re: #301 winston06

I am back from my trip to Turkey and this is what I have written in a few threads ago and now re-posting it.

ok. hmmm, well this is a relatively poor country. They have no oil and they have a lot of problem with the influx of people from rural areas to major cities like Istanbul. One of the signs of a poor country is how many street vendors you see in the streets. There are a lot of them here. Even though I am staying at a relatively upper class neighborhood of Istanbul, these aggressive street vendors are every where. But I like the westernized youth here. Most of those whom I’ve come across in the past few days are very free spirited, educated and westernized. Though their parents and a majority of those who come from rural areas are very religious.

The secular Turkish society is in dire stress and can not sustain itself without help. Last time I was here, there were a few Burqa wearing women around. Now, they are almost every where and proud of what they do. Today, right after the cease-fire between Pali terrorists of Hamas and the Israelis, people came out chanting anti-Israeli slogans and cheering for Hamas gangsters. The Islamists have already taken over the government and courts and that’s a major concern. It’s very difficult to predict what will become of this country in the next 8-10 yrs. Turkey is a secular Muslim country, at least on paper, trying to join the EU. This is not Spain or Greece that benefited from integrating into EU. This country will add to the problems of the European Union. The Islam-West crisis is so visible here. On top of these, Turkey has so many problems regarding its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, independent writers and thinkers. Also the military who is (or used to be) the sole protector of the secularism here in Turkey can not do much because the European Union is pressing them to stay away from politics.That’s one of the pre-conditions for Turkey to be able to join the EU. No more 1970s or 80s military coup, EU has told the Turks. Without the gracious US foreign assistance in 1950s and 60s, this country would have lost its bid to become a free market society.

Economy is doing a lot better. Their inflation seems to be under control but compared to North America this is one expensive place. A can of Coke is around 3 USD here. Crazy! Last time I was here their banknotes had enough zeros to compete with the Zimbabweans’. LMAO. Now it is way better. They have slashed the zeros and the exchange rate is great for a poor country like Turkey. 1 USD gets you 1.5 Turkish Lira. Food is not expensive here. Depending on what you eat. I should have checked McDonalds’ prices. (even though I hate it, that’s a great way to see and compare).

All in all, this place is between a rock and a hard place. Basically, I think of it as Pakistan of Europe. You know, Pakistan in Asia has an identity crisis. Turkey suffers from the same issue. They do not consider themselves part of Asia and Europeans don’t want a majority Muslim country (even secular) in their union and try to keep them at arm’s length. So just like Pakistan, this pretty place is stuck in a rough spot. It’s their own fault, in my opinion. It’s never late to choose. Personally I think the future of Turkey is bleak because the nice secular people have lost their guts to stand up to thugs. Islamism is in full force here and like I said, Secularists have a lot of work to do. I am hoping they succeed.

Turkey should not be allowed into the European Union. Islam has shown itself diametric to the West, culture, religious freedom, the separation of religion and state, and personal liberty. This historical fact may, unfortunately, not be reformable.