Ataturk witnessed first hand the terrible real cost of backwardness. In less than twenty years of public life, this remarkable man created a secular state and brought Turkey into the modern era. The secularists had ruled Turkey for over eighty years with the Army being the ultimate guarantor of Ataturk’s legacy. Unfortunately the secularists imposed mostly socialist like policies on the country. Outside a few urban areas and for some privlidged groups, most of the country remained economically undeveloped and poor. It is not suprising that the impoverished, poorly educated, mostly rural majority has turned to fundamentalism. Political Islamists have held power for the past ten years and have really frightened the secularists as they have taken control of the army and security forces. Change comes to all human endeavors. Unfortunately it is not always good.
Yes, this is a terrible situation for freedom and reason.
It would be a disaster for Turkey to devolve into Islamism. The smart people there are forward thinking and not kowtowing to Erdogan. Where did they go wrong? Or are they, as someone suggested yesterday, simply outnumbered and getting more outnumbered every day thanks to the large birth rate among peasants.
I’ve heard that Muslims think they cannot be beaten by anyone because they reproduce like rabbits. The War of The Womb, they say. Heard that at a party years ago in Seattle at home of some Muslims. Highly educated and well-paid Iranians. Charming people but who knows what lurks...