"The Turkish crisis
By Costas Iordanidis
The clash between Islamists and supporters of the secular regime of Kemal Ataturk that is currently shaking Turkey reflects a dangerous structural rift that has never before manifested itself on such a large scale and which, apart from destabilizing Turkey, is bound to increase Ankara’s political hostility toward Greece and Cyprus.
In view of this, the crisis in Turkey should be of primary concern to Costas Karamanlis’s government and the country’s politicians. Calls by secularists for the resignation of a “government of murderers” — which resounded in Ankara during a rally in protest at the murder of a high-ranking judge at the hands of an Islamic fundamentalist — could quite accurately be described as the emotional stance of Turkey’s masses. But when the chief of Turkey’s military Hilmi Ozkok praises these demonstrators and incites them to protract and boost their protests then it is evident that the existing clash will naturally escalate."
More:ekathimerini.com | The Turkish crisis
