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TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO U.S. DISLIKES ERDOGAN'S POLICY?
PanARMENIAN.Net
October 27, 2011 - 10:52 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier
said he received a revealing message last week from Benjamin Yafet,
a Turkish Jew who had immigrated to the United States in 1976.
He is a retired professor and high tech entrepreneur in Arizona.
"Prof. Yafet disclosed that in recent years he has been transformed
from a staunch supporter of Turkey to an anti-Turkish crusader. He
explained that he was "disgusted" with Turkey when Hitler's Mein
Kampf became a bestseller in that country. Since then, he has had
"1001 reasons" for being totally "fed up" with Turkey's hypocritical
policies. In fact, he was so disgusted that he informed Ankara that
he was renouncing his Turkish citizenship," Sassounian writes in his
column titled "The Unmasking of Namik Tan, Turkey's Ambassador to
the U. S."
The article continues: "In his e-mail, Prof. Yafet enclosed a 1998
New York Times editorial titled, "Turkey's Destructive Generals." The
editorial harshly criticized the generals for imprisoning Recep
Erdogan, then Mayor of Istanbul, and now Prime Minister of Turkey.
Mayor Erdogan was forced out of office for reciting an Islamic poem!
The Times' editors were displeased with "Turkey's politically
meddlesome" and autocratic generals who muzzled free speech, closed
down Islamic schools, and arrested businessmen who were financing
Islamist politicians.
As a loyal supporter of Turkey, Prof. Yafet sent a scathing letter
to the Times, defending the draconian measures taken by the military
junta against the Islamic Welfare (Refah) Party, the predecessor of
Erdogan's Justice and Development (AKP) Party.
Prof. Yafet then mailed a copy of that letter to the Turkish Embassy
in Washington, proudly notifying them of his "good work" on behalf of
his native land. Within days, he received a letter of appreciation
from Namik Tan, then "Counselor and Embassy Spokesperson," and now
Ambassador of Turkey to the United States. Counselor Tan praised Prof.
Yafet, stating that his "rebuttal was an astute, lucid and rational
argument, which handled the issues with profound insight and
understanding and corresponded, in many aspects, to how we also
approach the subject."
A close reading of Prof. Yafet's letter to the Times reveals why
Counselor Namik Tan had offered to him such lavish praise. Likening
Erdogan's ideology to that of the Nazis, Prof. Yafet accused his
political party of "preaching the end of democracy itself" aiming
"to replace it by an Islamic theocracy." He went on to explain that
"a careful reading of the party program does exhibit an agenda that is
a carbon copy of the reactionary Iranian Ayatollah's ideology. A direct
application of the party doctrines would deprive Turkish women of their
hardly acquired civil rights and they would first lose their right of
NOT wearing the chador (veil). The Welfare Party was totalitarian in
essence, racist and anti-Semitic in philosophy, and anti-democratic by
definition. This list does not even include the worldwide implication
of the foreign policy they wanted to impose on Turkey."
In concluding his letter, Prof. Yafet warned that the Islamic Party
would withdraw Turkey from NATO, close down U.S. bases, threaten
Israel, side with Libya, Iran, and Sudan, and support Hamas and
Hizballah. Prof. Yafet went as far as asking the Times' editors to
apologize to the Turkish generals!
In his last week's e-mail, Prof. Yafet found it ironic that the same
Namik Tan who had thanked him for his anti-Erdogan letter back in 1998
is now representing an Islamist government that he so passionately
despised only a dozen years ago.
It is truly amazing that the Turkish government would send to
Washington in 2010 an Ambassador who had opposed Erdogan's Islamist
party and supported the generals who had imprisoned him. While it is
understandable that Erdogan himself may have not been aware of Mr.
Tan's 1998 letter, it is highly unlikely that his superiors at the
Foreign Ministry were unaware of his pro-military and anti-democratic
views. After all, Mr. Tan has been a career diplomat since 1982 and
served as Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in Ankara prior to his ambassadorial assignment in Washington.
It remains to be seen how the Prime Minister would react to the
unmasking of Amb. Tan. Erdogan may decide to castigate Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu for appointing an Ambassador with such anti-Islamist
views to represent the AKP government in the United States.
Indeed, Amb. Tan may face the same premature exit from Washington as
his predecessor, Amb. Nabi Sensoy, who was forced out in 2009 after
an argument with Foreign Minister Davutoglu."
