The Republic of Turkey rose out of the battle for nationhood just over 76 years ago. A nation that almost ceased to exist after the First World War when it was in danger of being carved up as spoils by the Allies. The revolution resulted in a more positive image for the country to replace the damaging negative Western image of the decedent Turk, somber, ignorant and incompetent. A Western image that was based more on politics than truth. So where is Turkey today. Conclusion: Turkey Today.

The Turks are best known as allies of the United States. They have been partners in NATO, fought alongside Americans in Korea, and were allied with America in the Gulf War. While this is important, it represents little of the history and life of the Turks. There is much more to the Turks than their friendship with America.

The greatest success of the Turks, their history as administrators, has been little appreciated in the West. For six hundred years the Ottoman Empire ruled successfully over a great land, an imperial record that can stand with that of Romans. The Ottomans created an empire of unique toleration, where many peoples and religions kept their own traditions at a time when religious persecution was the rule elsewhere. It was an empire of laws, held together by rules as much as by the personality of the sultan. It is no accident that the great Sultan Suleyman, known to the West as The Magnificent, was known to the Turks as The Law giver, a sign of his and the Empire's true success.

If the achievements of the Turks in politics and law are little known in America, those in the humanities are even less so. Yet Turkish music, art, architecture, and poetry were the crowning glories, coming as they do from a different cultural tradition. The beauty of Turkish poetry may only be fully appreciated in Turkish and Turkish classical music may not perfectly match what is expected by Western ears, but the beauty of Turkish art can easily be seen. The grace of Turkish calligraphy, the colors of Turkish miniature paintings, and the geometric forms of Turkish porcelain tiles are known to be high art by anyone who has seen them. The great mosques of Istanbul, especially Sinan's Suleymaniye Mosque, rival any buildings in the world.

The accomplishments of modern Turkey have been in a different context. The task of the modern Turks was to create a democratic, independent society. In a time of imperialism, Turkey was one of the few nations to keep its independence, despite great odds against it. Turkey was almost unique outside of Western European North America in its sustained drive to gain democracy. First noted under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk for its campaign to educate and develop its people to live in the modern world, Turkey now is an economic success and a multiparty democracy. It is one of the few countries of its region that have significantly raised its self up economically, without oil revenues to depend on. Much remains to be done, but the success is notable.

Today, Turkey is a bridge between the Middle East and the West, as well as a bridge between the West and the newly freed lands of Central Asia. It is a state whose people are overwhelmingly Muslim, yet also a state that is thoroughly secular in its laws and government. The great tradition of Islam is not forgotten, nor is the tradition of western philosophy, government, and technology.

The success of Turkey is all the more remarkable because, as has been said, "Turkey is in a rough neighborhood." Those who justifiably bring up Turkey's failings must also look to what Turkey might have been-a dictatorial state like some of its neighbors, a religious state turning its back on the West, like others, ora state that adopted Communism and its economic defeats. The Turkish experiment in democracy has sometimes been interrupted and its economic development has not been perfect. Nonetheless, Turkey has been the envy of those who can only wish their nations had taken the same path.