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The Sick Man of Europe -- Again

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  • The Sick Man of Europe -- Again

    Are US/Turkey relations crumbling?


    From the Wall Stree Journal:
    The Sick Man of Europe -- Again


    By ROBERT L. POLLOCK
    February 16, 2005; Page A14

    ANKARA, Turkey -- Several years ago I attended an exhibition in Istanbul. The theme was local art from the era of the country's last military coup (1980). But the artists seemed a lot more concerned with the injustices of global capitalism than the fate of Turkish democracy. In fact, to call the works leftist caricatures -- many featured fat capitalists with Uncle Sam hats and emaciated workers -- would have been an understatement. As one astute local reviewer put it (I quote from memory): "This shows that Turkish artists were willing to abase themselves voluntarily in ways that Soviet artists refused even at the height of Stalin's oppression."

    That exhibition came to mind amid all the recent gnashing of teeth in the U.S. over the question of "Who lost Turkey?" Because it shows that a 50-year special relationship, between longtime NATO allies who fought Soviet expansionism together starting in Korea, has long had to weather the ideological hostility and intellectual decadence of much of Istanbul's elite. And at the 2002 election, the increasingly corrupt mainstream parties that had championed Turkish-American ties self-destructed, leaving a vacuum that was filled by the subtle yet insidious Islamism of the Justice and Development (AK) Party. It's this combination of old leftism and new Islamism -- much more than any mutual pique over Turkey's refusal to side with us in the Iraq war -- that explains the collapse in relations.

    And what a collapse it has been. On a brief visit to Ankara earlier this month with Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith, I found a poisonous atmosphere -- one in which just about every politician and media outlet (secular and religious) preaches an extreme combination of America- and Jew-hatred that (like the Turkish artists) voluntarily goes far further than anything found in most of the Arab world's state-controlled press. If I hesitate to call it Nazi-like, that's only because Goebbels would probably have rejected much of it as too crude.

    ***

    Consider the Islamist newspaper Yeni Safak, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's favorite. A Jan. 9 story claimed that U.S. forces were tossing so many Iraqi bodies into the Euphrates that mullahs there had issued a fatwa prohibiting residents from eating its fish. Yeni Safak has also repeatedly claimed that U.S. forces used chemical weapons in Fallujah. One of its columnists has alleged that U.S. soldiers raped women and children there and left their bodies in the streets to be eaten by dogs. Among the paper's "scoops" have been the 1,000 Israeli soldiers deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq, and that U.S. forces have been harvesting the innards of dead Iraqis for sale on the U.S. "organ market."

    It's not much better in the secular press. The mainstream Hurriyet has accused Israeli hit squads of assassinating Turkish security personnel in Mosul, and the U.S. of starting an occupation of Indonesia under the guise of humanitarian assistance. At Sabah, a columnist last fall accused the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, of letting his "ethnic origins" -- guess what, he's Jewish -- determine his behavior. Mr. Edelman is indeed the all-too-rare foreign-service officer who takes seriously his obligation to defend America's image and interests abroad. The intellectual climate in which he's operating has gone so mad that he actually felt compelled to organize a conference call with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey to explain that secret U.S. nuclear testing did not cause the recent tsunami.

    Never in an ostensibly friendly country have I had the impression of embassy staff so besieged. Mr. Erdogan's office recently forbade Turkish officials from attending a reception at the ambassador's residence in honor of the "Ecumenical" Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, who resides in Istanbul. Why? Because "ecumenical" means universal, which somehow makes it all part of a plot to carve up Turkey.

    Perhaps the most bizarre anti-American story au courant in the Turkish capital is the "eighth planet" theory, which holds not only that the U.S. knows of an impending asteroid strike, but that we know it's going to hit North America. Hence our desire to colonize the Middle East.

    It all sounds loony, I know. But such stories are told in all seriousness at the most powerful dinner tables in Ankara. The common thread is that almost everything the U.S. is doing in the world -- even tsunami relief -- has malevolent motivations, usually with the implication that we're acting as muscle for the Jews.

    In the face of such slanders Turkish politicians have been utterly silent. In fact, Turkish parliamentarians themselves have accused the U.S. of "genocide" in Iraq, while Mr. Erdogan (who we once hoped would set for the Muslim world an example of democracy) was among the few world leaders to question the legitimacy of the Iraqi elections. When confronted, Turkish pols claim they can't risk going against "public opinion."

