Posted on 06/13/2011 6:39:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
On October 1, 1939 – two weeks after their invasion of Poland – Winston Churchill described Russia with these memorable words: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.” Today, as it faces the political and economic realities of the 21st century, the same statement can be made about modern-day Turkey.
We happened to be in Turkey during the 2007 re-election of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We traveled all over the country, and we were so enamored with the city of Istanbul that we decided to return this spring. However, when we told people that we planned a second visit to Turkey, we received a chorus of negative reactions based, I believe, on the perception of the changes made in the last few years by Erdogan’s government.
Istanbul is one of the most intriguing cities on the planet. While it is not the capital of Turkey, it remains the heart and soul of the country and is one of the largest cities in the world. Just as the Bosphorus divides the city – with one side in Europe and the other in Asia – Istanbul is a mixture of the modern era and of years gone by. One sees Ferraris race past ancient push carts.
As a visitor, your impression of the city’s atmosphere depends upon where you stay. We selected a hotel near the Topkapi Palace, which was made famous in the 1964 movie starring Melina Mercouri, Peter Ustinov and Maximilian Schell. In this portion of the city, you breathe a sense of history – but spending a day at the Grand Bazaar quickly convinces you that the people of Turkey are 21st-century capitalists. Though you hear calls for prayer wailing from the minarets, none of the merchants budge from haggling with the shoppers. This country does not mince words when they say they want your business. Any commercial establishment in the city will take Turkish Liras, but they will gladly also accept American dollars or Euros. They don’t particularly care how you pay – they just want you to buy, eat, and enjoy.
We crossed the Bosphorus to meet some government officials at an upscale shopping center that could easily have been mistaken for a mall in suburban America. Both sides of the street were lined with tall office buildings, including a Trump Tower. It’s no surprise that our taxi driver told us that we were entering the “Manhattan of Istanbul.”
As we pulled into the center, we were confronted with Turkish reality. We were subjected to a security inspection comparable to an embassy – and totally unlike the casual environment at American malls. When we asked our lunch guests why security was so tight, we were told that it was normal and that the PKK (Kurdish Separatists) had recently exploded a bomb not far from where we were dining. They informed us that this was a fairly regular occurrence, which is something we don’t hear much about in the United States.
We started discussing the current state of the Turkish government and its move toward becoming more of a Muslim nation. Interestingly, we were told that while some laws were changed in the second Erdogan term, there is little difference in the daily life of the typical Turk. Our concerns regarding recent Turkish actions toward Israel were countered by the fact that the volume of trade between the two countries remains constant, and that Israelis continue to comprise a major part of the Turkish IT industry. When we mentioned that many Israelis now feel uncomfortable traveling to Turkey, our hosts acknowledged that several Mediterranean resorts, economically harmed by the absence of Israeli tourists, were pressuring the government to improve relations with the Jewish state. Again, we were reminded that Turks are capitalists, and that it is economics and trade that drives most government policy. Finally, we asked if Mr. Erdogan had ever heard of George Washington, and how he had walked away after two terms. Mr. Erdogan, who most likely was elected to his third term as Prime Minister yesterday, has promised that it is his last. But, like many Americans in the Jewish community, we would much prefer a Washingtonian assurance of leadership change.
We left our meeting feeling better about the future of Turkey as a free, independent and secular state. This country is above all Turkish and capitalist – and it is very little like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Syria. These people are focused on making a living, and have a high level of commitment to modern technology. Even the women who walk around in traditional garb carry a cell phone, and you have to wonder how they’re going to keep the kids down on the farm after they’ve seen Lady Gaga.
Turkey remains a bellwether country that demonstrates a path to modern Islam. The forces that Erdogan has turned loose must be kept in check, but ultimately it is the Turks who need to make a choice between the contemporary society that they are or the ignorance and barbarity of radical Islam. Having been there twice, I believe the Turks want to be part of the modern world.
I think Turkey tastes better when wrapped in bacon...
It’s the tryptophan. Mystery solved.
I’m gonna have to try that!
Paula Deen Thanksgiving Special?................
Saw it on Fox and Friends last Thanksgiving.
Everything tastes better wrapped in bacon!
Especially BACON!..................
I like bacon, too, first with breakfast and BLT’s later on, but this thread has been hijacked JMHO.
The author commits the same mistake in perception as other visitors to Istanbul (haven’t been there but I know those who have, and I have met many Turks here in America). He sees a huge cosmopolitan city where Islam’s influence is somewhat diluted, and projects it as applying to the rest of Turkiye (real name of the country).
