STILL THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE :

Turkey's Fever (July 13, 2002, washingtonpost.com)

Mr. Ecevit, whose health has been failing along with his political support, manifestly lacks the strength to deal with these multiple challenges. Hardly anyone believes his government can endure until the next scheduled election, in April 2004; the question is how and by whom it will be replaced. Some of the possibilities are unnerving -- these include right-wing nationalists who oppose EU membership or political liberalization, and Islamicists whose success in any new elections would raise the risk of another political intervention by the Turkish military.

Yet one of the strongest possibilities is also the most encouraging one. Yesterday in Ankara an alliance of pro-Western liberals, including just-resigned foreign minister Ismail Cem, announced the formation of a new political party dedicated to carrying out political and economic reform and leading Turkey into the EU. If Mr. Ecevit can be removed from office, the reformers have a chance to assemble a majority in the current parliament and push through reforms before holding elections. The result could be a decisive shift by Turkey toward the West, at a crucial moment in the region. The Bush administration should do its best to encourage this outcome; it can do so both by pressing Turkey's pro-Western forces to unite and by urging European governments to respond quickly and favorably if they do.

Here's the question : if Turkey, after decades of Ataturkism can't be kept in the West's orbit, then can any Islamic nation truly be expected to reform in the ways we all believe they need to? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 13, 2002 8:27 AM