Citizen G'kar: Musings on Earth

March 19, 2005

Hitler book bestseller in Turkey

Here are some ominous signs of US policy losing the hearts and minds of the youth of the Middle East.
BBC NEWS | Hitler book bestseller in Turkey
Adolf Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, has become a bestseller in Turkey - sparking fears of growing anti-Semitic feelings in the country. The book has sold more than 50,000 copies since January. Analysts fear that the Middle East conflict and the US-led war on Iraq might have fuelled extremist ideology. [...The] book was being bought primarily by young people influenced by international politics.

Dogu Ergil, a political scientist at Ankara University, told the BBC he believed recent developments in Iraq and the Middle East might have fomented anti-Semitic and anti-American feelings among right-wing ultranationalists and extremist Islamists. "However, some feel there is an international conspiracy led by what they call the crusaders - meaning the US and maybe the West in general and the Zionists." He said people from different backgrounds, such as left- and right-wingers and Islamists, had found common ground - "not on a common agenda for the future, but on their anxieties, fears and hate".

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