    All of which makes Mr. Erdogan a prize hypocrite for protesting to Condoleezza Rice the unflattering portrayal of Turkey in an episode of the fictional TV show "The West Wing." The episode allegedly depicts Turkey as having been taken over by a retrograde populist government that threatens women's rights. (Sounds about right to me.)

    In the old days, Turkey would have had an opposition party strong enough to bring such a government closer to sanity. But the only opposition now is a moribund Republican People's Party, or CHP, once the party of Ataturk. At a recent party congress, its leader accused his main challenger of having been part of a CIA plot against him. That's not to say there aren't a few comparatively pro-U.S. officials left in the current government and the state bureaucracies. But they're afraid to say anything in public. In private, they whine endlessly about trivial things the U.S. "could have done differently."

    Entirely forgotten is that President Bush was among the first world leaders to recognize Prime Minister Erdogan, while Turkey's own legal system was still weighing whether he was secular enough for the job. Forgotten have been decades of U.S. military assistance. Forgotten have been years of American efforts to secure a pipeline route for Caspian oil that terminates at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Forgotten has been the fact that U.S. administrations continue to fight annual attempts in Congress to pass a resolution condemning modern Turkey for the long-ago Armenian genocide. Forgotten has been America's persistent lobbying for Turkish membership in the European Union.

    Forgotten, above all, has been America's help against the PKK. Its now-imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was expelled from Syria in 1998 after the Turks threatened military action. He was then passed like a hot potato between European governments, who refused to extradite him to Turkey because -- gasp! -- he might face the death penalty. He was eventually caught -- with the help of U.S. intelligence -- sheltered in the Greek Embassy in Nairobi. "They gave us Ocalan. What could be bigger than that?" says one of a handful of unapologetically pro-U.S. Turks I still know.

    I know that Mr. Feith (another Jew, the Turkish press didn't hesitate to note), and Ms. Rice after him, pressed Turkish leaders on the need to challenge some of the more dangerous rhetoric if they value the Turkey-U.S. relationship. There is no evidence yet that they got a satisfactory answer. Turkish leaders should understand that the "public opinion" they cite is still reversible. But after a few more years of riding the tiger, who knows? Much of Ataturk's legacy risks being lost, and there won't be any of the old Ottoman grandeur left, either. Turkey could easily become just another second-rate country: small-minded, paranoid, marginal and -- how could it be otherwise? -- friendless in America and unwelcome in Europe.

    Mr. Pollock is a senior editorial page writer at the Journal.

    WSJ
    Greeks and Armenians support Pollock's Turkey article:
    By Zaman
    Published: Tuesday 22, 2005
    zaman.com


    Armenians and Greeks living in the US have provided significant support toRobert L. Pollock for his heavy criticism of Turkey in an article published on February 16th in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which has a circulation of two million.

    The Greek American Society distributed the article to US Congress members they are close to. Anti-Turkish comments flourished in response to Pollock's article. Many e-mails supporting Pollock's views were posted on the WSJ's website. Armenians mostly congratulated the author for his work but there was a weak response from Turks. One reader named David Govett wrote: "Turkey cannot be the sick man of

    Europe because it has never been a part of Europe. Ataturk's initiatives to modernize Turkey were as successful as Crazy Peter's Westernization attempts on Russia." Armenian readers interpreted that Turkey's was the sick man of Europe not just because of its hostility towards the US, but also because of its rejection of the "Armenian genocide." According to another reader, Robert Roughsedge, Kurds are much more significant for Armenians now.

    Pollock described Turkey as "small-minded, paranoid, and marginal."
    Last edited by CatWoman; 02-23-2005, 09:49 AM.

  • #2
    related - (What this aurthor fails to realize is some of the most radical Islamists are urban Turks. And he fails to recognize that Islamists have captures the mayorship of Istanbul for instance. I am glad that the issue of Genocide recognition was aknowledged however)


    Turkey Talk
    By Christopher Orlet (the American Spectator)
    Published 2/18/2005 12:05:20 AM

    There is an old Turkish saying, "Tell me who your friend is, and I'll tell you who you are." Turks today must be very confused about their identity. On the one hand they are ardent allies of Europe, Israel, and America. On the other, they remain firmly ensconced inside the mind-walls of the Islamic world.

    Modern Turkey is a land of numerous nations and countless cultures where traditional Muslims occupy the countryside and pro-Europe urbanites inhabit the cities. Not to mention the Kurds, Jews, even a few Orthodox Christians. The only secular republic in the Islamic world, it suffers alienation of affection from both its Islamic co-religionists and mistrustful Europeans.

