Turkey need not apologize

Submitted by Caleb (United States), Sep 24, 2010 at 14:05

Ariel Sharon once was asked by a western journalist whether the Israel Defense Forces could not show mercy toward their Palestinian adversaries. The Minister, a blunt-spoken former general, replied "There is no mercy in this part of the world".

Indeed, no mercy and little forgiveness. This is the land of the Blood Feud where old wounds are not allowed to heal, memories not allowed to die and ninety years ago is as yesterday.

But was the Bolshevik Russia of 1920, the Russia of Lenin and Trotsky, the brutal, criminal dictatorship Stalin would later create? Was National Turkey wrong to accept help from the sole foreign country willing to assist it in redeeming its core territory from foreign occupation? I say no, and no.

By 1920 Mustafa Kemal had willingly renounced all claim to the Arab lands that had been part of Turkey for centuries. But this was not enough for the European imperial powers. Victors of the Great War, they already were busily carving up those Ottoman lands in colonies, protectorates and Mandates. Each sought to tear off a piece of Anatolia itself. Defeated Germany was excluded from this confederation of vultures but Kemal had no love for that erstwhile ally who had led Turkey to defeat and disaster, even had she been in a position to help.

I do not know where Ianus obtained these figures on the exact amount of gold given over by Russia (down to the tenth of a kilo!). Russia had just emerged from the devastating civil war against the Whites and was at that time the prostrate recipient of international aid organized by future US President Herbert Hoover. I do note that the two ex-Imperial Russian Navy destroyers cited by Ianus are carried on the Soviet register as destroyed--one with the loss of 250 men.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".