I have learned the most about Turkish culture by studying the life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The modern nation was created only after a bloody three-way civil war which his forces won. To this day the Anatolian eastern part of Turkiye is darkly opposed to everything that is Western-oriented about Istanbul and the secular society which Ataturk created by main force. Of course, he regarded Islam as a cancer out of a backward Arabia which had to be subdued and put into remission.
There’s a movement among Islamists in Turkiye to dismantle the mausoleum in which Ataturk is buried (it bears a passing resemblance to the Lincoln Memorial). Erdogan is victorious and was quoted years ago as saying Turks should look forward to what he called “Sharia Lite”. The regime has bankrolled the next Gaza Flotilla. It may tear up its peace treaty with Israel before the Egyptians do theirs.
It’s always fun to read a travelogue describing a pleasant visit to one of the world’s great cities, but to describe its pleasing qualities as typical of the rest of Asia Minor is to ignore Turkish reality, with potentially disastrous consequences for those who do.
Bad as it was for Greeks, it was much worse for Armenians (over 2 million), she said. THEY had wealth. The Armenians were merchants, lawyers, property owners, and most were educated, etc. Turks loved killing THEM because they actually had gold.
Most of the Greeks were not too well off and so were not even worth killing in masses, like the Armenians... The Greeks were systematically robbed, forced out of the social mainstream and oppressed. Their religion of course was prohibited, they had to give up their property, such as it was, had their sons conscripted and most were forced on a death-march to boats and were deported. There is no family in that old community of ours that came here intact. My maternal grandparents came here without their sons and never saw them again. It’s what I picked up from the old folks over the years. All this stuff the Muslims are doing NOW, is NOTHING NEW!!!
"We left our meeting feeling better about the future of Turkey as a free, independent and secular state."
"...ultimately it is the Turks who need to make a choice between... contemporary society... and... radical Islam. Having been there twice, I believe the Turks want to be part of the modern world."
They have already made their choice - for the 3rd and probably last time - by voting in Erdogan. If the Turks the fool author spoke with were honest (and not employing taqiyya against an infidel) than their future will be like those in Iran & Syria who want "the modern world" rather than radical Islam.
Quotes from Mr. Erdogan:
"{Democracy is like a tram/bus:} You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.""There is no moderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s that”
"Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers."
"Assimilation is a crime against humanity..."
"We left our meeting feeling better about the future of Turkey as a free, independent and secular state."
"...ultimately it is the Turks who need to make a choice between... contemporary society... and... radical Islam. Having been there twice, I believe the Turks want to be part of the modern world."
They have already made their choice - for the 3rd and probably last time - by voting in Erdogan. If the Turks the fool author spoke with were honest (and not employing taqiyya against an infidel) than their future will be like those in Iran & Syria who want "the modern world" rather than radical Islam.
Quotes from Mr. Erdogan:
"{Democracy is like a tram/bus:} You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off.""There is no moderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s that”
"Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers."
"Assimilation is a crime against humanity..."
The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey...(Preamble as amended on October 17, 2001...5th paragraph)...
The recognition that no protection shall be accorded to an activity contrary to Turkish national interests, the principle of the indivisibility of the existence of Turkey with its state and territory, Turkish historical and moral values or the nationalism, principles, reforms and modernism of Atatürk and that, as required by the principle of secularism, there shall be no interference whatsoever by sacred religious feelings in state affairs and politics; the acknowledgment that it is the birthright of every Turkish citizen to lead an honourable life and to develop his or her material and spiritual assets under the aegis of national culture, civilization and the rule of law, through the exercise of the fundamental rights and freedoms set forth in this Constitution in conformity with the requirements of equality and social justice;
http://www.anayasa.gov.tr/images/loaded/pdf_dosyalari/THE_CONSTITUTION_OF_THE_REPUBLIC_OF_TURKEY.pdf
Interesting document.
Thank you for sharing your story SMARTY. One of my grandfathers boogied out of there in 1915, and made it legally to the U.S.
What some people don't realize is that the Germans, had a huge hand in assisting the Turks in this Genocide, it was a dry run for the Holocaust of WWII.
Like you know and I know,Nothing new here regarding Muslims, they pulled it off in Asia Minor and Kosovo and are still duping Western Nations, playing them like a bunch fools.
No non-Muslim power or group on earth could carry out such unconscionable and brutal policies ONCE let alone repeatedly, and still get a pass.
Western powers are gullible fools and fat, lazy cattle to look the other way on this....STILL!
Wishful thinking by Americans talking to Westernized Turks from Rumelia. They should have gone to Ankara to see the truth.
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