Inquiring minds demand to know - is Turkey cooked yet?

Many observers were surprised by hysterical reaction of the Turkish government to the recent clash between jihadist militia masquerading as peace activists and Israeli Defence Forces in the open seas. It took only short time for journalists to realize that Turkey may well be a different country now - a country which is run by Islamists, and which is attempting to assert its position in the Middle East. And, as one would guess, the best way for a Moslem country to show its leadership is by vicious anti-semitic and anti-Israeli activity. Many people would like to know - can the country named after a legendary Thanksgiving dish be saved from descent into the jihadist abyss?

In short - not a chance. To start with, Islamic religion is awoken from century-long sleep and is going through a major Reformation. The main drivers of this process are well-known to the educated public - Moslem Brotherhood, Osama ben Laden, Taliban and Iranian mullahs. The amazing part is that while Moslem Brotherhood is a Sunni religious group, it does view Iranian Shiites with respect and support. It is also quite clear that all four groups have similar views on the supremacy of Islam over individual rights. They also share vicious hatred of Western Democracy. All four also hate the Jews, but this really goes without saying.

Once we take into account that all leading moslem groups driving Islam's revival are crazy - it is fair to note that any country with substantial moslem population is in danger of sliding into chaos. The current Islamic trends leave little hope for the moslem world to rejoin the rest of the mankind. In this context, the fall of Turkey into Islamist abyss should not strike us as something extraordinary - this is just another example of a so-called "Sudden Jihad Syndrom". At some point, people will notice the obvious pattern about Islam and the purported suddenness will give way to something which everyone expects - like rain in Seattle.

In all fairness though, Turkey was balancing on the edge of Islamic precipice for the last 100 years. The late Ataturk was able to drag Turkey out of backwardness by legislating modernity and secularism - in other words by sending Islam to the dustbin of history. He also turned Turkish armed forces into the guards of modernity, and 4 times (in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997) in the last 50 years the military found it necessary to use brute force to save the nation from Islamism (and communism).

But alas, all good things come to end, and any state that exclusively relies on its military to preserve society from degeneration is not sustainable. On one side, European bureaucrats, as condition of Turkey's entry into EU, drastically weakened the powers of the secular armed forces. On the other side, resurgent Islamists became much more powerful in Turkey and finally seized the power through democratic elections. Turkish slide to Islamism could be easily noticed in the last decade - from the sudden popularity of moslem headscarves for the wives of high-level government bureaucrats to consistent and rising Turkish estrangement from Israel.

Wikipedia notes the rising animosity of the Turkish ruling class towards Israel from 2004 to 2010 thus:

In 2004, Turkey denounced Israeli assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as a "terrorist act". It also described the Israeli policy in the Gaza Strip as "state-sponsored terrorism." ...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza and described Israel's actions as a "crime against humanity." [These are same Turks who have no problem bombing Kurds into oblivion].

At the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, the Turkish prime minister stormed off the stage after a heated exchange with Israeli president Shimon Peres.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan clashed with Shimon Peres, whose voice had risen as he made an impassioned defence of Israel's actions, jabbing his finger. Mr Erdogan said Mr Peres had spoken so loudly to conceal his "guilt".

Turkish Prime Minister had made an address himself, describing Gaza as an "open-air prison". When the audience applauded Mr Peres, he said: "I find it very sad that people applaud what you said. You killed people. And I think that it is very wrong."

Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy noted that shortly after the Davos incident, Erdogan hosted the Vice President of Sudan, who is being indicted for his role in the Darfur genocide. Cagaptay brings up this fact to note that Erdogan's action at Davos were less about humanitarian concern than they are about what Cagaptay calls a "civilizational view."

The position of Turkish Islamists towards Israel is quite easy to explain from strategic and tactical points of view. Clear analysis shows that such a policy is very beneficial to the ruling Islamists, and may well be the glue that will finally hold together their control over Turkey. To start with, no one should be surprised that Islamists hate Israel - after all Islam is essentially founded on anti-semitism. Secondly, any population in a poor backwards country requires a simple but effective method to channel the frustration of the population - and Israel is truly an easy target for the brainwashed people of Islamic faith. Thirdly, Turkey may indeed become the leader of Islamic world by leading the attack against Israel (this does not have to be a full-blown war - but rather a series of verbal sparring and low-level support of terrorism against the Jews). Lethal combination of subconscious anti-semitism, appeal to Turkish nationalism  and religious intolerance is a very powerful weapon in the hands of the rulers of Turkey.

