Turkey is on a knife’s edge, split between its modernists, who embrace a secular society and want integration into Europe, and its pious Islamic population, who seek a return to a life guided by sharia. The former tend to be concentrated in cities -- particularly the mega-city of Istanbul that straddles Asia and Europe – while the rural populace tends to support the more traditional Islamic-guided life. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to power on the basis of rural, pious Muslim support, and has done his best to ensure perpetual control in the hands of pious Muslims. The urban modernist Turks largely depend on the fruits of trade and tourism, and the attack on Istanbul’s Kemal Attaturk Airport (named after the secularist founder of modern Turkey) was an attack on their livelihood. That airport (code: IST) is a mega-hub for Turkish Airlines, which has expanded aggressively and become a pillar of the modernist economy, bringing in tourists, and employing...(Read Full Post)