Happy together

As recently as five years ago Turkey had a happy story to tell ? and sell. Its ?moderate? Islamists would be the role model in the Arab world; borders in the Middle East would be as peaceful as the U.S.-Canadian border; the Crescent and Star?s ?rise and rise? would eventually amount to the revival of the Ottoman Empire; all Arab nations would come under the rich and proud Sunni-Turkish flag; Western (Christian) countries would be kicked out of our Muslim backyard; Quds would be re-conquered; there would be a Muslim EU and a Muslim NATO; Arab nations would be ruled by Muslim Brothers subservient to the Turkish empire; Turkey would be the broker in any regional conflict; it would be the Muslim pillar of interfaith dialogue around the world, the blessed peace-maker? Even the century-long Turkish-Kurdish conflict would end in a Nobel Peace Prize-winning handshake. We would be happy together.

Although the Turkish book of fairy tales became a ?non-fiction? best-seller in the West, no other story could have been more absurd and away from reality. As your columnist often noted at the time of the release of the Turkish book of fairy tales: A country that is at war with its non-Turkish, non-Sunni, non-pious-but-Sunni and secular populaces CANNOT be at peace with other faiths and nations. 

Five years later, most borders in the Middle East look not like the U.S.-Canadian border but more like the Afghan-Pakistani border; the Crescent and Star?s ?fall and fall? is all too visible; most Arab nations feel the same contempt for the Turks they felt a century ago; Western (Christian) countries are more than welcome in our Muslim backyard; a Muslim EU and a Muslim NATO are not just bad jokes but terribly bad jokes; Muslim Brothers are not in power in their respective...