I was not prepared for such a dilemma but I should have been used by now to the “bottom of the line” questions coming from my political analyst Greek friend whose job for many years has been to observe the social trends in Greece. Heading one of the leading social research companies in Greece, he has always been a keen observer of the developments in Turkey. Indeed his company’s surveys often include Turkey as an important parameter for the social and political trends in Greece. So the recent referendum in Turkey was of special interest.
But I could not give him a straight answer to match his question. Of course, out of professional pride, I pretended I knew the answer, as we journalists habitually do. So I resorted to some kind of mot d' esprit statement like “it is the Koran wrapped up in democracy” or something like that. But the real reason was that I had not really made up my mind about the meaning of last week’s referendum in Turkey: who was the winner, was it really a turning point, what is next, etc.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=8220was-it-the-victory-of-democracy-or-the-victory-of-the-koran8221-2010-09-19