"Hating America, Turkish Style
This too shall pass.
by Mustafa Akyol
3/19/2005 12:05:00 AM, Volume 010, Issue 26
LONGTIME ALLIES OF THE UNITED States, the Turks have been sympathetic to American values for decades. Nevertheless, a new BBC World Service poll of 21 countries shows Turkey to be the least friendly to America, especially the current administration. Eighty-two percent of Turks said they found President Bush's reelection 'negative for peace and security in the world.' While this sentiment doubtless reflects a global reaction to the war in Iraq, there are also distinctive local factors that explain the current wave of Turkish anti-American feeling.
One of these is the Kurdish question. The Turkish Republic was founded in 1923, under the influence of secularist European nationalism. Rather than building a national identity around the shared Islamic heritage of its various peoples, modern Turkey sought to achieve national cohesion by converting its non-Turkish ethnic groups--notably the Kurds--into Turks. This effort at social engineering has only partly succeeded."
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