And no, I’m not talking (right now) about the establishment of a new mission, headquartered in Istanbul, under my friend and BYU colleague Jim Toronto (who, not so very long ago, took a break from teaching Arabic at BYU to preside over the mission in Sicily).
I’m talking about the surprising electoral setback handed to Recep Tayyeb Erdogan over the weekend:
Mr. Erdogan has been moving in an Islamist direction, and also in a rather autocratic direction. Gradually, but unmistakably. I’ve worried about him and his intentions, and I don’t mind watching some hurdles erected along the path before him.
Moreover, I was enormously unimpressed by his unwillingness to help the Kurds of Kobane, right on his border, during their heroic struggle against the nihilistic death-cult that calls itself the “Islamic State.” They ultimately prevailed, much to the surprise of many. And now a pro-Kurdish party has acquired a presence in the Turkish legislature.
As I’ve said before, in a just world there would be an independent Kurdistan.
Posted from Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
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