Turkey Thread

[Pannonian]

if turkey has turned away from western liberal democracy then it is in part the eu's fault.

this was not the attitude taken with the balkans, and turkey earned its place in the eu with 40 years on nato's front line.

Turkey has turned away from the liberal bit because it's embraced the democratic bit. AFAIK Kemalism was firmly established only in the metropolitan areas, where people like LEN embraced the western civilisation that Kemal loved. In the rural areas, which was a majority of the country's population, religion still held sway. So a Turkish government that reflects the will of the majority of the country won't be liberal. If we want Turkey to be more liberal, it'll have to be less democratic.

Nowt to do with the EU, which didn't exist when Kemal saw the problems that modernising Turkey would face, and still faces.