Gavrilo Princip's modern-day reincarnation

As one good friend from distant lands has reminded recently, Turkey these days looks like the man who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Once again, it's the never-ending struggle, the (Islamic) "dawa" - the fight for the advancement of Sunni Islamism. "Dawa" commands fighting the infidel at home and abroad, including in (non-Sunni) Muslim lands. 

At home, "dawa," or the "cause," can come in the shape of a group of angry men who fire shotguns, slam tables and threaten people with sticks and döner kebab knives just because peaceful people were enjoying an evening out at a "raki festival." They drink raki = they are infidels = we must attack them = "dawa." 

Along the Syrian border, it may come in the shape of a rocket fired from a Turkish F-16 to shoot down a Russian Su-24 because the Russian plane was damaging the "dawa" by protecting the non-Sunni dictator in Damascus and obstructing our ambitions for a Sunni dictator to replace him. In Iraqi territory, the "dawa" comes in the shape of an insolent desire to reinforce Turkish troops in a foreign country that declares Turkish troops "non grata" and appeals to the U.N. Security Council for their removal. It's the never ending "dawa."

Funny, Turkish and Iranian leaders who in the past years cheerfully play-acted by hugging and exhibiting every possible Kodak-moment solidarity with "our Muslim brothers" now accuse each other of pursuing perilous sectarian ambitions in the Middle East. It's a good sign that they speak the truth now for they are both right. Though they are wrong when they claim only the "other" pursues sectarian ambitions. 

In the days ahead, the neo-Ottoman "dawa" may come in the shape of dangerous war toys - or of $$$$ spent for them for nothing. In 2012, the...