I agree with everything you’ve said here, and I will also point out that while some Turkish women are treated abysmally, this occurs mostly in rural areas. Turkish women in the cities enjoy freedoms comparable to their western couterparts, and are more represented in professional life and government than in many modern nations, including my own the U.S. Islam’s treatment of women is brutish in many places, but this attitude does not pervade Turkey. And in the rural areas, where such an attitude does exist, it’s not clear that a sudden eradication of Islam would make any difference.

My wife is Turkish, and we are planning to relocate there from the U.S. fairly soon. While in many ways Turkish politics are far behind the U.S., the country is moving in the right direction, and rapidly. I wish I could say the same for my home country.

Curtis