Turkey is one of the few examples of a democratic state where most of the people are Muslims. However Turkey's history is a bit of a one-off and other Muslim states have not been able to follow its example. To some extent, Egypt, Syria and Iraq tried to follow Turkey's example but they couldn't pull it off. The key point about the Republic of Turkey is that it was built upon the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was the near classic Islamic theocracy with the Turkish sultan also playing the role of Kalpih (spiritual head of Islam). Unfortunately the Ottoman Empire did an amazing "crash and burn" during World War I. Turkish society under the Ottoman's had hammered itself so deep into the ground that it looked like it would never recover. The main reason why Turkey did rise up from the ashes was due to their nation's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Ataturk was a military and political genius. He did many things "right". One of the main reasons for Ataturk's success was his realization that Islam was political poison and a main reason for the Ottoman Empire's implosion. He instituted an uncompromising policy of separating "church" and state. Naturally the Turkish mullahs fought him tooth and nail over this. Ataturk's response was simplicity itself: He hung all resisting Mullahs upon capture. The people promoting Islam in Turkey quickly realized that if they bucked Ataturk in any way then he would not hesitate to put them to death.

The Middle East runs by different rules.

Gary