    Now the Turks hope to take another step closer to her Western neighbors by joining the European Union. In October 2004, Turkey got the green light to begin negotiations for EU membership. Turkey is the largest, poorest country ever invited to start talks. And the most troubling. An overwhelming majority of Turks favor membership, but it will take at least a decade before Turkey can become a full-fledged member.

    Ankara's European supporters, like Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, believe Turkey is a model for other Muslim societies: a pro-Western republic with a secular multi-party democracy. Turkey's EU candidacy, Straw said in a recent speech reported by the BBC, will be the "acid test" of whether people of different faiths and origins are doomed to remain divided or can be united by their universal values. Among Turkey's supporters are Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Greece, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and its biggest champion the UK. Greece has also promised to get on board once Turkey recognizes the Greek Cypriot government of Cyprus. Turkey steadfastly refuses to do so.

    The U.S. discreetly supports Turkey's bid, but considers it an internal issue of the EU. Like its European supporters, the Bush administration believes EU membership will create an even more stable and democratic Turkey. A recent editorial in the Economist agreed: "An ever closer partnership between Turkey and the European Union, culminating in full Turkish membership, can only be good for relations between Islam and the West. It will show that western nations have no insuperable prejudice against Islam -- and it will confirm Turkey's role as a nation whose Muslim heritage is fully compatible with democracy."


    IT ALL SOUNDS LOVELY, but supporters are taking on faith the notion that the Turkey that joins the EU a decade from now will be a much different Turkey, a born-again Turkey. Among the skeptics are the governments of Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, France and the Netherlands. The BBC reports that Dutch EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein has warned of the "Islamisation" of Europe if Turkey joins, noting that EU membership will in effect negate the defeat of the Ottoman Turks during the 1683 siege of Vienna.

    Currently only about a quarter of Austrians favor Turkish integration into the EU. Besides the costs of integration, Austrians fear the inevitable wave of job-seeking immigrants and the eroding of traditional Christian values through multiculturalism. Likewise France expects Turkey to acknowledge the 1915 Armenian genocide before it begins EU negotiations. That's not likely to happen.

    Another concern is that Turkey is a ticking religious time bomb. Often the harder an Islamic country is pushed to secularize, the greater the fundamentalist reaction. Skeptics wonder what would happen if once inside the EU Turkey began to slide towards Islamic fanaticism or commenced suspending human rights. Of course, European countries could, conceivably, slide toward fascism or some totalitarian equivalent too, particularly if Muslim immigration continues and those immigrants include anti-Western, bomb-wielding, threat-making fanatics.

    Opponents, meanwhile, point to a long shopping list of problems with Ankara. Today's ruling Justice and Development Party government is essentially the lap dog of a military that has shown little tolerance for human rights or religious freedom. On the other hand a strong military may be needed to prevent an Iranian-like Islamic revolution. Not surprisingly, the military views current prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a latent Islamist, not unlike the first Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan who was quickly forced from power in a 1997 coup.

    Moreover, the European Court of Human Rights has blamed the current Turkish government for the "destruction of (Kurdish) homes, crops and livestock, extrajudicial execution and disappearances." And Human Rights Watch notes that "just ten years ago torture was pandemic with deaths in custody running at about one a week. State forces committed extrajudicial executions and disappearances, or political killings through their proxies, almost daily. Security forces burned villages in intense conflict with the Kurdish Workers' Party and in the early 1990s drove more than 380,000 Kurdish farmers out of their homes. Courts often branded writers or politicians, who mentioned Turkey's minorities, as terrorists and imprisoned them." Police torture remains common today, and most of the displaced Kurds remain just that -- displaced.

    European opposition is strongest from countries with large Muslim populations like Austria, France, and The Netherlands. It is also an unpleasant fact -- but a fact nonetheless -- that as Muslim immigration increases so does the popularity of far-right parties. (Recent high-profile murders, threats, and violent attacks by fanatical Muslims in the Netherlands and elsewhere have also been a boon for the far-right.) The free movement of labor is a basic EU principle, so Europe will have to brace for wide streams of Turkish immigrants.

    But it is not just the influx of poor workers that concerns opponents, it is their belief systems too. And this has led to the inevitable charge of discrimination by Turks. Prime Minister Erdogan recently told the Economist that "If the EU has decided to be a Christian club rather than one of shared values, then let it say so now." But Europe is not a Christian Club, but a collection of largely secular nations with similar traditions, values, and freedoms. Citizens of Mr. Straw's homeland are less likely to believe in God than those in any other country, according to a recent BBC-commissioned global survey of religion. The World Almanac and Book of Facts notes that there are between 23 million and 40 million atheists in Europe. And Europeans guard their secularism jealously. Muslims, however, are notorious for ignoring the line between Church and State. Indeed to many Muslims there is no line. The Sharia is the law and Allah is the ruler. Period.

