“No Shameful Past”

In an otherwise useful article about why and how Turkey is well placed to expand its influence and positive energy in the region, Bülent Keneṣ writes this astoundingly wrong paragraph:

Turkey does not have a shameful past in the eyes of the people in the region as it has made no attempt to colonize them in the past […] Compared to the colonialism and tyranny which the French and the British imposed on these countries until very recently, Turkey does not have any cause for shame toward them

The author seems absolutely convinced of this. If anything, this is testimony to Atatürk’s efficiency in wiping out the legacy of the Ottoman empire from Turkish school curricula.