[A-List] RE: Turkey & the EU

["Sabri Oncu" <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tolga:

> Modernization struggle of people of Turkey is about
> 200 years  older than the EU campaign and the secular
> state is the result of that 200 years struggle.

True. I would even push it back to the late 18th century, to the time of the
Ottoman Sultan Selim the Third, if not earlier. 

Here is some information about Selim III:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selim_III

And here is some information about Mahmut II, his successor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmud_II

The above are quite superficial of course, but if you have any interest, you
can take it from there. 

Here are some other things that I wrote about Turkey over the years and they
may be useful for Salaam and other people who may be interested:
  
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/2001m09.1/msg00145.htm
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2002w33/msg00001.htm
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2002w33/msg00003.htm
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/a-list/2002w33/msg00010.htm
http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/2003w01/msg00093.htm

Of course, these are my views based on my limited knowledge of history and I
don't expect most Kemalists would agree with them, if there are any
subscribing to this list.

Best,

Sabri