Last sentence:

"I cannot impress enough how fundamental [this change] is."
This is one of those things that makes you hope we will see beyond what a government can do specifically for us, and consider how the efforts of the people who live there will effect the strategic landscape. Such efforts as these should be quietly and discreetly reinforced (and it may not be the U.S. who might be in the best position to do so), and where pratical lauded (practical in terms of remembering who we are and what we might represent by being too enthusiastic) - as Steve and Slap mentioned above.

Also from a strategic history perspective, we might do well to remember the course of the Reformation in Christianity - it was not instantaneous, it was not entirely passive, and it created social ripples which were not well understod for hundreds of years. While the article uses the the qualifier "reformation" like, the end quote still shows the understanding of the fundamental changes in perspectives this could lead to.

Change of this nature is often accompanied by violence once it gains enough momentum to threaten identity or authority. In today's inter-connected world, what begins in Turkey can have an effect in many other locations. While Turkey may be progressive and secure enough to moderate the potential for violence to levels that don't result in a slide toward instability, other states may not. An idea that is acceptable in Ankara, my cause an upheaval elsewhere. It may not be a visible flash fire, but like many challenges to central identity values, - it may evolve for awhile before we really know what it means.

Turkey has significant historical meaning to Islam - I'll be surprised if groups such as AQ do not contest it. I'll be surprised if its challenging of certain accepted passages in the Hadith, and the meanings which some derive authority from do not put it at odds with states such as Iran.

For our own part, perahps we should acknowledge the Turks desire to better understand its Faith, and their intellectual and spiritual courage to do so. Hopefully we can do it with seeming to be opportunistic, or exploiting in nature - to do so could set up a backlash that might put any such movement in jeapordy.

Best, Rob