    There is another yet Turkish saying that may be apropos: "What a man is at seven is also what he is at seventy." One reason the military suspects Erdogan of latent Islamicism is that just a few years ago the Prime Minister planned to take the retro-medieval step of criminalizing adultery. After this sparked criticism from the EU and would-be Turkish homewreckers, Erdogan backed off. Such flip-flops reinforce suspicions that Turkey will say or do anything to gain membership, but will not fundamentally change its ideology.

    Critics also charge that legal reforms, such as allowing prisoners legal counsel, were not enacted until the EU recognized Turkey as viable candidate in 1999, though reports persist that prisoners continue to be refused legal aid. And even when torture cases do go to court, which is not very often, few result in convictions.


    THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT IS ALSO widely criticized for providing lip service regarding the issue of displaced Kurds, while most remain crowded into urban slums, discouraged from returning home by a brutal village guard corps. Many Kurdish villages continue to lack medical facilities, schools, electricity and phones, things they had prior to 1990, but were destroyed or torn up by the Turkish army.

    Similarly, the Turkish government is often accused of interfering with academic freedom, particularly through its military-created Higher Education Council that keeps a close eye on what professors write and say, while the military's ban on headscarves keeps most women out of the universities. (Human Rights Watch argues that the state should neither require nor ban religious symbols or dress in universities.) The government counters that it only wants to protect women who choose not to wear the scarf, and in this way protects the public order, and that giving in on the headscarf ban will lead to more demands by religious parties until secularism is all but eliminated. It is hard to say who is right, but the overriding concern must be that Turkish women are able to make their own choice whether to wear the headscarf.

    Eighty-two years have passed since Ataturk created the modern democratic Turkey. Mr. Straw and his supporters say that this is proof that Turkey is a legitimate European partner, one that respects democratic principles and "universal values." But it is only recently that religious fundamentalism and fanaticism of the Iranian, Jihadian, Talibanian variety have come into being and developed a popular and radical following. Many Muslims insist that Turkey is a traitor to Islam, one that has chosen wealth and power over religion. And Ataturk remains reviled by many fundamentalist Muslims who abhor the separation of church and state. Europe, for many Muslim fanatics, remains synonymous with Christianity, and is thus the breading ground for heresy. Indeed until the modern era, Muslims were strictly forbidden to visit Europe, and the ban was later lifted only as a way of acquiring military and technological secrets. So far the military has kept a lid on jihadism, but once the EU puts a muzzle on the army, all bets are off.

    Meanwhile the French government is considering putting the Turkish question before the French voters in a referendum. Austria and the Netherlands may do the same. France is also floating the possibility of a third-way for Turkey, which would mean not quite full EU membership, something Ankara flatly rejects.

    Throughout modern history Turkey has been given the unflattering epithet of the "sick man of Europe." Today much of Europe seems to think she is out of danger, if not well down the road to recovery. Some may want a second opinion.

    Comment


    • #3
      At this point it is only speculation. Until more tangible results are evident, we can only surmise at the status of the relations.
      Achkerov kute.

      Comment


      • #4
        One of its columnists has alleged that U.S. soldiers raped women and children there and left their bodies in the streets to be eaten by dogs. Among the paper's "scoops" have been the 1,000 Israeli soldiers deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq, and that U.S. forces have been harvesting the innards of dead Iraqis for sale on the U.S. "organ market."
        Wow....I believe Carl Jung would call that Turky's "Shadow".

        Comment


        • #5
          the turkish people are regular people (now-a-days) but the government is in bed with anyone that he can get his hands on...

          Comment


          • #6
            Turkey has a formidable military that could cause havok in the region. Their elites believe in a kind of pan-Turkick manifest destiny that will once again make them some sort of world superpower...and (many/most?) Turks really buy into this idea of Turks being the most special people in the world (ahem - sound familiar anyone? lol) - and they reeally feel that the rest of the world is still in conspiracy against them (purely from jeolosy that they are not Turkish - the supreme race)...sure most Turks likely do not spout this or even believe it (who knows really) - but enough sure do - and this has been force fed them since birth (certainly throughout their schooling) along with the veneration of Ataturk's godhood...and of course that all their past enemies and those who hate them are in fact only traitors who have had no legitimate reason to ever dislike the Turks who only believe in "Peace at Home and Peace in the World"...all that being said - most Turks are pretty nice and friendly people when you get to know them who mostly like to party and have a good time...such a dichotomy...what a case study in mass mental illness they might make...

