I myself think the transcript to this AEI event might be somewhat helpful in understanding the current dynamics of US-Turkish relations for the future. It also touches on some of the nuttier ideas currently floating through the Turkish popular culture at the moment.
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If Ataturk and his son Ataboy were unable to unshackle Turkey from the thrall of Islam, then there's no hope for any Muslim land to step into the sunshine of freedom. It is not for nothing that "Islam" means submission.
I THINK THAT THE MAN WHO POSTED SECOND MESSAGE HAS NO IDEA ABOUT ISLAM. ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION BUT TO ALLAH! THIS MAN IS MAKING FUN OF THE FAITH OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.
IF TURKEY IS COMMING BACK TO THE ISLAMIST POLITICS IS BECAUSE THE SECULARISM HAVENT WORK AS MUCH AS THEY HOPED. IT IS THE DAME IN MOST OF ARAB COUNTRIES. NATIONALISM NOR SOCIALISM, NOR MONARQUI HAS WORKED... SO... WHY NOT GOING BACK TO THE CULTURAL PRINCIPLES OF THE REGION?
Very possibly, but while I appreciate your thoughts, you NEED NOT SHOUT in order to express them ...
Paola
Islamics have never allowed the freedom of thought and freedom of action needed for human creativity to thrive.
Respect for the rights of the individual are key, without them democracy is just another form of opression.
You inherited civilisaton and learning from Bythantium, and adopted a totalitarian theology that spreads by the sword and the flame.
The sword and the flame is a distroyer, not a creator. untill the east learns to repect the right of the other man to live how he wants free from fear and intimidation both from you and the state. the east is going no where.
The Christians went no where till they learned this, the Nations of Islam must also.
Interestingly, the recently freed people of Iraq seem to understand this in very real terms.
They are saying Iraq can be the model for a new kind of eastern state based on freedom. The people of Iraq are saying this. They are right, and it can work, if they can only hold the killers the wreckers and those that create nothing except fear at bay, it will work.
A free man is the most creative force on earth, give him the personal security so he can see the value in investing hope and effort.
The only being a man should fear is God, not his fellow man.
Off Topic: I hear a lot about Yeman and Saudi Arabia, but what about Oman? It's right there by Yeman but I can't remember any reports re Islamic radicals there. Am I just not paying attention? What is its political status?