"Turkey, the mediator
Monday, March 6, 2006
Yusuf KANLI
The cartoon crisis, graphic evidence of the cruel treatment of prisoners in Iraq by the Americans, signs of rising Islamophobia in the West after 9/11 in the U.S. and the Madrid and London bombings as well as the apparently politically motivated and �state sponsored� violent demonstrations in some Muslim countries against the �neo Crusade mentality� in the West, are all factors that seriously hampered the already delicate relations between Christians and Muslims of the world. These developments, while highlighting Turkey's peculiar role as a bridge between the two cultures, have put pressure on Turkey to make a decision on its own identity: Is Turkey a member of Western culture, is it an emissary of the East to the West, or is it just an eastern society aspiring to acquire same values of the West while trying to preserve its oriental character?"
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