In this ex professo analysis of the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism in the neighboring country, the reader will ultimately confront the issue of Turkey's European naturalization, particularly in the form of its accession to the European Union, which is not a particular focus of the author and rightly so, as such a reference, to the extent dictated by the scope of the problematization, would overturn the balance of the study.

However, the conclusion that the reader, even one uninitiated in the meanders of European integration, draws unmanipulated, is that Turkey is increasingly drifting away from its 'European destiny,' swept along by the wind of Islamic fundamentalism. The problem does not focus on the level of the widening democratic deficit in Turkey and the lagging of its economic indicators but on that of the widescale deviation of its cultural values from their European counterparts.

Turkey is not 'the only European country in the Middle East,' as its friends (Bernard Lewis) used to claim in the past, but 'the only Middle Eastern country in Europe,' and therefore, its active participation in the European unfolding, where the fundamental parameter remains ideological, would represent a tragic antinomy.

The study by Mr. I. Mazi leaves no room for any related doubt, even for those who enjoy retreating into the comfort of illusions.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]