Turkey: the Sèvres Syndrome, or the Endless War
For Turks, the Treaty of Sèvres symbolises the dissolution of the empire and the carving up of Turkey by foreign powers.
The historic effect of the treaty survives as a syndrome, which explains the vision of a nation under siege struggling for survival. Apart from the current neo-Ottomanism, a reconsidered dialogue with Europe could perhaps provide the country with a new relationship with its history and help it move beyond a syndrome used by all sections of its political class.
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