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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (13443)	4/14/2003 10:43:15 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21614

Welcome to Turkey, a close ally of the US. Could have fooled me... They were no different than your french neighbors when it came to harboring and doing business with a brutal regime under binding UN sanctions... They might be democratic (for now), but that doesn't mean their interests coincide with ours. The Islamist party has every interest in undermining the secular governmental framework Ataturk put into place. Hell, Erdogan and his party was banned from Turkish politics just a few years ago for inciting religious hatred (for which he served 4 months in jail). But now they are "playing the game" until they can change the rules in their favor, including Islamicizing the Turkish military so they will not be inclined to launch a coup against them. In fact, the Turkish judiciary altered the constitution in order to permit Erdogan to hold office. What other constitutional changes are lurking down the road? Maybe they'll eventually remove Ataturk's name from the preamble, eh? Calling them Muslim democrats is like calling Jerry Falwell a "christian republican" and I sure as hell wouldn't want him running the US. Religions have no place in government. Religions should operate within a secular framework, conducting their "battles for souls" peacefully with no government subsidization or support. Ataturk was a STAUNCH anti-Islamist. He despised religion, and especially Islam. Those people who are backing Erdogan are not necessarily as "moderate" as he claims to be. They will push him toward making more radical changes or threaten to pull their support. He will, of course, be required to comply. One would think that a person of your intelligence would understand the concept of incrementalist revolution.. And I stand by my belief that Ataturk is probably rolling in his grave over the election of Erdogan, let alone the alteration of the constitution to permit him to hold office. Hawk