Maybe there are some Western or other friends who are not fully aware of the current situation.Turkey challenged itself and successfully passed a very important stress test. As Jonathan Powell, who was the leading actor in Tony Blair's negotiations with the IRA to bring about a peace deal, during his visit at the time of the Gezi protests, said "You will not be talking about the Gezi protest but Kurdish peace 50 years later. If you lose this chance, it will be a pity."Senior diplomat Powell was closely following Turkey and knew how the Turkish government started this process by taking a risk. Meanwhile, there was a one-sided propaganda machine reflecting a dictatorial regime in Turkey. The government made some mistakes in the Gezi crisis; however the occurrences were merely social movements as observed with Occupy Wall Street, the 2005 French immigrant riots, the Greek protests or the recent clashes in Brussels. It was entirely unfair to interpret the Gezi protests as a "freedom uprising against dictatorship."There was a significant contradiction.Leaving aside the AK Part's success in bringing economic stability to the country, the 150-year-old bloody PKK issue began to be resolved.For the first time, the present government was able to kick off the peace negotiations with the PKK and the reconciliation process was disclosed to the public in a transparent way. There have been almost no Kurdish or Turkish young people killed for more than a year. With reference to a statistical estimate, if the reconciliation process had not commenced there would have been 300-600 lives lost.It is this dictatorship that is taking risks for the reconciliation process with the Kurds and in which the media is thriving in its most independent period. Of course, I am comparing this freedom to that of my generation.There is still a long way ahead of us; however a powerful leader of Turkey has never been referred to as a dictator, psychopath or requiring a coup to topple him. In contrast to the atmosphere reflected abroad, the anti-government newspapers are more than the pro-government newspapers in terms of circulation and numbers. More explicitly, 65 percent of Turkish newspapers support the opposition today. The most well-known TV channels broadcast proopposition programs. I was mostly annoyed about the abuse of criticism and the concept of opposition at the time of the Gezi protests and the attempted judicial coups on Dec. 17 and 25. Rationalism was lost, and every piece of news or problem was moved from their own borders and discussion platforms to a non-political base against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. All discussions were used as an abusive instrument.It is not just that. The government was denounced as the enemy because the reconciliation process was carried out with Erdoğan's initiative and under his powerful leadership. By the way, Abdullah Öcalan took the same role on the other side.The opposition thought that if the reconciliation process collapsed, Erdoğan would lose his legitimacy. They were right. People want to end this long-lasting war and support Erdoğan for his courage. This is because anti-Erdoğan media channels did everything to destroy the trust maintained with many difficulties in the peace process.Kurdish people and Alevis were provoked.Abdullah Öcalan was threatened. Erdoğan's study floor was bombed with an RPG. Furthermore, Erdoğan's Istanbul office and house in Ankara were almost invaded in the course of the Gezi crisis. Only five days after the beginning the reconciliation process, Sakine Cansız, who was one of the most influential supporters of Abdullah Öcalan, was executed along with two other Kurdish women in Paris. Considering the importance of the U.S. and EU for us, we expected them to support the government under threat. There was a power struggle in Turkey and they could have realized the situation and taken part in the analyses.I do not even want to imagine how Turkey would look if the Gezi protests and Dec. 17 and 25 operations had not been overcome.If a successful government with 50 percent of the vote had been toppled, Turkey would have fallen into chaos and everything would have turned into a no-win situation.We are witnessing similar occurrences in Ukraine. There would have been sectarian tensions, the war with the Kurds would have flared up again and the economy would have collapsed.Do you think everything would be limited with Turkey? Of course not. There is a civilian war in Syria next to us. The chaos in Egypt is also apparent. Recently, there is another crisis north of Turkey, Ukraine.Above all, a powerful and sustainable Turkish democracy is vital for the U.S., the EU and the Middle East. It's not enough that the world is happy that Turkey successfully passed the test without any serious damage; they should question why they left Turkey out in the cold.