Turkey's Coup

I am irritated by responses to the coup in Turkey and Erdogan's reaction to this. This was a post I put into a debate forum today. 

The Turkey that might once have been a serious candidate to join the EU was a different country to Erdogan's Turkey and it was wrecked by Western racism. In order to join the EU Turkey would have to establish a firm democratic constitution and the social institutions required to make that sustainable, while acting to recognise and protect the rights of minorities, not least the Kurds.  Had these and a lot of other conditions been achieved, the country would be very different today and a remarkable addition to the EU. 

One reason the work to establish those conditions fell away was the scale of the sheer racism greeting Turkey's efforts to approach those conditions.  For democracy to work in the way intended, it has to be seen by the population as a path to a better future, not a path to national humiliation. Reaction against Western democracy and western secular values was largely a fruit of western racism towards Turkey.  

Another reason, inevitably, was the scale of destablisation in the region arising from America's Iraqi ventures and Western backed Isreali aggression.  Witness for example the siege of Gaza by Israel, and the attacks on Turkish relief vessels bringing humanitarian aid. Recall also Hillary Clinton's infamous email regarding Syria and the attractions of allowing chaos in the region.  Despite Turkey having the second largest army in NATO, it has been increasingly evident that Turkey's national and strategic interests are not at all a concern for its supposed allies. 

It is not too surprising if Turkish people see their future in terms of a wider Islamic world.  After all, the Ottoman Empire was still in place within the memory of some people still living and certainly must influence the nationalist ideology of the country. 

Also, some Turkish economists see their future not with the EU but with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, linking Russia, China and India, with former Soviet republics. It is  a politically complex environment, and not necessarily attractive, in so far as there is such a weak commitment to democracy and humanitarian values in general.  But economically it has huge potential and global corporations have ensured that Western technology has been fully transferred to the region, beyond the control of the West.   Remember - all our industrial jobs have gone to the East!  But not just the jobs - the technology and know how and education has been migrating alongside them.  Britain and the USA are abandoning science education and engineering to a degree not yet acknowledged. Capitalism is the ultimate traitor.  

Far from engaging creatively with this changing world, Western countries, and epecially the UK and USA, are retreating into their dated and destructive ideological bunkers, failing to engage constructively but continuing to interfere and cause lasting harm.  When you see the job of Britain's Foreign Secretary handed to a character like Boris Johnson you just know that this country for one is losing the plot and heading for a deep hole in the ground.  As for America's leadership after 2016,  just weep.  You are past hope.