My Turkish friends, whose opinions (unlike my own) American policymakers should care about, are stewing! First, the plot line of 24 this season most implausibly involves Turkish terrorists plotting to do something terrible against the United States. Now, the WSJ's Robert L. Pollock has come out with an exasperated editorial against Turkey. One Turkish friend who was at a talk with me today by undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith says, the Turks see it as a message - the neoconservatives have turned against Turkey! And the Turks are fed up. Can the US afford to alienate the hearts and minds of one of the most dynamic and tolerant Islamic countries in the world? No, it really can't. But the Bush administration has made the formerly pro-American Turks deeply suspicious and paranoid about American intentions in the Middle East and pushed them closer to Europe -- again one of those counterintuitive goals that the Bush administration seems so apt to achieve, like putting Iraq in the hands of the the Iranian-backed political parties. Friday Update: Reading Pollock's editorial again this morning, it's clear his rant was intended to bolster Feith's message to the Turks on a recent visit there: Turkish political leaders and NGOs should be doing more to change the public discourse in Turkey in favor of the US-Turkish alliance and pro-American policies in general. From the reaction Turkish associates have to the editorial, it has failed to do anything but further infuriate. Maybe questioning why the policies have made the Bush administration so unpopular in Turkey would be a more instructive approach.

West Wing Too? Say it ain't so! A Turkish friends sends along this:

ERDOGAN CRITICIZES NBC’S WEST WING, ASKING DIPLOMATIC REACTION. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the weekend criticized the NBC series “West Wing” which in one of its episodes described Turkey as a country where women are beheaded as a punishment to adultery. Stating that such serials damaged the image of Turkey in the eyes of the world by giving incorrect information about the country, Erdogan asked Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Justice Minister Cemil Cicek to launch a diplomatic initiative on the issue. “Necessary judicial steps must be taken as soon as possible to correct this,” he added. “The Turkish Embassy in the US must be more active to denounce the series.” (Source: Milliyet)

So much for rallying public opinion in favor of the US-Turkish alliance, huh, Mr. Pollock?

Posted by Laura at February 17, 2005 10:20 PM