Independence to the break up of the USSR Era
It's true that Turkey is finally rising from the depression and abyss that was her recovery period (End of WW1 to the break up of the USSR)
At the end of world war 1 Turkey was financially bankrupt but regained her independence and before any progress in science & industry was made world war 2 broke out. The end result was Turkey facing alone against a hostile land based superpower that had territorial claims (USSR) or siding with a more friendly maritime based super power (USA+NATO). The obvious choice for Turkey was to side with the USA and join NATO however this came at a major cost to Turkey.
Throughout the cold war Turkey had to maintain a military far larger then she can economically sustain (squaring of against 22 Soviet tank divisions at the border with 17 of her own, securing a border against communist Arab clients & a military dictatorship in Greece (Junta although technically allies in NATO)). The situation needless to say was that Turkey did go bankrupt on occasion and the military had to step in at times to quell civil unrest (the darkest period was during the 70's when Wahabbi Islamists & Communists were openly killing each other in the streets
(Ramadan for obvious reasons was a very dangerous time)) while Europe was confident in the 2nd largest NATO power to deter any Soviet aggression, invested their money on token military forces (exception is UK & Germany) and pouring the rest of their annual incomes into their economies (although it seems stupidity has killed the efforts of Europeans during the cold war as they have plunged themselves into an economic crisis that they will not get out of easily & that it will cost them for decades to come).
With the break up of the USSR Turkey is now finally free to pursue her own objectives which is increased trade with her neighbors (this is why we dont want outside forces messing with our neighbors), investment in technology, economy & our industrial base. It can now plainly be seen that Turkey is a trillion dollar economy and is set to become the worlds 10th largest by 2050. At one point is was fashion in Europe to make fun of Turks claiming that they were poor and only good for cleaning toilets never realizing that it is Turkey who stood at the border against the USSR, sacrificing it's own prosperity for their safety & in this current climate why so many Turks are increasingly becoming hateful of Europe and why so much support for EU has been lost.
Islamist Turkey Myth
Turkey while it certainly contains Islamist elements in it's society it does not necessarily mean that the country is Islamist, Erdogan IS CERTAINLY NOT an Islamist as having one's wife wear a headscarf does not determine her religious extremism level, what Erdogan & Davutoglu vision is a Turkey that works both with the West and East as a hub and mediator. Turkey is already the energy hub of Europe so why not become the political hub as well? Any visit to Turkey you will see a nation that has mixed western society with the mystic East. To Turks it is "why not acknowledge your Eastern roots while spreading your wings to the West?".
If Erdogan is guilty of anything it is striving to make Turkey economically and politically (regional & international levels) active & trying to make Turkey the necessity of both Europe and the Arab street.
Additionally Islamist led countries of the modern era (not empires of conquest) operate in a manner very differently then what Turkey has been doing since the election of the AKP government. An Islamist government looks inwards to control it's population and infuse society with religious doctrine while having little if zero international political weight (case in point Iran, Afghanistan (pre 2001), etc.).
Post USSR & The Future
Turkey is now a growing military and economic power with the ultimate objective to be on equal terms (with the exception of the USA (we want to be a global power, not superpower) with the other global players. While Europeans who mistakenly think that the AKP party and military is on uneven terms because one is supposedly Islamist while the other is secular, this is complete propaganda actually a European piece of propaganda aimed at demonizing Turkey & a childish attempt to curtail her growing influence. The armed forces 2020 vision and AKP's policy go hand in hand, a modern self reliant military with international clout on the political stage and the necessary muscle to back it up if necessary. The propaganda easily becomes apparent when you consider the fact that if the military truly suspected the AKP was Islamist & not just smart men thinking about a powerful Turkey then referendums or not they will step in and remove Davutoglu and Erdogan (pre 1980 constitution military intervention was illegal but they did it anyway), the truth of the matter is that the military and the government are finally working together closer then ever before (consider the number of military tech developments the government is approving every year (how many types of drones does Turkey have now?)) and the fact that the budget of the military is deliberately obfuscated by the government which suggests they are cooperating (while no official figures exist reliable estimates and consensus places the Turkish military budget at $49 billion U.S).
Additionally for Turks the military is a required and welcome component of society, if Turks are not a global power or regional hegemony then a lot of Turks automatically see the nation as weak, even in Turkey today people think that their is no Turkish defense industry because of our mindset. For we had 16 empires in history if we are not at the very least a global power then we are weak nation (this is the mindset). Also this is the reason why Europeans continue to despise and fear us.
As I restate that Turkey will become not just a global power but also a regional hegemony by 2050 with Greece (who's pop will shrink to 9mil) and a majority of Turkey's neighbors will become economically dependent on Turkey (Source: UN), the Turks will have built an empire of influence as what the US has done (countries that rely on them, overseas military bases, soft power (Turkish movies, books in foreign countries), etc...). This global player that is Turkey will be the first Muslim majority nation to reach such a status and it does not mean that it has to be necessarily hostile to the USA (who will remain a superpower for centuries to come).
Factors such as a possible re-emergent Russian empire (conquest of former satellite nations) or an intolerant and racist Europe (this is what is becoming of Europe today) may very well make an alliance between the USA & Turkey+muslim world closer as both may be required to counter xenophobic or traditional style empire building wannabe's in the future. This closer cooperation is increasingly the case while the US and Turkish interests may differentiate from time 2 time they also often coincide like with Turkey in Afghanistan working to get people's trust since our troops are Muslim while the US & UK take care of the wahabbi morons another example is Libya where thousands of foreigners were saved by the Turkish armed forces while NATO takes care of the bombing campaign (additionally Turkey has offered as the only Muslim majority NATO nation (since the Muslim world does not trust the western powers after Iraq) to temporarily invade, capture and remove Gadaffi ultimately giving control to the rebels who are still trying to liberate their country from a dictatorship).
However anything can happen in the future what I do know is as a student of history and as a Turk that the times of traditional empires of military conquest & land control is over and that all current and future empires are empires of influence (Turkey is becoming this as it continues to advance into Arabia and Central Asia) and that because of the Turkish people for them not to be a key power is a rare oddity that cannot last, the Turks are perhaps due to their proud history or their military centric culture are stubborn who will not remain quiet and suffer the indignation of being tread upon by other powers, even when the Turks appear to be dead they can surprise you and come back putting you in the grave that you originally dug for them (Case in point: Turkish independence war, kicking all foreign (super powers all of them at the time) powers out handing them a military defeat they still have not forgotten).
Update: Long post, added an additional point regarding the Islamist Turkey myth and did a few grammar corrections.
to the hot topic that is Turkey.
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