[Vigilanteman]

If I were a Turk, I'd be offended by the tone of this thread. Turks are Muslim and have contributed a lot to the industrial growth of Germany and the Low Countries. They've also made valuable contributions to the Western Alliance and do not deserve to be lumped into the same category as Islamists.

People do need to be careful with the tone of the statements, because we not only need the Turks on our side, they are the only successful long-term model of civilizing Islam. Thanks to the Turks, the pattern of civilized Islam is also developing in Malaysia and some of the former Russian Republics.

An Ataturk-like leader could very well be more successful than thousands of cluster bombs. (Albeit that we may yet have to drop cluster bombs in order to surpress the Islamists to the extent that the next Ataturk can arise.)

[Lazamataz]

If I were a Turk, I'd be offended by the tone of this thread. Turks are Muslim and have contributed a lot to the industrial growth of Germany and the Low Countries. They've also made valuable contributions to the Western Alliance and do not deserve to be lumped into the same category as Islamists.

I think you have a point. Turks are unusually motivated, considering the vast majority of sun-baked UV-addled black-rock-worshipping terrorist-bombing lazy, shiftless, backstabbing Islamics.

I could abide Turkish immigration. Not one other Islamic would pass muster, however.

[ffusco]

No disrespect to our good friends and Nato ally, Turkey was expressed or implied. The crux of my argument is still valid. The USA is a Judeo/Christian/European construction for the most part. Deal with it.

[rmlew]

You miss a key point: We are not deally with Turks in Turkey. We are dealing with the ex-patriots.

Generally speaking emmigrants leave a country because they are unhappy with it either economically or politically. Thus to assume that the Turks in Europe are as secular as those in Turkey is a mistake.