ABSTRACT
The many recent books on Indonesian democracy can be described as viewing the glass as half empty, half full or too opaque to describe. In the more studied case of Turkey there are similar questions of interpretation, albeit over a far longer time span and with a more volatile political scene. Modern Turkey is the phoenix that arose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Geographically connecting Europe and the Middle East, it is culturally and politically part of both. It is tempting in this context to see Turkish politics as evocative of a continuing conflict between modernist forces and the traditional culture of Islam. The Democrats accelerated this trend, formally joining NATO in 1952 and receiving in return a substantial uptick in direct financial aid. With Western backing, the regime was also able to use the specter of communism as a tool both for cementing ties with traditionalist Muslims and traducing their political enemies.
