Robert Ellis
(Turkey analyst and commentator, and also an international advisor at the Research Institute for European and American Studies in Athens)
Copyright: @ 2025 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 9 March 2025
Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies
When Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan can claim that only Turkey can save the EU from the deadlock it has fallen into, he is a prey to wishful thinking, or at best, whistling in the dark.
Turkey is itself a divided nation, torn between two visions for its future. The founder of modern Turkey, the victorious general, Mustafa Kemal, later named Atatürk (‘the father of the Turks’), set his republic on the path towards the West.
Mustafa Kemal’s republic, created in 1923, abolished the caliphate and with the Hat Law and the Independence Tribunals secularism was strictly enforced. The religious schools (‘madrasas’) were closed, the religious brotherhoods (‘tarikats’) were banned and Islamic law (‘sharia’) was replaced with legislation based on that in Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Equality between men and women was also established. ... Read more