Turkey : What Everyone Needs to Know®

Turkey occupies a strategic position in today's world: the only predominantly Muslim nation to be a member of NATO and an ally of Israel, it straddles both Europe and Asia. Turkey is the link between Islam and Western democracy, between Europe and the Middle East. In this concise introduction, Andrew Finkel, who has spent twenty years in Turkey writing about the country for publications such as __The Economist__ and __Time__ magazine, unravels Turkey's complexities. He sets the complications and transformations of present-day Turkey against the historical background of the Ottoman Empire, the secular nationalist revolution led by Kemal Atatürk, and repeated political interventions by the military, which sees itself as the guardian of Atatürk's legacy. Finkel reveals a nation full of surprises. Where else but in Turkey, Finkel writes, would secularist liberals have supported a prime minister who was once jailed for promoting religious extremism? From the Kurdish question to economic policy, from Turkey's role in Iraq to its quest for EU membership, Finkel illuminates the past and present of this unique, and uniquely consequential, country in __Turkey: What Everyone Needs to____Know®.__What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. Turkey occupies a strategic position in today's world: the only predominantly Muslim nation to be a member of NATO and an ally of Israel, it straddles both Europe and Asia. Turkey is the link between Islam and Western democracy, between Europe and the Middle East. In this concise introduction, Andrew Finkel, who has spent twenty years in Turkey writing about the country for publications such as The Economist and Time magazine, unravels Turkey's complexities. He sets the complications and transformations of present-day Turkey against the historical background of the Ottoman Empire, the secular nationalist revolution led by Kemal Atatürk, and repeated political interventions by the military, which sees itself as the guardian of Atatürk's legacy. Finkel reveals a nation full of surprises. Where else but in Turkey, Finkel writes, would secularist liberals have supported a prime minister who was once jailed for promoting religious extremism? From the Kurdish question to economic policy, from Turkey's role in Iraq to its quest for EU membership, Finkel illuminates the past and present of this unique, and uniquely consequential, country in Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know®. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. Turkey occupies a strategic position in today's world: the only predominantly Muslim nation to be a member of NATO and an ally of Israel, it straddles both Europe and Asia. Turkey is the link between Islam and Western democracy, between Europe and the Middle East. In this concise introduction, the author, who has spent twenty years in Turkey writing about the country for publications such as The Economist and Time magazine, unravels Turkey's complexities. He sets the complications and transformations of present day Turkey against the historical background of the Ottoman Empire, the secular nationalist revolution led by Kemal Ataturk, and repeated political interventions by the military, which sees itself as the guardian of Ataturk's legacy. He reveals a nation full of surprises. Where else but in Turkey, he writes, would secularist liberals have supported a prime minister who was once jailed for promoting religious extremism? From the Kurdish question to economic policy, from Turkey's role in Iraq to its quest for EU membership, the author illuminates the past and present of this unique, and uniquely consequential, country Turkey occupies a strategic position in today's world: culturally, historically, and geographically, it is the link between Islam and Western democracy, between Europe and the Middle East. The only predominantly Muslim nation to be a member of NATO and an ally of Israel, Turkey straddles both Europe and Asia. And it boasts an economy larger than any of the states that have joined the EU in recent years--Istanbul alone has a bigger economy than that of Hungary or the Czech Republic--with pipelines that carry much of the world's oil and gas Introduction 1) People and geography 2) The break with the Ottoman past 3) The post-war era 4) Democracy and civil rights 5) Foreign policy 6) Economy 7) Contemporary politics 8) Islam and nationalism 9) Society and culture 10) Epilogue: Turkey finding its voice Acknowledgments Notes Index