Turkey Army Staff Resignation: The End Of The Kemalist Affair?

Slate:

To read of the stunning news, of the almost-overnight liquidation of the Ataturkist or secularist military caste, and to try to do so from the standpoint of a seriously secular Turk, is to have a small share in the sense of acute national vertigo that must have accompanied the proclamation of a new system in the second two decades of the 20th century.

Read the whole story: Slate

Comments

[Erewhon7]

01:40 AM on 08/03/2011

Lucky, enough multi-kultis were defeated to put ludicrous Turkish bid for E.U. membership to rest. Phew... but it was close for awhile.

[Erewhon7]

01:35 AM on 08/03/2011

AllahAkbars defeat Ataturkists.

[Climp Jones]

06:30 PM on 08/02/2011

morphine induced babble

[waldopepper]

04:38 PM on 08/02/2011

Hang in there Mr. Hitchens.

[Iain Banks]

11:02 AM on 08/02/2011

Hitchens almost makes democracy sound like a bad thing.

[madsen26]

09:00 AM on 08/02/2011

Basically in Hitchens' view, Ataturk only cared about women not wearing headscarfs and the entire concept of secular democracy, civilian rule and rule of law comes way behind that - so it's okay to have a military coup if any party tries to make Turkey an actually more inclusive democracy. Hitchens' real statement isn't about the right of a civilian leadership to be in charge of the military, it's about the military's right to do what it wants against democratically elected governments. The same happened way back into the 60s, long before the AKP party. Kind of like, the KKK or teabaggers are "standing up for democracy" when you know if they had the power you would be dead if you're different from them.

[Taxim]

05:35 AM on 08/02/2011

"overnight liquidation of the Ataturkist or secularist military caste"

:)))))))

[Zutroy]

03:18 AM on 08/02/2011

At least Hitchens is uniform and un-hypocritical about his distaste of religion. The trouble is the Neo-cons who agree with him on the Mideast hate secularism in their own country.

If the Turks want secularism, they'll vote for it over the moderate Islamists in a straight and fair election. It's called DEMOCRACY, Islamophobes. If an ideology has to be enforced by a military caste to stay in place, it's inherently unnatural--no matter how you sugar-coat it.

[eric14]

07:12 AM on 08/02/2011

Have you ever wondered why the protection of minorities is such a central issue to democratic thinking?

[aFtersootdamP]

03:03 AM on 08/02/2011

Egypt will be going the same way as turkey and that doesn't bode well for America and Israel.

[Taxim]

05:34 AM on 08/02/2011

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is holding up Turkey as a model for Arab nations now in the throes of revolt or democratic transition.

She says the moderate Muslim nation's economic and political success can translate to the Middle East and North Africa.

Speaking at a coffee house event in Istanbul, Clinton said Turkey's 11-percent growth rate was impressive and that it, along with democratic traditions, could inspire Arabs in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria who are demanding reform.

[madsen26]

09:02 AM on 08/02/2011

Don't confuse the JDL fanatic or WB settler with any truth.

[aFtersootdamP]

02:25 PM on 08/02/2011

Pretty much confirms my post. The obama regime is clueless. I'll guarantee you, none of the arab states will transition into a democracy. obama has stab all the moderate nations in the back.

[BoudiccaBlanc]

08:30 PM on 08/01/2011

Times change.

[JohnnyRivers]

08:28 PM on 08/01/2011

I not sure this clown can understand his own writing without ripping every sentence apart for the hidden message. A decoding ring would be nice.

[IMOPINIONH8D]

10:47 PM on 08/01/2011

LOL, stilll LOL. Good one. LOL!!

[Talossa]

01:33 AM on 08/02/2011

Indeed. I'm still fishing around for what his actual point was, and I've now read it three times. But it was fun to read.

[furby6]

09:57 AM on 08/02/2011

I'm just happy the guy's still alive and writing.