EU Islamism Turkey US politics

Daniel Pipes: A Critical Moment For Turkey…….

Pipes:

“Judging whether the AKP has a hidden agenda, I concluded after a trip to Turkey in mid-2005, resembles a “sophisticated intellectual puzzle,” with persuasive evidence in both directions. That remains the case, I find on this visit two years later. There’s just more data to process and interpret.”

“European Union membership offers the AKP a huge side-benefit: by reducing the political role of Turkey’s arch-secular military leadership, paradoxically, it eases the way to apply Islamic laws. Would the AKP’s caution outlast its neutering the officer corps? Finally, Secretary Rice ignores AKP-induced tensions in U.S.-Turkish relations.

But her superficial analysis has one inadvertent benefit: given Turkey’s fervid anti-Americanism these days, American support for the AKP might actually cause it to lose votes. Such cynical humor aside, Washington should stop bolstering the AKP and instead side with its natural allies, the secularists.

More here. *L* KGS

One Response

  1. I think Danile Pipes should be aware of the AKP stance before the invasion of Iraq. It’s kinda sad what he’s saying years after that. He also ignores the standards EU poses in terms of democracy and freedoms (vis-a-vis his apparent fear of an Islamist take over in an EU Turkey).

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