Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, wrote a piece today at National Review Online titled: Is Turkey Going Rogue? You might surmise from the title that Professor Pipes thinks there are big problems with Turkey. He does. Here are some of the problems he highlights in today's article:
When four out of five of the Turkish chiefs of staff abruptly resigned on July 29, 2011, they signaled the effective end of the republic founded in 1923 by Kemal Atatürk.
Ironically, secular Turks tend to be more anti-Western than the AKP (the party in power).
Turkey faces a credit crunch, one largely ignored in light of crises in Greece and elsewhere. As analyst David Goldman points out, Erdoğan (pictured above) and the AKP took the country on a financial binge: Bank credit ballooned while the current account deficit soared, reaching unsustainable levels.
Some 15–20 percent of Turkey’s citizens identify as Kurds, a distinct historical people; although many Kurds are integrated, a separatist revolt against Ankara that began in 1984 has recently reached a new crescendo...
In the tradition of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Saddam Hussein, the Turkish prime minister deploys anti-Zionist rhetoric to make himself an Arab political star. One shudders to think where, thrilled by this adulation, he may end up.
As economic troubles hit, a once-exemplary member of NATO may go further off track; watch for signs of Erdoğan emulating his Venezuelan friend, Hugo Chávez.
There are a number of other reasons that lead Pipes to consider a rogue Turkey "the region's greatest threat." You can read his entire article by clicking on the link below.
Is Turkey Going Rogue? - Daniel Pipes - National Review Online
For earlier posts on Turkey, click on "Turkey" in the Labels below.