The fourth reason which I have not seen anyone mention is probably the most important reason for Turkish sudden move against Israel. The biggest threat to the Islamist government in Turkey is the secular army. It is also well-known that Turkish army is relatively pro-American and pro-Israeli. The ruling Islamists are now appealing to large swamps of Turkish population - and any attempt by the military to over-throw the Islamist regime will be denounced as a Zionist plot against Turkish nationalist and religious movement. A military coup three months ago would have been seen by everyone as eternal Turkish struggle between secular army and Islamist government - but today the situation is completely different. Any attempt to destroy Islamists will surely be presented as CIA and Mossad's attack on Turkish society.

It is also quite clear that very soon Islamists will attempt a radical cleansing of the military forces from the secular officers. This cleansing will be presented as a war against Zionist agents - and I have no doubt that any officer that is known for working with Israeli Defense Forces in the last 20 years can be sent into early retirement if not even outright jailed.

It is my belief that Turkish Islamists struck gold when they trained, financed and organized the latest provocation against Israel. The Jewish card became a Joker in the power play in Turkey. At this point, this country is lost to the West - unless the Turkish military realize that they have nothing to lose. There is very little time left for them to turn the ship around - and if they fail to act, it won't be just the end of their career. Some of them may also lose their heads - and I mean it literally.


P.S. After I had finished writing my post, I discovered that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to stand still and instead continued his accelerating descent into complete madness. It's only a matter of time before this clown becomes Hugo Chavez or Muamar Qaddafi. This imbecile is hosting Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC). Dictator of Sudan, murderous Omar al-Bashir is welcome in Turkey in spite of the fact that he is charged with genocide in Darfur (hello, liberal activists for Darfur - whass up, comrade Clooney!). Erdogan dismissed the claims that al-Bashir is a murderer (500,000 people exterminated - and no one blinked an eye) - by simply stating that accusations are absurd. The conscience of Turkey and fighter for civil liberty explained it thus: "It’s not possible for a Muslim to commit genocide. That’s why we are comfortable [with the visit of al-Bashir].”In case anyone was wondering about Erdogan's position, he added:

If there was such a thing [genocide], we could talk about it face to face with President Bashir.

Those world leaders who criticize us, have they ever visited Darfur? Their information is solely based on what the rapporteurs are reporting. These kinds of moves will not contribute to world peace.

We are aware of the fact that there are those who want to corner Turkey through al-Bashir’s visit. These people should know well our sensitivities about human rights violations. I went to Darfur myself. I want to ask: How many of these worlds leaders paid a visit to Sudan, to Darfur?

According to the article, "Erdogan went on to suggest that the Jews of Israel are the only genocidal group in the Middle East. The Turkish Premier has very publicly accused Israel of widespread war crimes and even genocidal intentions in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian-controlled areas, severely straining relations between the two nations, which were previously regional allies."

Erdogan also added:

Gaza and Darfur should not be confused with each other. Fifteen-hundred people were killed in Gaza. If there was something like this in Darfur, we would follow that to the end as well.

I have no doubt he would - just as he followed to the end the Armenian genocide perpetuated by the Turkish Islamists a century ago. Ahm - bad example though, since Turkish official position is that the murder of a million Armenian civilians was a mere misunderstanding and anyone mentioning it is guilty of "insulting Turkishness" - a criminal offense in freedom loving Turkey.

In case someone is wondering what kind of animal is this "Turkishness" and what can be construed of an insult to it - here is the official explanation:

1.A person who publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.
2.A person who publicly denigrates the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security organizations shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.
3.In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.
4.Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.

Not surprisingly, Obama's State Department sent a strongly-worded response to the hosting of a genocidal maniac by the promoter of civil liberties Edrogan: "It was really up to the government of Turkey whether to allow the indicted president to attend a meeting of the OIC. Kelly [U.S. State Department spokesman] also said Washington’s purpose was not to criticize Turkey but that it would expect Turkey to raise “Darfur issues” if it holds meetings with al-Bashir." I wonder why the State Department cannot imagine criticizing Turkey - is there some kind of Turkish mafia in control of Washington DC, stronger than evil Zionists and AIPAC put together? And if so - why haven't we heard about it?