The U.S. Support of Turkish Islamists
M. Orhan Tarhan
December 23, 2007
In the previous letter we discussed “The Importance of Laicism For Turkey” We will be surprised to find out that this importance does not seem to be understood by the friends of Turkey.
Of course, in today’s transparent world, the whole world sees Turkey’s problems. It would make sense that the states that call themselves “Friends of Turkey” would help Turks improve their laic majority and organize them for winning at the next election. It is surprising that both the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU), two friends of Turkey, have been supporting the religious party. Is it possible that these two friends want Turkey to become less survivable? In other words, are they really no friends of Turkey? That seems preposterous to me, but, that is exactly what many Turks have concluded and that is why pro-American vote in Turkey has sank to 9 %.
No one in this country could give me any convincing reason why the Bush Administration supports the A.K.Party. Let me give a few reasons why it should not support a party that is rolling back the reforms of Ataturk, that made Turkey a survivable state. All the leaders of the A.K.Party had been members of an earlier Islamist party lead by Erbakan. That party was a Turkish extention of a typical Islamist party found in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Afghanistan. It had the same mentality as the Taliban or Usame bin Laden. Except it did not practice terrorism. It just does not make sense to me, that the Bush Administration, while waging hot war against political Islam in Afghanistan and elsewhere, supports such a party in Turkey. Of course, it is normal that the U.S. deals with whatever ruling party there is in Turkey. But supporting such a party is another thing.
I honestly can’t answer that question, why the Bush Administration is supporting an Islamist Party in Turkey. My logic says that it should not. In the following I will give some other facts that may help my readers to come to their own conclusion. In my Letter No. 107 of 7/1/2007 I had said that American kids generally do not learn foreign history and geography in high school, because it is not taught to them. They grow up and become congressmen, senators, and presidents or just plain citizens. They make decisions affecting foreign countries without knowing anything about them and the result is predictable.
In 1990’s the U.S.helped successfully the Afghan Muslims defeat the Soviet invaders in Afghanistan. They used many fighters from Saudi Arabia such as Usama bi Laden and trained them to wage a guerilla war against the Russians. The U.S. Government of the time succeeded in convincing Genral Kenan Evren of Turkey who had just made a coup d’etat, that Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan should constitute a “Green Crescent” of Islamic power that should prevent communism in these states. Gl. Evren, who should have known better, increased the number of religious schools in Turkey, and unwittingly prepared the way for the present religious government. Some years later, communism was gone, Islam is now a bigger threat, that NATO and some American forces are trying to defeat in Afghanistan.
A few years ago the State Department has crafted “The Greater Middle East Initiative” that showed that they had learned nothing from the Green Crescent of the 1990’s. It is an initiative that is destined to fail, because it is based on ignorance of the Middle East. As part of that initiative, the Bush Administration wants Turkey to be a moderately Islamic country, a model to other Islamic countries. Turkey is a laic republic, one cannot be laic and moderately Islamic at the same time. The Turkish population is 99 % Moslem but the Turkish state has no religion. It is laic. Of course reverting to an Islamic state (moderate or otherwise) will make Turkey less survivable, hence America has lost the love of modern laic Turks who want their country to remain survivable. None of the Arab countries around Turkey want to take Turkey for a model, because they do not want to do what Turkey has done to become a modern country. Thus, the Greater Middle East Initiative has no chance of succeeding. It may just endanger Turkey.
A few years ago President George W. Bush went to Turkey and talked in a place with a background of the Dolma Bahce Mosque. In his speech he mentioned Orhan Pamuk’s book “Snow” that later won him the Nobel price for literature. He seemed to be recommending Pamuk’s Ideas to the Turks. At that time I had not read that book and was surprised that President Bush had. When my good friend Davit Shasha asked my opinion on “Snow”, I had to get an original Turkish copy of Snow from Turkey and attentively read it to discover the ideas that President Bush recommended to the Turks. The book was undoubtedly a fine example of Turkish literature, the story also was quite exiting, but I failed to discover the thesis or the message of the book. Thus, I still do not know what it was that President Bush wanted the Turks to heed. At that trip someone asked Mrs . Laura Bush whether she ever read any other example of Turkish literature, “Yes, she said, I read the “Thousand and one nights”. Of course, in Turkey, the report did not need to mention to which country’s literature “1001 Nights” belonged.
We see in the foregoing that the State Department crafted a number of projects, such as “The Green Crescent” and “The Great Middle Eastern Initiative” without knowing much about the Middle East. They never learned from their earlier mistakes in crafting a later project. Most of the above stories show some degree of ignorance. This seem to be the norm.
