Turkey, the Key to a Resurgent Islam

Believe it or not, it looks as if we are losing the Turks...

Yes, things do change but the Turks for the last nearly one hundred years had rejected a theologically based government in the interest of westernization under Ataturk.

The Turks in Korea may have proved to be among our strongest allies; but now fundamentalism seems to be regaining popularity and the cause of progressivism has not been helped by the slowness of the Europeans to embrace Turkey in all of its diversity and recent remarks by the Holy Father in Rome.

For the most part, post WWII, the Turks have been "used and abused" by Europe to fill their labor shortage without gaining acceptance and, for the most part, being treated as separate people who could never gain citizenship under say the laws of Germany. For the most part, the Turks have chaffed under such treatment. Recently, the American's anti-Islamic attitudes have helped radical elements to gain credibility something that could not have happened perhaps ten years ago...including support for the Kurds which the Turks suspect of wanting their own state...

It is clear that Turkey's fundamentalist roots are in the ascendency gaining adherents from among an audience that was once dominated by western leaning modernists...

Turks are now wearing headscarves, once banned, and openly espousing Islamic fundamentalism. Religious schools are also growing. Today, which way Turkey will eventually go is still up in the air but it has not been helped by the Catholic Church's intemperate remarks or America's black and white attitudes towards the rest of the world. Recent talks with Turkish citizens revealed that they are tired of feeling like second class citizens in what they see as a world dominated by Western interests that do not necessarily coincide with their own...

Today, Istanbul's direction seems more a barometer of Western ideal and mores than a judgment, say, on Turkish readiness for the European union. If Turkey should go totally Islamic, consider it a turning point for a more moderate Islam throughout the world and keep an eye on the direction of Malaysia, Kula Lumpur and Indonesia....the largest Islamic country in the world and fourth largest in terms of population in the world.


les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change....