Tuesday, September 04, 2007

There are plusses to Turkey's more Islamic political landscape - an editorial - cleveland.com

"There are plusses to Turkey's more Islamic political landscape - an editorial Tuesday, September 04, 2007 It's a sign of Turkey's identity crisis that only one day after parliament broke with decades of secular precedent last week to elect a devout Muslim, Abdullah Gul, the country's president, Turks were back in the streets celebrating their secular roots. Turkey's Victory Day marks the Aug. 30, 1922, triumph of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's military forces in a war of independence. The victory heralded not merely the dawn of Turkey's modern state, but also the special place that Turkey's army holds in that transformation. So the latest changes that seem to demote the army in public life are profound."

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