Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, objects to the label "moderate Islam"; and rightly so... After all there is very little in his vision of Turkey that is even close to moderate. The generals saw it coming so he quickly put them in their place. And step by certain step he drags Turkey back in time. Just like Putin's Russia, liberties are being eroded behind the convenient façade of traditionalism.
Mr Erdoğan's latest retrograde move was to announce that he was considering reintroducing the death penalty that had been abolished ten years ago. He blames the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and their escalation of violence in pursuit of autonomy for the necessity of it. So on the one hand he pretends to want to join the European Union, while on the other he is eroding Turkey's every chances of doing so. Regular visitors to Turkey complain of a dark cloud descending over the nation. the Prime Minister review his policies before he too becomes a victim of his own momentum.
He could start by listening to the PKK. Karakalpakstan with an area of 164,900 km², resides perfectly happy as an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan, whose total area is just 447,400 km²; so why does Mr Erdoğan not look for a similar solution? By doing this he would make his EU bid more realistic and at the same time give the prospective autonomous Turkish Kurdistan more incentives to be part of Turkey and that process. After that he could start considering going back to the future...
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