The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Link: Telegraph newspaper online.

I so rarely disagree with Boris Johnson that I hesitate to do so now, fearing I may be wrong. I would like to think I am. His vision of reconciliation is fine in its Christian idealism. His line on Turkey and the EU is seductive. I fear that both are misguided.

There is certainly an attraction to
integrating a leading Muslim nation into a Western club for
democracies. But Turkey will never be a beacon of hope for the Muslim
world, or for anyone, while those who tell the truth about its history
are imprisoned at best and murdered at worst. The legacy of Ataturk
may be crumbling. "Militant Islam," aka "Islamism" seems to be growing in strength there. Pace Boris, we should see where that story leads before leaping into bed with his family’s former homeland.