User talk:Aeonian

So...
What would you say about the current situation in Turkey? Considering you appear to be a Kemalist. RoninMacbeth (talk) 04:45, 21 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Erdogan will be Sultan Erdogan I in 2019 when the autocracy referendum goes into effect. The upside will be that the EU will probably let Turkey join once they finish getting rid of the secular reforms and become a theocracy. Lord Aeonian (talk) 18:19, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

After Daesh
Looks like a lot of ISIL soldiers and commanders have started seeing the writing on the wall. So what happens with Turkey, Iraq, Kurdistan, et. al after Daesh is, for lack of a better term, defeated? RoninMacbeth (talk) 19:39, 10 October 2017 (UTC)


 * The Iraqi referendum went through so Kurdistan is a recognized reality now, at least by the relevant Arab countries (which is practically all they need). Large amounts of ISIS soldiers did manage to flee the group and join up with the remaining Islamist groups (or, as Westerners prefer to call them, "pro-democracy fighters" or "opposition forces"), but Assad is cleaning them up just as well as Iraq did with ISIS. Raqqa, Hama, and Uqayribat all fell last month and the siege of Deir ez-Zor was broken. The Islamists only have Jisr ash Shugur, al-Nu'man, and Abu ad-Duhur left, all in the north and pincered by the Allepo forces in the east and the Hama forces from the south. Whether these would be theocrats and their Western and Saudi allies will admit the triumph of Ba'athism and secular nationalism or try to hold out indefinitely (they are in a very anti-Assad region) remains to be seen, but it is clear that the Islamists can no longer offer offensive opposition to the state.


 * A more interesting question will be if Assad is willing to make a deal with the Kurds in Rojava. I think the Iraqi referendum and the fact he's so close to peace will encourage him to try and work something out rather than attempt to dismantle the Syrian Kurds; we could very well see a Kurdistan created from parts of both Iraq and Syria.


 * Erdogan will no doubt pressure Assad to oppose this, but Fuad Masum is an ethnic Kurd so Iraq will be solid and Assad is unlikely to fight Erdogan's war. The kurds themselves may continue the conflict by demanding land in Turkey, however. Lord Aeonian (talk) 21:00, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Turkey (Again)
If you had to pick one current Turkish politician or public official to replace Erdogan as President, who would you choose and why? RoninMacbeth (talk) 21:15, 16 January 2019 (UTC)


 * I'm not fluent enough in Turkish politics. I'd pick a secular Kemalist if possible. As a side note, I think accepting Turkey into NATO under a secular leader would go a long way to defeating Islamist politics by distinguishing Turkey as a 'Western' nation as opposed the southern Islamicate. It's a silly delineation that may have no academic weight, but it is nontheless real in the political realm and in popular conception. Lord Aeonian (talk) 01:03, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

Laicism
Over time, I've heard of this as an alternative to the standard "Anglo-American concept of secularism," and I've been increasingly sympathetic to Kemalism. Can you explain this concept to me? RoninMacbeth (talk) 05:44, 14 February 2019 (UTC)
 * laicite is a French form of of "uber-secularism," so to speak. Outside of being more hardline regarding religious symbolism, it isn't any different in my opinion. Lord Aeonian (talk) 01:09, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

Your Atatürk userbox you created has been deleted
The Atatürk userbox you created has been deleted. I have edited your user page to remove it. I hope you don't mind too much. Spud (talk) 13:22, 6 December 2019 (UTC)