Comments on: Elections in Turkey

By: jdledell

jdledell — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:06:49 +0000

Michael – I am not afraid of mild Islamism any more than I am afraid of mild Christianism in the US or mild Judaism in Israel. Turkey is still far more secular than either the US or Israel, IMHO.

By: Lynx

Lynx — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:10:44 +0000

Michael, Turkey is very high on my list of countries to visit (second in fact, right after Japan) and I don’t mean to imply that I dislike Turkey or Turks. I have nothing against them at all and am fully aware that there are plenty of advanced AND westernized Turks. I wouldn’t argue about that, and less still with you

But Turkey is not Europe, Turks are not Europeans. There’s nothing wrong with that, Americans, Australians and Japanese are all advanced westernized peoples and still have no place as EU members. Turkey also has a great many issues it would have to overcome in order to become nearly European enough. As I understand it, a great many Turks have no wish to become Europeanized, which is perfectly undestandable. In fact, it seems to me that including Turkey in the EU is something only a small set of powerful people want, and they could care less about what the EU members or Turks think about it.

By: Michael van der Galien

Michael van der Galien — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 05:56:28 +0000

Lynx: I do not think you’ve ever been to Turkey. First come, then speak

Everyone who criticizes Turkey should first visit it. It is a wonderful country, with wonderful people.

By: Michael van der Galien

Michael van der Galien — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 05:55:29 +0000

John: I think that the AKP is not as bad as some say it is, but I also think that it is less good and less moderate than others say. I am in the camp that believes that Erdogan did not truly moderate his views: he moderated only because doing sowas politically wise. The idea some have (and I share it) is that erdogan and gul have decided to change turkey step by step, bit by bit.

Theonly mistake they made thus far: nominating gul for president at this point.

Also: although I do not very strongly oppose the AKP, I do not quite see how anyone in the West can celebrate a victory of Islamists no matter whether they are so-called moderate or not.

By: Lynx

Lynx — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:53:34 +0000

The news is saying that the Islamists have won with almost 49% of the vote, leaving the secularists far behind with about 19%. If it was a clean election I’m fine with it, each country has the full right to decide what it wants it’s future to be, but it only deepens my misgivings about the idea of Turkey as a member of the EU. I’m fine with them as a nation, but everything I hear from that country makes me more and more sure that they are NOT European.

By: jdledell

jdledell — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:00:52 +0000

Michael – I am very pleased that these elections went off without a hitch. It appears that the AKP won 47% of the vote vs 34% in ythe last election. They will still have a majority of about 345 of the 550 representatives in the Parliment. Ergodan and his administration have done an excellent job sheparding Turkey’s economics after the previous ruling party screwed everything up with their cronyism.

Ergodan has proven Islamists come in all flavors, benign, moderate and extremist. When Eric Edelman was ambassador to Turkey 2003-2005, he took the typical Bush administration approach -all Islam bad – must change. He pissed off the Turks no end and is responsible for a significant portion of the growth in anti-americanism in Turkey. Fot a while in 2004, the Turkish papers reported some sort of Edleman buffoonery almost everyday.

I have always loved Turkey and it’s people and have traveled it extensively. I’m glad to see that they are doing well in this turbulent world.