            Comment


            • #7
              i think if turkey gets rejected from the EU it will try to make sure the world konws they are still there.they might make a millitary move agasint one of its boardering countrys (crap) or some other sort of measure. they most likely wont take the rejection without doing somthing.

              Comment


              • #8
                somewhat silly, but indicative perhaps...

                Novel Exposes U.S.-Turkey Alliance Fears

                By LOUIS MEIXLER
                The Associated Press
                Friday, February 25, 2005; 2:14 PM


                ISTANBUL, Turkey - In one of Turkey's best-selling thrillers, U.S. troops in northern Iraq open fire on a group of Turkish commandos, setting off a war between the NATO allies.

                The book is "Metal Storm," and although pure fiction set in the year 2007, it highlights the deep fears many Turks harbor that the U.S. invasion of Iraq will put the decades-long allies on a collision course.

                The suspicion has become so serious that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a meeting with Turkish leaders earlier this month, raised concerns about the negative image of the United States in Turkey, American and Turkish diplomats said.

                During the Cold War, Turkey and the United States saw their alliance as crucial to stopping Soviet expansion.

                But now, the critical security issue to both countries is Iraq, where the two sides have vital interests that could conflict.

                Washington sees Iraqi Kurds as key allies in bringing stability to the country. Turkey, however, is terrified that growing Iraqi Kurdish power could inspire Kurds in Turkey, where the army has battled autonomy-seeking Kurdish insurgents for decades.

                A turning point for Turkey came in 2003 when U.S. forces seized 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq whom they suspected of plotting to assassinate a top Iraqi Kurdish official. U.S. soldiers handcuffed the Turks and put sacks on over their heads, which many Turks considered an extreme humiliation.

                In the United States, officials felt an important ally let them down when Turkey balked at allowing in U.S. troops for the Iraq invasion. The Turkish government also took so long to come to a clear decision that ships carrying weapons and equipment for a U.S. infantry division slated to take part in the Iraq attack circled for weeks off the coast of the country.

                The book is "fiction but in Turkey everyone is questioning whether there will eventually be a conflict between America and Turkey," Cem Kucuk, an editor at Timas Yayinlari, the book's publisher, said in an interview Tuesday.

                Criticism of U.S. policies is hardly new in Turkey and has long been championed by leftist and pro-Islamic groups.

                "What is new and what makes this anti-Americanism so widespread now and so strong is the large mass which includes the elite and the intellectuals ... and some of the military," said Sami Kohen, a columnist for the Milliyet newspaper. "All of these elements who ... had a lot of sympathy for the United States are turning against" America.

                "There is a perception that the United States is encouraging ... Kurds in Iraq and they are not taking into account the concerns of the Turkish government," Kohen said.

                Turkish newspapers have been filled with stories of the increasing tensions. Kohen said that in questions that he has fielded at university lectures and conferences, the United States "is being portrayed more as a hostile country than an ally."

                Also Turkey's ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, has its roots in the Islamic movement, whose members have sometimes identified more with besieged Iraqis than with the United States.

                "The (party's) base is radically anti-American and is very sensitive to populist policies," columnist Cuneyt Ulsever wrote in the Turkish Daily News.

                Many Turks also fear the United States may soon provoke a conflict with neighboring Iran, further inflaming tensions.

                A BBC World Service Poll taken in 21 countries, showed a chart-topping 82 percent of Turks felt that President Bush's re-election was a negative for global peace and security. In France, the figure was 75 percent. The poll of 21,953 people was conducted from Nov. 15- Jan. 3 by the international polling group GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. It has a margin of error per country that ranged from 2.5 percent to 4 percent.

                "It is impossible not to see the anti-American movement's rise," columnist Ismet Berkan wrote in the daily Radikal.

                Turkish officials have been working hard to blunt the hostility on the street and have recently emphasized the importance of the relationship with the United States.

                In Brussels, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was asked about anti-American sentiments.

                "Let's not focus on this but on making friends," Erdogan said after meeting Tuesday with Bush. "At the moment, our relations are just fine."

                While criticism of Bush and U.S. policy has skyrocketed, there is little hostility toward Americans on the streets and officials have taken pains to point out that just a few years ago, President Bill Clinton was enormously popular in the country.

                Burak Turna, co-author of the book, says he wrote "Metal Storm" to try to prevent a U.S.-Turkish clash.

