April 10, 2004 - Brookings Institute: Former Peace Corps Regional Director Jerry Leach says Iraq democracy shouldn’t follow Turkey

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Turkey: Peace Corps Turkey : The Peace Corps in Turkey: April 10, 2004 - Brookings Institute: Former Peace Corps Regional Director Jerry Leach says Iraq democracy shouldn’t follow Turkey

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Former Peace Corps Regional Director Jerry Leach says Iraq democracy shouldn’t follow Turkey

Former Peace Corps Regional Director Jerry Leach says Iraq democracy shouldn’t follow Turkey

Former Peace Corps Regional Director Jerry Leach says Iraq democracy shouldn’t follow Turkey

President of World Affairs Councils of America speaks to SDSU audience

The nation of Turkey is not a good model of Middle-Eastern democracy for the Bush administration to use in Iraq, an expert on the area said Tuesday.

Jerry Leach, president of the World Affairs Councils of America and a scholar of Turkey, spoke Tuesday night at South Dakota State University on Turkey and the clash of cultures.

Leach said the idea of using Turkey as an example is weak and easily dismissed by Arabs, despite assurances from American leaders who believe Turkey is a good model. During the 20th century, Turkey was successfully transformed from a country based in the Islamic world to a modern industrial state, now seeking to be affiliated with Europe. The country now has elections, popular sovereignty, personal freedoms are protected and there is no state religion, all in a society that’s nearly 100 percent Muslim. But, Leach said, Turkey has been trying to instill democracy, but not practice it. There are still human rights violations and press censorship, he said.

"In a middle-eastern context, Turkey is not an appealing example, primarily because the Turks represent, for the Arabs, their former colonial masters, or the people who opposed Arab independence during World War I," Leach said.

That was just one of the questions Leach answered in his lecture on Turkey, which made its transformation under the leader Ataturk, or "Father of the Turks." It was Ataturk who drew the nation’s borders as they are now, and effectively turned Turkey into a democratic nation. Leach said it was a difficult transition for Turks to make.

"They have dedicated themselves to their new path," he said. "It is extremely hard to change the fundamental direction and the fundamentals of the way your society is organized, but that is no less the experiment the Turks have embarked on, and now stuck with, for more than 80 years."

Since the 1960s, Turkey has been trying to gain acceptance into the European Union. It would be what Leach called a "badge of final acceptance," meaning Europeans finally accept Turkey as a European state. In 1999, the Union established criteria for Turkey to meet before acceptance, which included eliminating the death penalty and allowing the Kurdish language to be used freely. Leach said the idea was to set the standards so high, Turkey would be unable to meet them.

There has been strong opposition among European countries to the idea of letting Turkey in, primarily because Turkey would be the second-largest country and largest military force in the Union, he said.

"This idea that the Turks would become the second-largest group in the European Union, with the largest military force, is very hard to digest. It gives Turks a much bigger voting right than the leaders of Europe are willing to give."

Leach said the Union does not want the taint of Turkey’s record of human rights violations. And a border that extends to Iran and Iraq is not something the Union wants either, he said. In all, he said Turkey faces an uphill struggle when it comes to getting in to the European Union. He said the relationship between the West and Islam has been strained of late, and is a fault line that is deepening.

"The war on terrorism could easily become a war against Islam, despite the fact that our leaders and the leaders of Western Europe have said that’s not what it’s about. There are already people saying this is the beginning of World War III, and it is going to be a war between the West and the Islamic world."

Leach has been president of the World Affairs Council system nationally since 1996. Before that, he was regional director for the Peace Corps for Eastern Europe, the Soviet Republics, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. He has also served as director of international economic affairs at the National Security Council.




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Story Source: Brookings Institute

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Turkey; Iraq

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