Turkey can no longer be contained in the small post-WW1 shell the West had forced it into. We're quickly becoming a "medium power" and eventually we need to
rebuild our empire. We have many small, suffering nations around us looking up to us for example and direction. If we can use religion as a unifying force to achieve our goals, than we should do it. If you're a hardcore secular or atheist, I don't blame you. In that case just think of Islam as a means to an end. The old Turkey is dead. And the New Turkey is rising fast. Even the most anti-Turk retired Greek generals are starting to consider the New Turkey as a growing force to reckon with.
Adamin uzuntusu suratindan belli.
Let's talk about some real sh!t. Let's put our political choices aside.
The Turks were for a long time feared by the west. Tales of the Turks predate Islam. Some will say that the Ottoman empire was naturally going to collapse. However the truth is that for the last few hundred years of the empire, outside forces had interfered.
The Europeans employed many of the minorities from within the empire to use religion as a weapon against the modernization. As Europe was steadily becoming more advanced, they funded Islamists within the Ottoman empire to squash similar progress.
Their plans worked until they lost against the Turkish nationalists. Ataturk completely dumbfounded the west not only by defeating them but also by rapidly modernizing the country. The west didn't anticipate this. After WW1 & the War of Independence Turkey was in recovery mode and didn't really pose a threat.
After WW2 the west could redirect some of its attention to Turkey. It knew that an Islamized Turkey would be easier to control and thus installed Menderes. This was a beginning. The defense industry died in this era...
The real problems begin in the 80s when the Saudi's pump billions into Turkey in order to spread Sunni radicalism and Wahhabism. This ideology has been a useful tool for the west for a long time by the way.
In the late 80s and 90s we saw something very scary which most people have completely forgotten about. Both Kurdish separatists and Radical Islamists had united in their efforts to destroy the state. Keep in mind that this was also when the Turkish defense industry was restarted and the country was on its way towards self sufficient. So someone tried to stop us.
Now we get to the part where Erdoğan fans will hate me. Erdoğan was put in power by the west. There are documents dating back to the late 90s which state that the Kemalists must be replaced by Islamists in order for Turkey to be easily controllable. I'm not making this up.
If we look back at the events which happened since Erdoğan came to power we can see that it was loss after loss for the country. The hood incident, peace with PKK, the arrests of the general's, peace with PKK again... But no one cares because the economy was good.
So what was the breaking point. At what point did things start to get better. There are actually two events. One gradual and the other abrupt.
After the so-called coup attempt (attempted civil war) many of the Kemalist general's were released and started trickling back into the military or into other powerful institutions.The pro-Atlantic Islamists were removed the military and TSK became freed from its Western shackles.... HOWEVER there was another set of shackles which held TSK back...
... it was Erdoğan's advisor Adnan Tanrıverdi. This man although powerful, was a complete traitor to the constitution and a threat to the future of Turkey. His plans were suicidal for the nation. Luckily he "resigned" early this year. He was responsible for many mistakes.
Now let me explain. He was threatened behind the scenes by you know who. He was forced to resign. At this period there was an internal reshuffling and a breath of fresh air came to TSK. I won't go into details but things changed for the better once he left.
Now let's talk about the geopolitics of the region. Sooner or later the gulf states will begin running out of oil. So they are trying to get themselves into a good position as soon as possible. Their ultimate goal is to divide Turkey and Iran. This will not only make them feel safe, but has a more long term effect.
Saudi Arabia is running out of underground water fast. Desalination plants need lots of fuel. Fuel which Saudi's have plenty of now, but won't in the future. This is the peak for the Arab countries. Right now they feel unstoppable. They feel as if they can do anything and get away with it... However the prospect of taking control of Turkey or Iran is always on their minds because they fear that they will run out of water.
Saudi Arabia and UAE are due for a big wakeup call. Lawrence's dogs need a big slap.
95%+ of Turkish people identify themselves as Muslims (according to the linked article's sources itself). 65% of youth fasts for Ramadan (that's 2/3!!). Infact, the study linked in this article claims that percentage of Turks saying their daily prayers (Namaz) rose from 40% in 2008 to 43% in 2018.