                "Our message to the United States is that we don't want chaos in the region," said Turna. "The book is not anti-American but is a criticism of U.S. policy and shows how things could end up if we continue on this way."

                In the book, U.S. tanks quickly pour across the Iraqi border into Turkey, annihilating Turkish forces while U.S. warplanes target Istanbul. A Turkish agent, acting on his own initiative, exacts his revenge. He detonates a nuclear bomb in a park in Washington that levels the U.S. capital.

                The book has sold 100,000 copies in just two months, a record in Turkey, Kucuk said, and six of Turkey's largest bookstores say it is one of their top 10 sellers.

                Turna urged the United States to review its policies and consult more with its allies but said he was not confident that Bush's just concluded reconciliation trip to Europe will have much impact.

                "It is a very desperate attempt to mend fences," Turna said. "As long as the U.S. goes on its way it is not possible to mend fences."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by winoman
                  somewhat silly, but indicative perhaps...

                  Novel Exposes U.S.-Turkey Alliance Fears

                  By LOUIS MEIXLER
                  The Associated Press
                  Friday, February 25, 2005; 2:14 PM


                  ISTANBUL, Turkey - In one of Turkey's best-selling thrillers, U.S. troops in northern Iraq open fire on a group of Turkish commandos, setting off a war between the NATO allies.

                  The book is "Metal Storm," and although pure fiction set in the year 2007, it highlights the deep fears many Turks harbor that the U.S. invasion of Iraq will put the decades-long allies on a collision course.

                  The suspicion has become so serious that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a meeting with Turkish leaders earlier this month, raised concerns about the negative image of the United States in Turkey, American and Turkish diplomats said.

                  During the Cold War, Turkey and the United States saw their alliance as crucial to stopping Soviet expansion.

                  But now, the critical security issue to both countries is Iraq, where the two sides have vital interests that could conflict.

                  Washington sees Iraqi Kurds as key allies in bringing stability to the country. Turkey, however, is terrified that growing Iraqi Kurdish power could inspire Kurds in Turkey, where the army has battled autonomy-seeking Kurdish insurgents for decades.

                  A turning point for Turkey came in 2003 when U.S. forces seized 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq whom they suspected of plotting to assassinate a top Iraqi Kurdish official. U.S. soldiers handcuffed the Turks and put sacks on over their heads, which many Turks considered an extreme humiliation.

                  In the United States, officials felt an important ally let them down when Turkey balked at allowing in U.S. troops for the Iraq invasion. The Turkish government also took so long to come to a clear decision that ships carrying weapons and equipment for a U.S. infantry division slated to take part in the Iraq attack circled for weeks off the coast of the country.

                  The book is "fiction but in Turkey everyone is questioning whether there will eventually be a conflict between America and Turkey," Cem Kucuk, an editor at Timas Yayinlari, the book's publisher, said in an interview Tuesday.

                  Criticism of U.S. policies is hardly new in Turkey and has long been championed by leftist and pro-Islamic groups.

                  "What is new and what makes this anti-Americanism so widespread now and so strong is the large mass which includes the elite and the intellectuals ... and some of the military," said Sami Kohen, a columnist for the Milliyet newspaper. "All of these elements who ... had a lot of sympathy for the United States are turning against" America.

                  "There is a perception that the United States is encouraging ... Kurds in Iraq and they are not taking into account the concerns of the Turkish government," Kohen said.

                  Turkish newspapers have been filled with stories of the increasing tensions. Kohen said that in questions that he has fielded at university lectures and conferences, the United States "is being portrayed more as a hostile country than an ally."

                  Also Turkey's ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, has its roots in the Islamic movement, whose members have sometimes identified more with besieged Iraqis than with the United States.

                  "The (party's) base is radically anti-American and is very sensitive to populist policies," columnist Cuneyt Ulsever wrote in the Turkish Daily News.

                  Many Turks also fear the United States may soon provoke a conflict with neighboring Iran, further inflaming tensions.

                  A BBC World Service Poll taken in 21 countries, showed a chart-topping 82 percent of Turks felt that President Bush's re-election was a negative for global peace and security. In France, the figure was 75 percent. The poll of 21,953 people was conducted from Nov. 15- Jan. 3 by the international polling group GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. It has a margin of error per country that ranged from 2.5 percent to 4 percent.

                  "It is impossible not to see the anti-American movement's rise," columnist Ismet Berkan wrote in the daily Radikal.

                  Turkish officials have been working hard to blunt the hostility on the street and have recently emphasized the importance of the relationship with the United States.

                  In Brussels, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was asked about anti-American sentiments.

