Turkey: A Giant has Woken Up...

Some 8 years ago I visited Istanbul.Another medical conference.One of the most picturesque capital in the world with a sense of history:Tokhapi Palace of the old sultans, mosques and minarets, The Hegar Sophia, miles and miles of old Roman bastion on the European side of the Bhosphorus. Constantinople. Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.As I sat by the old palace overlooking the swift flowing Strait of Bhosphorus I could not help but shed some tears thinking about what could have been had Turkey got it straight some 50 years back:

In my mind's eye I could see how Sultan Sulayman The Conqueror [ or was it Sultan Mehmet The Great] crossed the treacherous strait with his cavalry and smashed the well entrenchened Romans in their blockaded city in the 14th century. But thanks to Ataturk, 50 years on now they are still begging for crumbs to fall from the EU Main table. With that kind of history and pedigree, things could have been different had they looked East towards Islam and the whole of Africa. An IOC with a much enlightened Turkey leading the way long time ago would have been different.Instead they chose to be beggars.

Now with The Referendum passed yesterday in favour for a constitutional change, one outside Turkey can sense an imminent major change in the offing.The Giant has woken up! Geopolitical change in the Muslim Arab world, the increasing dominance of the Asian market and the renaissance happening in Africa, the increasing anti Islamism in the West[ Angela Meckels and Sarkozy ], has shifted the world away from Europe. It is time to look East.

The gentle giant has woken up!
Subhanallah, Alhamdullillah, Allah Huakbar!