Turkey
Dogu Ergil
Turkish Daily News
Islamic fundamentalism is gaining ground in Turkey, said Dogu Ergil in Ankara’s Turkish Daily News. Hitler’s Mein Kampf is a current best-seller. So is that absurd anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Strangely enough, this wave of hate has been growing ever since the U.S. invaded Iraq. The war angered many Turks, who feared that it would lead to Iraq’s Kurds forming an independent Kurdistan on their borders. That, in turn, would lead Turkey’s Kurds to want to break away, fracturing our nation. Over the past two years, Turkey’s ruling party has been steadily distancing itself from the U.S. Rather than derive their power from a close relationship with the superpower, Turkey’s rulers have begun to rely more on “internal forces,” particularly the “nationalists, statists, and Islamists.” These disparate “fringe groups” want to take Turkey in different directions. The one thing that unites them is “anxiety of change and hatred of the enemy,” and they view America, the Jews, and Israel as the enemy. Fortunately, these groups are not yet in charge. Turkey can still return to the pro-Western path if it regains a more positive “unifying idea”—the promise of E.U. membership.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Keep the fun going with these 7 subscription gift boxes
Babies born using 3 people's DNA are without hereditary disease
Crossword: July 23, 2025