                  "Let's not focus on this but on making friends," Erdogan said after meeting Tuesday with Bush. "At the moment, our relations are just fine."

                  While criticism of Bush and U.S. policy has skyrocketed, there is little hostility toward Americans on the streets and officials have taken pains to point out that just a few years ago, President Bill Clinton was enormously popular in the country.

                  Burak Turna, co-author of the book, says he wrote "Metal Storm" to try to prevent a U.S.-Turkish clash.

                  "Our message to the United States is that we don't want chaos in the region," said Turna. "The book is not anti-American but is a criticism of U.S. policy and shows how things could end up if we continue on this way."

                  In the book, U.S. tanks quickly pour across the Iraqi border into Turkey, annihilating Turkish forces while U.S. warplanes target Istanbul. A Turkish agent, acting on his own initiative, exacts his revenge. He detonates a nuclear bomb in a park in Washington that levels the U.S. capital.

                  The book has sold 100,000 copies in just two months, a record in Turkey, Kucuk said, and six of Turkey's largest bookstores say it is one of their top 10 sellers.

                  Turna urged the United States to review its policies and consult more with its allies but said he was not confident that Bush's just concluded reconciliation trip to Europe will have much impact.

                  "It is a very desperate attempt to mend fences," Turna said. "As long as the U.S. goes on its way it is not possible to mend fences."

                  i can only hope. that way turkey will be put in their place once and for all.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    BEAUTIFUL!!!

                    The Wall Street Journal and Turkey

                    Op-Ed
                    The Wall Street Journal and Turkey
                    By Gene Rossides
                    March 1, 2005
                    Congratulations to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Mr. Robert L. Pollock, a senior editorial page writer at the WSJ, for the editorial page article “The Sick Man of Europe—Again” (2-16-05) by Mr. Pollock.

                    Finally a mainstream journalist, and a conservative one at that, has given the U.S. public the real picture of Turkeyʼs virulent anti-American and anti-Semitic attitudes. He tells it as it is. See the American Hellenic Institute website at http://www.ahiworld.org for the full text.

                    The U.S. media has failed to cover adequately the situation in Turkey for decades. They have taken handouts and statements from U.S. officials without serious questioning or investigation. Speeches and interviews by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman for years have contained blatant falsehoods, misleading statements and serious omissions of fact regarding:

                    (1) Turkeyʼs reliability and value as a NATO ally;
                    (2) Turkeyʼs horrendous human rights record against its citizens generally;
                    (3) Turkeyʼs ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide against its 20% Kurdish minority of 15 million;
                    (4) Turkeyʼs invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and its armed occupation of 37.3% of Cyprus now in its 31st year;
                    (5) Turkeyʼs human rights violations in Cyprus; and
                    (6) the undemocratic, unworkable and financially not viable Annan Plan for the settlement of the Cyprus issue.

                    Mr. Pollockʼs detailed article will hopefully change the mediaʼs complacency and work habits regarding Turkey.

                    What is also very much needed in the interests of the U.S. is a reassessment by the Bush administration of its policy towards Turkey. Hopefully Mr. Pollockʼs article will stimulate such a reassessment which should include, at a minimum, the following issues:

                    Cyprus

                    President Bush in his eloquent inaugural address called for liberty, freedom and democracy throughout the world. He needs to apply these words and policy to Cyprus by stopping the double standard on the rule of law for Turkey and by calling for the immediate:

                    1. Withdrawal from Cyprus of Turkeyʼs 35,000 invasion and occupation troops
                    which threaten the Greek Cypriots. We are pressing Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon immediately yet we refuse to call for the immediate removal of Turkeyʼs invasion and occupation troops from Cyprus.

                    2. Removal from Cyprus of Turkeyʼs 100,000 illegal colonists and
                    the halt to Turkeyʼs program of illegal colonization aimed at changing the demographics of Cyprus. The Geneva Convention of 1949, section III, article 49, prohibits colonization by an occupying power.

                    3. Tearing down of the Turkish Green Line barbed wire fence across the face of
                    Cyprus which prevents the full liberty and freedom of movement of both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The Green Line, Turkeyʼs occupation forces and illegal colonists are the cause of the Turkish Cypriot isolation. Remove them and the Turkish Cypriots isolation will vanish.

                    Turkeyʼs illegal invasion of Cyprus in 1974, with the illegal use of American arms, is the equivalent, as a matter of law, to Iraqʼs invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Turkey and Iraq both violated the UN Charter (Art. 2 (4)) and international law. In addition Turkey violated the NATO Treaty.

