No one with any knowledge of history denies that the Turks have done some brutal things - massacres of Armenians and Kurds are historical fact. Their failure to support us in the Iraq intervention is a historical fact. For these blame is very properly ascribed.
May I ask you simply to state your case here? I'm having trouble finding it among the insults.
Some here on FR really believe that Turkey is a secular Muslim democracy, not even stopping to think that you cannot be secular if 99.9% of your people are Muslim. The very nature of Islam precludes equality for any faith other than the Muslim ideology.
Turkey spends billions on propaganda around the world and some here unfortunately have swallowed the big lie. Some neo cons too, although fortunately I see a shift recently in their thinking (that is another topic).
Another hopeful sign is that the President will finally acknowledge the genocide perpetrated by Muslim Turks against Armenian Christians in the 20th century. Of course the proclamation may not mention the atrocities against the former Assyrian and Greek Christian communities that have all but disappeared, but since the Armenian men women and children bore the full fury of Islamic wrath, they rightfully should finally be acknowledged.
No, Turkey is not a democracy...and cannot be given that its institutions are controlled by a corrupt oligarchy preying on Turks' Muslim fears and practices.
According to Freedom House Turkey rates "partly free" in a 2005 report, up there with Burkina Faso.
The few remaining Christians continue to be harrassed at best and murdered at worst.
http://www.jubileecampaign.co.uk/world/tur11.htm
Turkey continues its secret alliances with Ultra fascist groups - such as the Grey Wolves - and supports chechnyan muslim terrorists.
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/grey_wolves.htm
"Turkey may be the best place for those seeking to continue the fight in Chechnya from abroad. During the first Chechen war (1994-1996), Turkish authorities played host to exiled Chechen warlords and allowed several Turkish mayors who were members of the Prosperity Party, an Islamic party, to provide medical aid and general support for the Chechen guerrillas. Within Turkish political society there even emerged a coalition between hardcore Islamists and nationalists who favored Turkish military intervention in Chechnya."
http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=409&issue_id=3234&article_id=2369276
Prof Hanson may be an excellent historian of the ancient Mediterranean region but when it comes to understanding the complexities of the world after the Muslim invasions, he is like most, an amateur.