That Doesn't Help the Team
Michael Rubin over at NRO is expressing concern about the direction Turkey is taking under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan:
Large firms deemed un-Islamic or pro-Western by the ruling party's advisors have also been subject to arbitrary taxation and penalty unsupported by any financial regulation or audit. The government has targeted beer manufacturer Efes and the local Coca-Cola bottler, while promoting products manufactured by companies deemed Islamist... Ideology has trumped rule of law. Political arrogance is extreme. The party uses its office to shut down dissent.
It's difficult to overstate the importance that Israel attatches to the Israeli-Turkish relationship: in the cultural sphere, Turkey serves as a model for international Jewish-Muslim relations; in the military sphere, Turkish military contacts gives Israel a doorway into NATO and providing a major market for arms exports; in the diplomatic sphere, Ankara provides Jerusalem with a reliable ally. Conversly, Turkey relies on Israel for military hardware and diplomatic leverage with the United States. It will be interesting to see if the Turkish military - the Ataturkish bulwark against Islamism in Turkey - will begin to take steps to pressure Erdogan.
Frustrating side-note: the major force weakening the secular army against popular Islamism in Turkey is... wait for it.. the European Union. Of course it is.
Large firms deemed un-Islamic or pro-Western by the ruling party's advisors have also been subject to arbitrary taxation and penalty unsupported by any financial regulation or audit. The government has targeted beer manufacturer Efes and the local Coca-Cola bottler, while promoting products manufactured by companies deemed Islamist... Ideology has trumped rule of law. Political arrogance is extreme. The party uses its office to shut down dissent.
It's difficult to overstate the importance that Israel attatches to the Israeli-Turkish relationship: in the cultural sphere, Turkey serves as a model for international Jewish-Muslim relations; in the military sphere, Turkish military contacts gives Israel a doorway into NATO and providing a major market for arms exports; in the diplomatic sphere, Ankara provides Jerusalem with a reliable ally. Conversly, Turkey relies on Israel for military hardware and diplomatic leverage with the United States. It will be interesting to see if the Turkish military - the Ataturkish bulwark against Islamism in Turkey - will begin to take steps to pressure Erdogan.
Frustrating side-note: the major force weakening the secular army against popular Islamism in Turkey is... wait for it.. the European Union. Of course it is.