                    The above points are clear and obvious. Why havenʼt they been recognized and applied? The answer is the State Departmentʼs double standard on the application of the rule of law to Turkey in 1974 and since 1974 to the present time.

                    The State Departmentʼs actions and inactions in 1974 will forever stain the reputation of the Department and then Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger who was in full charge of U.S. foreign policy at that time and deliberately violated the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 by failing to halt immediately U.S. arms to Turkey as required by that basic U.S. law.

                    Instead of calling for the removal of (1) Turkeyʼs illegal occupation troops from Cyprus, (2) the illegal colonists and (3) the Turkish Green Line barbed wired fence, the State Department says they are part of the negotiations, which means, in effect, the State Departmentʼs support for Turkish aggression.

                    The State Departmentʼs “double speak” on Cyprus is right out of George Orwellʼs 1984.

                    Kurds

                    Turkeyʼs actions against its Kurdish minority since 1984 have been characterized as ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide. The recent efforts of Turkey to placate the international community regarding the Kurds, are minimal and do not change the second class citizen status of the Kurds in Turkey. When is the U.S. going to stand up for the human rights activists in Turkey?

                    Armenia

                    It is shameful that the U.S. has not publicly recognized the Armenian Genocide. The world community and the academic community overwhelmingly recognize the Armenian Genocide. The Library of Congress held a major conference on the Armenian Genocide several years ago. Yet the State Department continues its opposition to recognition.

                    The U.S. should also publicly call for the removal of Turkeyʼs illegal economic blockage of Armenia which also prevents U.S. humanitarian aid to Armenia.

                    Turkeyʼs lack of reliability as an ally

                    The March 1, 2003 vote of the Turkish Parliament refusing to allow the U.S. to use bases in Turkey to open a second front against Saddam Husseinʼs dictatorship is well-known and should not be forgotten or put under the rug. It did substantial damage to the U.S. as Secretary Rumsfeld recently stated and caused the loss of many U.S. military lives.

                    Turkeyʼs unreliability on March 1, 2003 should not have been a surprise. The record shows that during the Cold War Turkey brushed aside U.S. interests on many occasions and deliberately gave substantial assistance to the Soviet military! Yet the State Department continues its blatant falsehoods regarding Turkeyʼs reliability as an ally.

                    Turkey- an extortionist state

                    The Turkish vote on March 1, 2003 was part of the governmentʼs effort to put pressure on the U.S. to increase the amount of economic aid for Turkeyʼs cooperation from $26 billion to $32 billion. The March 1, 2003 vote had the tacit support of Prime Minister Erdogan and the military.

                    Why any representative of the U.S. should have been offering $26 billion to Turkey, a NATO ally, for its cooperation defies reason. But that is what Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz did. The U.S. military finally said no to Turkeyʼs negotiating tactics and invaded Iraq without Turkeyʼs help.

                    The U.S. Treasury representative called Turkeyʼs actions: “Extortion in the name of alliance.”

                    Turkey, human rights and the Ecumenical Patriarchate

                    Today there are thousands of political prisoners in jail. There are many journalists in jail. There is and has been a lack of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. There is a lack of religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Halki Patriarchal School of Theology has been illegally closed since 1971 and church properties are at risk.

                    U.S. action needed

                    The U.S. in its own self-interest should consider removal of benefits previously
                    granted to Turkey, such as textile quotas, and sanctions if Turkey does not cooperate regarding Cyprus, the Kurds, Armenia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

                    Unless the U.S. acts decisively and changes policy towards Turkey and gives real
                    meaning to President Bushʼs eloquent and high minded inaugural words, the world community and historians will consider Bushʼs words as empty gestures.

                    Mr. Robert L. Pollock has done an enormous service to the foreign policy debate on Turkey. Hopefully the administration and the media will take heed.

                    Each reader can help by contacting (1) the President to change U.S. policy towards Turkey in the interests of the U.S.; (2) your local media and (3) the Congress and bringing the WSJ Pollock article to their attention. You can contact the President and the Congress as follows:

                    The Honorable George W. Bush
                    President
                    The White House
                    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
                    Washington, D.C. 20500

                    Phone: 202-456-1111 (Presidentʼs message line)
                    Fax: 202-456-0200
                    E-Mail: [email protected]

                    U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate
                    The Honorable____________ The Honorable___________
                    U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate
                    Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20510

                    (202)-224-3121 (general number) 202-224-3121

                    Gene Rossides, President
                    American Hellenic Institute
                    and former Assistant Secretary
                    of the Treasury

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