Syria’s shooting down of a Turkish fighter jet on June 22 reflects the deep Turkish involvement in the internal affairs of its neighbor and how far relations have nosedived between the two.
As Turkey’s hopes of becoming the leading power to restore Muslim public identity and its own Islamic socio-political distinctiveness gradually fade away from Muslim memory, it is important not to exaggerate the deviations of contemporary Turkey.
Merely a year ago Turkey enjoyed much respect among neighbors and established warm and cordial relations with them, helping to catapult Ankara’s political, economic and cultural objectives. Frequent visits to neighboring countries by Turkish delegations, usually accompanied by senior government officials including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signing memorandums of understanding and agreements, increasing trade and political as well as military cooperation, heralded a new era for the conflict-torn region.
Many Iraqi Turkmens are growing eager to form their own defense force.
Since January 2011, Syrian streets have been hit by a protest demanding removal of the Ba‘th regime and Bashar al-Asad from power. A growing armed insurgency and other developments, which took place in November, showed that the situation is getting out of control, dragging the country into a bloody civil war.
A large percentage of Muslims worldwide have become quite enamored with the phenomenon of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the political party — the Development and Justice Party (AKP) — he leads in Turkey.
Soon after the so-called Arab Spring began to blossom, Turkey’s popularity has been on the rise in the Arab world. Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was first elected in 2002, Turkey with its flourishing democracy, and rapidly growing economic and military might has become an emerging regional power.
Turkey’s policy vis-à-vis the uprisings in the Muslim East (Middle East) have left many observers bewildered. It has not only joined the US-NATO assault on Libya but Ankara has also recognized the Libyan rebels in the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) as “legitimate representatives” of the Libyan people.
When voting ended on the night of June 12, most people in Turkey did not have to wait for official results of the general elections. Turkish and foreign experts had already anticipated that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would win a third consecutive victory. A few hours later when early results came in, a landslide victory was confirmed for the AKP.
While Muslims in the Islamic East and North Africa were going through great turmoil, in February, the Muslims of Turkey lost one of their greatest leaders. Professor Necmeddin Erbakan had been in hospital since early January for various problems and he finally died on February 27 of cardiac and respiratory failure at the age of 85.
The most important reason for the failure of Turkish Islamic intellectuals may be their detachment from their past/traditions, especially valuable Islamic knowledge of the Ottoman seminaries.
Turkey has always been an important player in the Muslim world. During Ottoman rule, it was the leading edge of the Islamic world. Its armies marched triumphantly into Europe reaching the gates of Vienna in 1683.
There was a crucial National Security Council meeting due to take place in Ankara that day. When he was informed about the incident, Mr. He collected some of the fragments while listening to testimonies from people in the mosque
While in Istanbul, we witnessed a remarkable display of brotherhood of Islam. Everyday, there were scores of public iftars organized by officials of various districts in the city, starting with the mayor of Istanbul.
The flotilla of humanitarian aid sponsored by the government of Turkey was attacked in international waters by Israeli pirates equipped with the latest technology Washington can offer to its sea wolf client in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea...
A visionary foreign policy approach Turkey had been a “wing country” of NATO throughout the cold war era, its assigned role being to stop or slow a possible Soviet invasion of Europe...
However, the secularist block cannot be completely written off, at least at the tactical level...
The Domestic Trigger Since the imposition of Kemalist secularism as official dogma, the military has been the key instrument to prevent Islamic revival in Turkish society...
The Truth of the Life of this World by Harun Yahya. Pub: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1 Wynne Road, London SW9 0BB, 1999. Pp: 221. Pbk: UK5.95. By Imtiaz Adam
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ALGERIAN MASSACRES edited by Youcef Bedjaoui, Abbas Aroua and Meziane Ait-Larbi. Pub: Hoggar Books, Geneva, Switzerland, 1999. Hbk: UK24.00 (UK); pp: 1,473.