From: A. Papazian
PanARMENIAN.Net
October 27, 2011 - 10:52 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier
said he received a revealing message last week from Benjamin Yafet,
a Turkish Jew who had immigrated to the United States in 1976.
He is a retired professor and high tech entrepreneur in Arizona.
"Prof. Yafet disclosed that in recent years he has been transformed
from a staunch supporter of Turkey to an anti-Turkish crusader. He
explained that he was "disgusted" with Turkey when Hitler's Mein
Kampf became a bestseller in that country. Since then, he has had
"1001 reasons" for being totally "fed up" with Turkey's hypocritical
policies. In fact, he was so disgusted that he informed Ankara that
he was renouncing his Turkish citizenship," Sassounian writes in his
column titled "The Unmasking of Namik Tan, Turkey's Ambassador to
the U. S."
The article continues: "In his e-mail, Prof. Yafet enclosed a 1998
New York Times editorial titled, "Turkey's Destructive Generals." The
editorial harshly criticized the generals for imprisoning Recep
Erdogan, then Mayor of Istanbul, and now Prime Minister of Turkey.
Mayor Erdogan was forced out of office for reciting an Islamic poem!
The Times' editors were displeased with "Turkey's politically
meddlesome" and autocratic generals who muzzled free speech, closed
down Islamic schools, and arrested businessmen who were financing
Islamist politicians.
As a loyal supporter of Turkey, Prof. Yafet sent a scathing letter
to the Times, defending the draconian measures taken by the military
junta against the Islamic Welfare (Refah) Party, the predecessor of
Erdogan's Justice and Development (AKP) Party.
Prof. Yafet then mailed a copy of that letter to the Turkish Embassy
in Washington, proudly notifying them of his "good work" on behalf of
his native land. Within days, he received a letter of appreciation
from Namik Tan, then "Counselor and Embassy Spokesperson," and now
Ambassador of Turkey to the United States. Counselor Tan praised Prof.
Yafet, stating that his "rebuttal was an astute, lucid and rational
argument, which handled the issues with profound insight and
understanding and corresponded, in many aspects, to how we also
approach the subject."
A close reading of Prof. Yafet's letter to the Times reveals why
Counselor Namik Tan had offered to him such lavish praise. Likening
Erdogan's ideology to that of the Nazis, Prof. Yafet accused his
political party of "preaching the end of democracy itself" aiming
"to replace it by an Islamic theocracy." He went on to explain that
"a careful reading of the party program does exhibit an agenda that is
a carbon copy of the reactionary Iranian Ayatollah's ideology. A direct
application of the party doctrines would deprive Turkish women of their
hardly acquired civil rights and they would first lose their right of
NOT wearing the chador (veil). The Welfare Party was totalitarian in
essence, racist and anti-Semitic in philosophy, and anti-democratic by
definition. This list does not even include the worldwide implication
of the foreign policy they wanted to impose on Turkey."
In concluding his letter, Prof. Yafet warned that the Islamic Party
would withdraw Turkey from NATO, close down U.S. bases, threaten
Israel, side with Libya, Iran, and Sudan, and support Hamas and
Hizballah. Prof. Yafet went as far as asking the Times' editors to
apologize to the Turkish generals!
In his last week's e-mail, Prof. Yafet found it ironic that the same
Namik Tan who had thanked him for his anti-Erdogan letter back in 1998
is now representing an Islamist government that he so passionately
despised only a dozen years ago.
It is truly amazing that the Turkish government would send to
Washington in 2010 an Ambassador who had opposed Erdogan's Islamist
party and supported the generals who had imprisoned him. While it is
understandable that Erdogan himself may have not been aware of Mr.
Tan's 1998 letter, it is highly unlikely that his superiors at the
Foreign Ministry were unaware of his pro-military and anti-democratic
views. After all, Mr. Tan has been a career diplomat since 1982 and
served as Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in Ankara prior to his ambassadorial assignment in Washington.
It remains to be seen how the Prime Minister would react to the
unmasking of Amb. Tan. Erdogan may decide to castigate Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu for appointing an Ambassador with such anti-Islamist
views to represent the AKP government in the United States.
Indeed, Amb. Tan may face the same premature exit from Washington as
his predecessor, Amb. Nabi Sensoy, who was forced out in 2009 after
an argument with Foreign Minister Davutoglu."
From: A. Papazian