Friday, February 20, 2015

From Know-Who to Know-How: Turkey and the “middle-income trap”

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/future-development/posts/2015/02/19-turkey-middle-income-trap-raiser

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...when I think of Turkey, I see how Erdogan's Turkey struggles to define "Turkishness". The picture for me is not a pleasant one to say the least.

As a Cypriot, hoping to make this change from a society of "Who" you know, but on merit, to "What" you know, I suggest that a Bicommunal Bizonal Federation is a good model for Turkey to take with its own Constitutional Reform.

Given that the Flag of Cyprus, and the Flag of Turkey, are equal, in that they both represent a State which defends Universal Principals, it is not hard to imagine a Turkic Constituency among Turkish Constituencies, at another level of Government, in Turkey, like in Cyprus, the recognition that all people are equal, a representation of the people as Individuals, a People as such who defend each other and the Freedom this represents, because they can sustain as Liberty their distinct identities as Persons. Canada comes to mind when i think of a successful BBF.

This big change can be represented in Cyprus, the Problem ended by its recognition, a template worthy of the World's esteem and emulation, a shift in the intentions of the Kemalists, if you will, while respecting the fundamental principals which drove Ataturk to his revolution for reform; something Cypriots cannot unreasonably refuse, a "New Turkey" as a result.

I fear Erdogan's longing for a Caliphate in Istanbul is stronger than his dislike for numbers when they are turning against him, and from my perspective, he is a dangerous bully, who, if he does not recognise the existence of Cypriots, as Cypriots, will surely bring Turkey to the same demise: those "Turkish", and those not "Turkish" (enough).

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