İbrahim Kalın

The July 15 coup attempt, which was orchestrated by the Pennsylvania-based terrorist organization led by Fetullah Gülen, highlighted the solidarity and unity in Turkey. It is of great importance to appreciate the historic nature of the people’s peaceful resistance against the coup attempt, taking into consideration the fact that Turkey has a long history of military interventions. Ironically, even though the main intention of the coup plot was to destabilize Turkish democracy and prosperity, it had the opposite effect. Turkey will strive to continue the success story of the past 14 years and rely on the support of its citizens to reach even higher goals.

The interest Turkey has generated in the Arab world over the last few years is caused by the convergence of changes in Turkey, the Middle East, and the global power-balance. Turkey’s domestic political process, its new foreign policy, and the EU membership process are closely followed in the larger Muslim world. The new configurations of power in the Middle East and the world at large lead to new types of geopolitical imagination. From Turkish soap operas and import products to Turkey’s involvements in Lebanon and Palestine, Turkey is claiming a new space in the Arab public opinion in a manner never seen before. While AK Party’s ties with the Arab and Muslim world are partly responsible for Turkey’s renewed foreign policy activism in the region, the current debate is also reflective of the failures of the international system and heralds the advent of a new balance of power in Turkey’s immediate neighborhood.

2007 was the 800th anniversary of the JaIalal al-Din al-Rumi.UNESCO designated 2007 as the Rurni year and a large number of activities were performed in commemoration of Rumi's birthday from Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan to Europe, Australia and the United States.

This article, based on a book published by SETA, looks at the attitudes of Turkish people towards what is conceived as the West and Western culture. While some polls suggest a deep anti-European and anti-American sentiment in Turkey with a dear opposition to Christianity as the religion of the West, the current survey suggests evidence to the contrary. Survey findings show that there is no anti- Westernism in Turkey based on religion, culture, or civilization. Perception of the West is fragmented and does not lend itself to easy categorizations. There is no animosity towards Christianity. In feet. Most participants use a respectful and even venerable language when talking about the Christian religion. While most participants do not feel comfortable with the invasion of Turkish society by western cultural products, they see no essential conflict between the core values of the two cultures. While the perception of Western religion, culture and civilization is mostly fragmented and reveals considerable diversity, Western politics is uniformlv perceived as negative and hostile.