's a 10 billion dollar loss right there.

The opposition to war in Turkey has nothing to do with religion, nor anti-Americanism.

[a_Turk]

>> Let's not forget that after we went to bat for them in NATO is when they decided to extort more aid from us.

Excuse me, all that NATO protection is required for your troops. And you are misinformed on the "extortion."

>> we went to bat for them in NATO

What a joke! We invoked article 4 so your troops would be covered in case they were attacked. Your interpretive skills are pathetic.

[a_Turk]

>> Democracy is a bitch precisely because it can be easliy used to mask more sinister political movements.

That's why our military is charged by the constitution to protect the secular nature of the republic. They have been quiet. If the republic was under threat by Islamists, they would not be quiet. The government is actually negotiating a preventive solution to what could be a national security nightmare next door.

[Beck_isright]

"In a speech in London late last year U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said, "Turkey offers a valuable model for Muslim majority countries striving to realize the goals of freedom, secularism and democracy."

This guy, who will replace Rummy some day, said it all. He's hit the nail on the head and the corrupt shieks are quaking just thinking about this. Imagine if Lebanon, Syria and Jordan became economic powers because of democratic freedom and trade with Turkey and Israel. Alot of the problems in the region could be solved quickly. Wolfie is right. Too bad the left and "old Europe" doesn't understand this.

[Beck_isright]

I think not. The military knows they have it good. If we turn our backs on them this time though, like we did in 91-99, then all bets are off. They could turn into a military dictatorship against the West. Then everyone will be screwed. And I mean everyone. But that's what I call a .00001% probability. Hell, half their officers were educated or trained at some point with or in the US.

[PsyOp]

"I think not."

I hope you're right. I'm not very confident about them right now. As for "abandoning" them, that's a subjective term. We have maintained a military presence there and have continued to give aid to the government since the war. Just because it was not as much as they may have liked, does not mean we abandonded them.

[PsyOp]

I hope you're right.