[Hurriyet Daily News] Rather than drawing closer together, the EU and ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
are drifting apart due to growing authoritarianism in the latter, stuttering growth, and a faltering Kurdish grinding of the peace processor, non-governmental organization the Independent Turkish Commission warned on March 17.
Turkey is no longer "the rising regional star" that it was during the first half of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
's 12 years in office, stated the Commission, which is led by Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
"Today, Turkey faces myriad challenges: Growing authoritarianism, unimpressive growth, and a faltering Kurdish grinding of the peace processor," the Commission said in an open letter addressed to the Turkish government and the EU.
"With a 900-kilometer border with Syria, it is hosting nearly two million Syrian refugees and is vulnerable to attacks and infiltration by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
[of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL]. Tensions with both Iran and Israel have become deeply entrenched, and the country has become increasingly dependent on energy from a revanchist Russia," it stated.
"Turkey cannot confront these challenges alone," the Commission added, pointing to the fact that the EU accounts for almost 40 percent of Turkish trade, 70 percent of its foreign direct investment, and more than 50 percent of its tourism industry. "The country's economic ties with its southern neighbors have spiraled downward since the Arab Spring in 2011," it said.