PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan: ""Let's not focus on this but on making friends,..."

Submitted by mariana (United States), May 25, 2007 at 00:40

Dear Ianus:

Thank you for your extravagant praise, and sorry for the delayed response; my main computer died with my life on it. Also, I've really wanted to think about your posting a bit before responding. I will need more time before I can incorporate that wealth of information found at the wonderful link you provided, but a few things popped out at me. Again, profound thanks.

As for "understatement," that's not something often ascribed hither. Your posting is stunning, and the research and collection of articles on the site you provided constitute a rich gift to us all. Thank you so much for bringing this book and the Turk Best Seller List of anti-American fantastical fiction to our attention. As you have said, this is very dangerous stuff. Like you, I'd like to see this in translation. Have you considered tackling the translation?

The Near and Middle East are aflame; fanned by arrogance, ignorance, stupidity, greed and miscalculation, Iran, Syria and Turkey think flexing their muscles and rattling sabres will cause this American President to cower and cringe, responding to their aggressions according to the plots of self-serving fiction. In America, the Lib/Dem Congressional leadership play fun and games over funding for our military, and overtly opposing [totally oblivious to events beyond their moronic "caucus rooms"] any and all foreign policy initiatives Bush puts forth. It would not surprise for Nancy Pelosi to decide to go to Turkey to tell Erdogan how she cherished the wonderful friend and ally he is. Whether "unhinged" or "out of touch" is for others to decide. Outsiders could easily miscalculate watching these farcical follies.

In the end, there are some adults in America. ...>"Cem Kucuk, one of the editors at "Timas Yayinlari", the book's publisher, declared in an interview : " The book is fiction but in Turkey everyone is questioning whether there will eventually be a conflict between America and Turkey...." I for one hope this was just hyperbolic salesmanship on his part. If he's serious, it's a total misunderstanding of the American mentality; Americans have no need of invading Turkey [Erdogan's the one trying to rebuild an Empire]; we are largely politically lazy, under-informed, and slow to anger; the media upon which we used to rely, are left-wing, post-Modernist; an overtly anti-American arm of the Dem party; however, any attack on us in that manner would affect the quickest cure to the people's temporarily insane denial of the nature of this struggle. The "PC" compliance to the whims and opinions of 'the rest of world,' would disappear, and Americans would become enraged and unified so quickly, heads would spin.

The following quoting Sedat Ergin in "Hurriyet" >"... "Now there is a strange situation. (In 2003) In spite of a promise by the AKP government, the motion was rejected in parliament and as a result war plans of Pentagon were ruined and an anger emerged in U.S. administration and public opinion." Actually, I doubt "public opinion" has even begun to be engaged on this matter. Individual Americans per se are not tracking Turkey...... yet. Very few are aware of Erdogan's flagrant abuse of American friendship. >"Then came Washington's attitude to punish Ankara, Sulaymaniah raid and U.S. soldiers' covering heads of Turkish soldiers with sacks.

Thus, one of the greatest crisis in bilateral relations emerged. "...greatest crisis in bilateral relations........"? After having captured 11 members of a Turk assassination hit-squad in Kurdistan, I find the following puzzling: >"On the other hand, it seems that Pollock [WSJ] can't see that humiliation of our 11 officers and soldiers after sacks were put on their heads by U.S. soldiers could make us forget those right things." Let me understand this. Turks are humiliated that "sacks were put on [the] heads" of this hit squad, captured in flagrante delicto??? They're lucky they didn't simply disappear from the face of the earth, never to be heard from again.

Probably, it was decided that they had more political value alive as proof of Turkey's perfidy, and the risk involved at that point was small. Since Turkey had committed an Act of War by crossing an international border to assassinate the governor of a foreign state [which was under American protection], I think it would have been far more interesting for the 11 to have been "disappeared." >Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was asked about anti-American sentiments. "Let's not focus on this but on making friends,..." Right! >"... Douglas Feith, the Undersecretary for Policy of the U.S. Department of Defense['s] ... insolent words implying, 'you will either terminate the anti-American atmosphere in Turkish public opinion, or we will consider you as a foe', it seems that our relations (with the US) are in a grave condition and there is need for an urgent treatment," Eksi added.

When push comes to shove, Doug Feith's "...insolent words implying, 'you will either terminate the anti-American atmosphere in Turkish public opinion, or we will consider you as a foe...," is going to be one heck of a lot closer to American public opinion than the second diplomat's: >"This is not a phenomenon isolated to Turkey, there is a anti-American sentiment elsewhere, too, largely because of the Iraq war. At least in Turkey you can run into people who completely disagree with our policies, but they offer you a cup of coffee and are willing to sit and chat about it." I believe that in a crunch, Americans are are not interested in sitting and chatting over coffee; that's a phenomenon exemplified by State and not Defense. Anyone [in Turkey or elsewhere] who foolishly believes they could lob a Nuke onto the US, depopulate an American Capitol like DC or NY for hundreds of years, and still have a country that was more than a glassy parking lot 48 hours later, is hallucinating. They had better pray, devoutly, that someone among their leadership with a modicum of intelligence, comes to his senses. mariana

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".