✅   How Turkey's founding ideology shaped its oppression of Kurds and minorities

When we think about Turkey, what usually comes to mind is either Ataturk’s Modern Turkey or Erdogan’s Islamist Turkey. The former is associated with positive connotations, while the latter is seen negatively. It is not difficult to discern that Erdogan is criticized primarily for being an Islamist.Turkey has been seen as the land of Turks: modern Turks, secular Turks – Ataturk’s Turks, who are now, in a way, held hostage by the Islamist dictator Erdogan. Word association is immediate: if Erdogan is an Islamist dictator, and if pre-Erdogan Turkey was modern and secular, then the problem lies with Erdogan. This association is so ingrained that it becomes difficult to make the case for the Kurds.There are roughly ...

Jerusalem Post (Opinion)     Jan 21, 2025