Turkish Democracy (and Daniel Pipes)

As part of their bid to join the EU, Turkey has passed reforms to strengthen their democratic institutions. The most important curtail the power of the military-dominated National Security Council to influence government policy, provide for more freedom of expression, and place the military budget under Parliament's supervision. If successful, this could be a landmark in Turkey's democratic development.

As Jonathan Edelstein has discovered, Daniel Pipes is opposed to all of this. This is of course the same Pipes who has previously suggested making the U.S. the state sponsor of the Mujahadeen-e Khalq terrorist organization and whom President Bush has nominated to the U.S. Institute of Peace, though the relevant Senate committee had other ideas.