THE SPIEGEL
In a Spiegel interview, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 56, discusses Ankara’s relationship with the European Union, the debate over genocide against the Armenians and his role as a mediator in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear policy.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Prime Minister, your country is currently giving a confusing impression. It is more modern and open than it was before you came into office, and yet it is also more pious and Islamic. Where are you taking Turkey: toward the West, toward Europe or toward the East?
Erdogan: Turkey has changed considerably and has been modernized in the last seven-and-a-half years. Unlike previous governments, we take the founder of the republic, (Mustafa Kemal) Atatürk, at his word and are trying to bring the country to the level of contemporary civilization. In doing so, we look in all directions. We don’t turn our face from the East when we look to the West. We see this as a process of normalization.
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