Turkey’s dangerous crossroads
The cancellation of this week’s commemorations to mark the 101st anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine at Gallipoli would matter little to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But it is indicative of mounting Western anxiety over events in the country with the second largest army in NATO, which is also a strategic bastion in the battle against Islamic State and in halting most of the flood of migrants from the Middle East to Europe. Confidence in Mr Erdogan and the stability of Turkey’s secular democracy is being severely tested by the extremist post-coup purge he has launched. As Germany’s Angela Merkel has warned, punishing the coup leaders is legitimate but the “principle of proportionality must be respected”.
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