Perhaps, after reading all of the above facts, my readers will guess why the United States is supporting the Islamists in Turkey, something I was unable to do.
Of course, in today’s transparent world, the whole world sees Turkey’s problems. It would make sense that the states that call themselves “Friends of Turkey” would help Turks improve their laic majority and organize them for winning at the next election. It is surprising that both the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU), two friends of Turkey, have been supporting the religious party. Is it possible that these two friends want Turkey to become less survivable? In other words, are they really no friends of Turkey? That seems preposterous to me, but, that is exactly what many Turks have concluded and that is why pro-American vote in Turkey has sank to 9 %.
No one in this country could give me any convincing reason why the Bush Administration supports the A.K.Party. Let me give a few reasons why it should not support a party that is rolling back the reforms of Ataturk, that made Turkey a survivable state. All the leaders of the A.K.Party had been members of an earlier Islamist party lead by Erbakan. That party was a Turkish extention of a typical Islamist party found in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Afghanistan. It had the same mentality as the Taliban or Usame bin Laden. Except it did not practice terrorism. It just does not make sense to me, that the Bush Administration, while waging hot war against political Islam in Afghanistan and elsewhere, supports such a party in Turkey. Of course, it is normal that the U.S. deals with whatever ruling party there is in Turkey. But supporting such a party is another thing.
I honestly can’t answer that question, why the Bush Administration is supporting an Islamist Party in Turkey. My logic says that it should not. In the following I will give some other facts that may help my readers to come to their own conclusion. In my Letter No. 107 of 7/1/2007 I had said that American kids generally do not learn foreign history and geography in high school, because it is not taught to them. They grow up and become congressmen, senators, and presidents or just plain citizens. They make decisions affecting foreign countries without knowing anything about them and the result is predictable.
In 1990’s the U.S.helped successfully the Afghan Muslims defeat the Soviet invaders in Afghanistan. They used many fighters from Saudi Arabia such as Usama bi Laden and trained them to wage a guerilla war against the Russians. The U.S. Government of the time succeeded in convincing Genral Kenan Evren of Turkey who had just made a coup d’etat, that Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan should constitute a “Green Crescent” of Islamic power that should prevent communism in these states. Gl. Evren, who should have known better, increased the number of religious schools in Turkey, and unwittingly prepared the way for the present religious government. Some years later, communism was gone, Islam is now a bigger threat, that NATO and some American forces are trying to defeat in Afghanistan.
A few years ago the State Department has crafted “The Greater Middle East Initiative” that showed that they had learned nothing from the Green Crescent of the 1990’s. It is an initiative that is destined to fail, because it is based on ignorance of the Middle East. As part of that initiative, the Bush Administration wants Turkey to be a moderately Islamic country, a model to other Islamic countries. Turkey is a laic republic, one cannot be laic and moderately Islamic at the same time. The Turkish population is 99 % Moslem but the Turkish state has no religion. It is laic. Of course reverting to an Islamic state (moderate or otherwise) will make Turkey less survivable, hence America has lost the love of modern laic Turks who want their country to remain survivable. None of the Arab countries around Turkey want to take Turkey for a model, because they do not want to do what Turkey has done to become a modern country. Thus, the Greater Middle East Initiative has no chance of succeeding. It may just endanger Turkey.
A few years ago President George W. Bush went to Turkey and talked in a place with a background of the Dolma Bahce Mosque. In his speech he mentioned Orhan Pamuk’s book “Snow” that later won him the Nobel price for literature. He seemed to be recommending Pamuk’s Ideas to the Turks. At that time I had not read that book and was surprised that President Bush had. When my good friend Davit Shasha asked my opinion on “Snow”, I had to get an original Turkish copy of Snow from Turkey and attentively read it to discover the ideas that President Bush recommended to the Turks. The book was undoubtedly a fine example of Turkish literature, the story also was quite exiting, but I failed to discover the thesis or the message of the book. Thus, I still do not know what it was that President Bush wanted the Turks to heed. At that trip someone asked Mrs . Laura Bush whether she ever read any other example of Turkish literature, “Yes, she said, I read the “Thousand and one nights”. Of course, in Turkey, the report did not need to mention to which country’s literature “1001 Nights” belonged.
We see in the foregoing that the State Department crafted a number of projects, such as “The Green Crescent” and “The Great Middle Eastern Initiative” without knowing much about the Middle East. They never learned from their earlier mistakes in crafting a later project. Most of the above stories show some degree of ignorance. This seem to be the norm.
Perhaps, after reading all of the above facts, my readers will guess why the United States is supporting the Islamists in Turkey, something I was unable to do.
Print
Email
