Turkey:The Most Anti-American Nation

I think it is time to cut off aid to turkey. They are not our friends and committed genocide against Armenians and created the Balkan mess. They don’t like us, why should we stay allied with them. I saw let’s get closer with Greece and Serbia. Also Turkey occupies Northern Cyprus. Why is the media silent on this occupation?

The Most Anti-American Nation

Since the AKP assumed power in 2002, Turks have heard nothing positive about the West from their leaders.

Soner Cagaptay

NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Nov 24, 2008

Dear President-Elect Obama: As you take office, I am enthusiastically watching your desire to win hearts and minds around the world. But I am concerned in particular about Turkey. This nation is the embodiment of what the United States and the West want to achieve around the world. It is predominantly Muslim, yet Western and democratic. But the Turks are vehemently anti-American, so much so that they consistently rank in polls as the most anti-American country in the world. According to the Pew Center’s latest poll, only 12 percent of the Turks like the United States—fewer, even, than the percentage of Pakistanis. Obamania in Turkey will help you change America’s image, but given the dismal numbers, I am afraid that might not be enough. Despite the close cooperation with the United States on Iraq, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has taken the easy way, bashing America at home in an attempt to boost its own popularity. But you should not ignore Turkey. Because of its strategic location, Turkey is a key partner to the United States in tackling many foreign-policy challenges. You will need Turkish support and the Turkish base at Incirlik to achieve many of your goals, such as withdrawing troops from Iraq.

So allow me to make some suggestions on tackling anti-Americanism in Turkey. First, do not dismiss the AKP’s rhetoric as benign domestic politicking. While an anti-Western statement by a Danish politician could be dismissed as “crazy,” and the same statement by an Egyptian might be considered “normal,” Turkey is neither Denmark nor Egypt. This is the rare country in which anti-Western statements actually matter because they help shape people’s identity. Since the AKP assumed power in 2002, the Turks have not heard anything positive about the West from their leadership. In fact, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often lambasted the West, suggesting, for instance, that “the West uses terrorism to sell Turkey weapons” or that “Turkey has borrowed only immoral stuff from the West.”

Read the rest here.

Saudi Clerics Issuing Death Fatwas for TV Producers

Saudi clerics are raging and seething about the Turkish soap operas (dubbed into Arabic) that are becoming very popular in the religious apartheid kingdom, and calling for people to be killed.

“If they continue airing depravity and shamelessness they should be banished from this place and others brought in their place,” senior Saudi cleric Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan said in comments published Sunday, referring to TV executives.

He suggested purveyors of horoscopes and “sorcery” should face the death penalty, and head of the Islamic sharia courts Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan said last week channel owners should be tried and face possible death for “indecency and vulgarity.”

Arab TV producers aren’t laughing.

They’re not laughing because they know these aren’t idle threats. But there’s an interesting note of hope in this story:

One TV official who did not want to be named said religious conservatives could not push back the tide in Arab entertainment television, which already pays attention to social and religious mores. “You can’t put the consumer back in the box,” he said.

Statistics compiled for MBC indicate that one episode of Turkish soap “Noor” reached an audience of 85 million, half of whom were women, in early August. There are around 300 million Arabic-speakers throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

Long live the idiot box!

(Hat tip:Nancy@LGF)