April 4, 2014 | Quote

Downward Spiral: Erdogan’s Radical Makeover of Turkey

From Harry Truman to Barack Obama, U.S. administrations have long viewed Turkey as a key ally and force for moderation in the Muslim world.
 
In recent years, however, Turkey has moved in a radically different direction: journalists thrown in jail, Twitter and YouTube shut down, and political opponents threatened with prosecution. 
 
It's the kind of repression usually found in places like Iran and Syria – only now it's happening in Turkey, a NATO country with aspirations of joining the European Union.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party, Turkey has made clear that it is setting a new course – one that places its interests far from those of the West

“You have to remember that the AKP – the Justice and Development Party in Turkey – is a spinoff of the Muslim Brotherhood,” explained Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “This is an organization that is founded on Islamist principles.”

Schanzer calls Erdogan's path a “downward spiral.”
 
“Mr. Erdogan sees himself as an Islamist and a Turk first and foremost,” he told CBN News. “And so he's synthesizing Turkish nationalism with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Erdogan and Hamas
 
Schanzer recently wrote an extensive report for FDD outlining Turkey's role in financing terrorism.
 
Read the full article here.

Issues:

Turkey