1. MarkDL said:

To me Rubin's piece reads like a press release from Demirel's camp.
It is full of the usual nostalgia sold in DC with a false view of US-Turkey relations that never in fact existed.

Rubin's staement: "Turkey remains an important ally of the United States despite recent bilateral tensions over the Iraq war and its aftermath," is frankly, a crock.

In fact, Turkey was a useful ally against the Soviet Union... it has NEVER been a useful, important, or friendly ally on any other front, including the Middle East.

During the time that Ankara was our ally they were the largest receipeint of US aid on the entire planet. Those funds went to the military and who were happy to gorge and who were extraodinarily disngenious when we needed their help in Iraq. I frankly prefer the French and Russians who said where they stood to the Turks who left our troops bobbing up and down i the med while they held out hteir palms for lucre. Even Erdogan's party was more straight up with us then the Turkish military and their "secularist" fronts.

I've spent about five years in Turkey. Half in the USAF and half as a contractor. I have many many Turkish friends. But Erdogan's party and movement is NOT the root issue with Turkey's failure to act as an ally, or for that matter growing anti-Americanism and Anti-Semitism.

These phenomena have been around for decades. We are just seeing them because our blinders are off.

2. BobW said:

Shalom Mark,

That's a great comment. It validated my suspicions. Turkey tried to enter the European Union at the same time there was a move in Turkey to criminalize adultry. Your material clarified the situation for me.

Kol tuv,
BobW

3. Emre Yigit said:

I agree with the previous poster in his comment that anti-Americanism has been around for decades and anti-Semitism for centuries. And, you know what, they'll continue to be around for decades more. It's a fact of life that some people will always be anti some other people. And so these things will always be with us, like the poor. You can try but never quite eradicate extreme forms of fear-induced idiocy. But is Turkey as a whole anti-American or anti-Semitic? Hmmm. Anti-Bush2 definitely. Anti-Israel possibly. Anti-American why ever for? Anti-Semitic, regrettably some few yes. What should we do? Shoot them? I'd like to, but wouldn't that make me too much like them?

But Rubin's comments are interesting because they are yet another example of what seems to be the obsession of current US thought with the future of Turkey. Honestly, sometimes there seem to be more articles discussing Turkey in the US (Will Turkey turn islamist? Will Turkey close down its parliament? Will Turkey turn shia? Will Turkey change its name? Will Turkey do this? Will Turkey do that?) than there are in Turkey. Which sort of makes sense. There are proportionately more articles about the US in Turkey than within the USA itself. :) But what is more interesting to me is the *sudden* increase in articles of this sort, which may stem of Turkey's (to some) "betrayal" of the US by not allowing the US to launch another front in attacking Iraq. To which - as a Turk who loves the US but gets annoyed when macho posturing goes on for too long - all I can say is, enough! A friend is not necessarily someone who agrees with you over everything, though personally I would rather that the Turks had pocketed the proferred financial inducement, and let US troops through.

On the main subject under discussion.... is Turkey's democracy on the outs, all I can say is, I'd really really really love to see Mr Erdoğan (or someone else of his ilk try).

Oh, and official figures suggest that over the years Israel, followed by Egypt, are the largest recipients of US largesse, far far ahead of any other country. See usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/trade/files/98-916.pdf for more info.

With respect to blinkers, I again agree with the previous poster. I believe quite a few Americans must have come to the conclusion that any action on their part would be met without the slightest demurral on the part of the Turks. The name for such a relationship is master-slave, and while such may be the fantasies of some neocons, I prefer my relationships vanilla. Which may the case for most Turks, amongst whom polls show Bush to be reviled - justly or injustly is another matter, but whoever is responsible for US PR these days ought to be strung up.