(Cipher Brief) Soner Cagaptay - After the botched coup attempt to oust Erdogan on July 15, 2016, the successful counter-coup placed Islamism, a virulently anti-Western ideology, at the heart of Turkish politics. By allowing the forces of political Islam to become hegemonic in Turkish politics, July 15 became Turkey's Iran 1979 moment. In one sign that political Islam has started to dominate domestic policy-making, a draft educational curriculum circulated by the Ministry of Education for public review in early 2017 described jihad as a "national and spiritual value." The writer is director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2017-04-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive