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An ally goes rogue
By Carl Cannon
Feb. 27, 2015
Several friends have recently visited Istanbul, which sounds like an
interesting place full of culture, history, good food and hospitable
people. I will not be visiting that bustling city of 14 million,
however, and may never go, because of this column you're reading now.
I won't be traveling to Istanbul or Turkey's capital of Ankara because
of the hypocrisy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the man elected president of
that nation last year. To be more precise, it's not because he's a
hypocrite, and likely a crook, not to mention obviously power-mad.
Eliminating countries where the heads of state exhibit those qualities
would restrict any world traveler. No, the reason is that attributing
such traits to Erdogan is now treated as a criminal offense in
Turkey--and the inside of a Turkish jail is not my idea of a holiday.
Turkish politics is not often foremost in Americans' minds, but that
might need to change. The average American may know that almost all
Turks are Muslims, and that the country is in NATO. They may or may
not know that Turkey's frightful losses in World War I, its genocide
against Armenians and its partial occupation after the war led to a
nationalist movement led by a World War I hero named Mustafa Kemal in
the early 1920s.
This movement swept away the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Kemal,
later officially re-named Kemal Ataturk--`father of the
Turks'--shuttered the caliphate, dissolved religious courts, codified
political rights for women, secularized the schools and switched his
country from the Arabic to Latin alphabet.
Turkey remained neutral in World War II, but not in the Cold War. It
was a dependable U.S. ally and a European buffer with the Soviet
empire. The collapse of the Soviet Union and rise of pan-Islamic
politics led to the rise of another Turkish political movement, one
both populist and Islamic. German-educated Necmettin Erbakan emerged
as its leader. He became Turkey's first Islamist prime minister in
1996, but the military dissolved his government after a year.
By that time, his protégé, Recep Erdogan, had been elected mayor of
Istanbul in a crowded field. Despite fears that he'd seek to impose
religious rule, Erdogan governed pragmatically. It seems now that he
was only biding his time, but the signs were always there: He
pronounced himself Istanbul's `imam,' and said revealingly, `Democracy
is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.'
In December of 1997, Erdogan was arrested for taunting higher
authorities by reciting a religious poem, which he followed with a
fiery speech threatening anyone who tried to quell public displays of
religion in Turkey with a `fiery volcano.' He was arrested, as he
half-expected, but when he was marched off to prison thousands of
Turks--many of them secularists who supported free speech--marched
with him.
After getting out of prison, he ran successfully for office again,
this time in national elections. His party won in 2002, making him
prime minister. Last year, he ran for president, heretofore a neutral
and largely ceremonial position. Erdogan has different ideas: He's
begun to talk openly of turning the job into something akin to a
monarchy. He has the house for it: Last year, he unveiled an ornate
new presidential palace on Ankara's outskirts that he made a point of
noting is bigger than Buckingham Palace. Such moves have made Turks
with democratic impulses uneasy. So has Erdogan's reputation for
corruption. Police investigations into his business dealings resulted
in the December 2013 leaking of a tape--uploaded to YouTube--in which
Erdogan is heard instructing his son on how to hide tens of millions
of dollars.
Additional recordings revealed that Erdogan interfered in judicial
cases, ordered media outlets to run stories supportive of the
administration while muzzling the opposition and approved leaking a
sex video featuring a political opponent.
His administration's response was what you might expect: blaming the
entire mess on a plot involving Israel and the United States, the mass
firings of cops and shutting down the Internet. In a speech, Erdogan
vowed to `rip out the roots of Twitter.'
This kind of thuggery has continued unabated. In his 2014 presidential
campaign, Erdogan repeatedly attacked Israel as having `surpassed
Hitler in barbarism.' After winning, his government orchestrated the
mass arrests of 23 journalists and writers in a single day. Among
those facing trial are the editor of Turkey's largest circulating
newspaper, the chairman of a respected broadcasting company, several
popular columnists and six screenwriters.
The revenge prosecutions continue. On Wednesday, the chief
prosecutor's office in Ankara issued warrants for the arrest of 54
police officials on charges of wire-tapping the president. They've
also issued an arrest warrant, on unspecified charges, for Fethullah
Gulen, a Muslim cleric and former Erdogan ally who has been living in
exile in Pennsylvania for a decade. Erdogan evidently blames Gulen for
stirring up this corruption stuff. Like me, I guess he won't be
traveling to Turkey anytime soon, either.
Perhaps the pinnacle of Erdogan's pettiness (I hope he doesn't also
make alliteration a crime) came last week when one of his lawyers
lodged a complaint with prosecutors against Merve Buyuksarac, a model
who was Miss Turkey in 2006. Her crime? She posted a poem on Instagram
from a satiric magazine that may or may not have suggested Erdogan is
a master thief. The prosecutor is seeking a term of four years in
prison.
It turns out that Erdogan did not tear the roots out of Twitter.
Instead, his henchmen patrol the country's social media for evidence
that private citizens are criticizing them. Turkey has always been an
uneasy democracy. Soon, they won't even have the pretense. Erdogan
seems determined to lead his nation off the `streetcar.'
A France-based human rights group, Reporters Without Borders, says
that Turkey's Press Freedom Index has steadily declined during
Erdogan's dozen years in power. It was 99th in 2002; it now ranks
154th, putting it behind such bulwarks of liberty as Russia and Iraq.
It has been a source of surprise in the U.S. why Turkey hasn't done
more militarily to combat ISIS barbarism, which is taking place within
easy striking distance of the Turkish military. Perhaps it shouldn't
be. Perhaps, too, Americans should ask themselves if this is a
government worthy of being called a U.S. ally.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/erdogan-652626-turkey-war.html
By Carl Cannon
Feb. 27, 2015
Several friends have recently visited Istanbul, which sounds like an
interesting place full of culture, history, good food and hospitable
people. I will not be visiting that bustling city of 14 million,
however, and may never go, because of this column you're reading now.
I won't be traveling to Istanbul or Turkey's capital of Ankara because
of the hypocrisy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the man elected president of
that nation last year. To be more precise, it's not because he's a
hypocrite, and likely a crook, not to mention obviously power-mad.
Eliminating countries where the heads of state exhibit those qualities
would restrict any world traveler. No, the reason is that attributing
such traits to Erdogan is now treated as a criminal offense in
Turkey--and the inside of a Turkish jail is not my idea of a holiday.
Turkish politics is not often foremost in Americans' minds, but that
might need to change. The average American may know that almost all
Turks are Muslims, and that the country is in NATO. They may or may
not know that Turkey's frightful losses in World War I, its genocide
against Armenians and its partial occupation after the war led to a
nationalist movement led by a World War I hero named Mustafa Kemal in
the early 1920s.
This movement swept away the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Kemal,
later officially re-named Kemal Ataturk--`father of the
Turks'--shuttered the caliphate, dissolved religious courts, codified
political rights for women, secularized the schools and switched his
country from the Arabic to Latin alphabet.
Turkey remained neutral in World War II, but not in the Cold War. It
was a dependable U.S. ally and a European buffer with the Soviet
empire. The collapse of the Soviet Union and rise of pan-Islamic
politics led to the rise of another Turkish political movement, one
both populist and Islamic. German-educated Necmettin Erbakan emerged
as its leader. He became Turkey's first Islamist prime minister in
1996, but the military dissolved his government after a year.
By that time, his protégé, Recep Erdogan, had been elected mayor of
Istanbul in a crowded field. Despite fears that he'd seek to impose
religious rule, Erdogan governed pragmatically. It seems now that he
was only biding his time, but the signs were always there: He
pronounced himself Istanbul's `imam,' and said revealingly, `Democracy
is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.'
In December of 1997, Erdogan was arrested for taunting higher
authorities by reciting a religious poem, which he followed with a
fiery speech threatening anyone who tried to quell public displays of
religion in Turkey with a `fiery volcano.' He was arrested, as he
half-expected, but when he was marched off to prison thousands of
Turks--many of them secularists who supported free speech--marched
with him.
After getting out of prison, he ran successfully for office again,
this time in national elections. His party won in 2002, making him
prime minister. Last year, he ran for president, heretofore a neutral
and largely ceremonial position. Erdogan has different ideas: He's
begun to talk openly of turning the job into something akin to a
monarchy. He has the house for it: Last year, he unveiled an ornate
new presidential palace on Ankara's outskirts that he made a point of
noting is bigger than Buckingham Palace. Such moves have made Turks
with democratic impulses uneasy. So has Erdogan's reputation for
corruption. Police investigations into his business dealings resulted
in the December 2013 leaking of a tape--uploaded to YouTube--in which
Erdogan is heard instructing his son on how to hide tens of millions
of dollars.
Additional recordings revealed that Erdogan interfered in judicial
cases, ordered media outlets to run stories supportive of the
administration while muzzling the opposition and approved leaking a
sex video featuring a political opponent.
His administration's response was what you might expect: blaming the
entire mess on a plot involving Israel and the United States, the mass
firings of cops and shutting down the Internet. In a speech, Erdogan
vowed to `rip out the roots of Twitter.'
This kind of thuggery has continued unabated. In his 2014 presidential
campaign, Erdogan repeatedly attacked Israel as having `surpassed
Hitler in barbarism.' After winning, his government orchestrated the
mass arrests of 23 journalists and writers in a single day. Among
those facing trial are the editor of Turkey's largest circulating
newspaper, the chairman of a respected broadcasting company, several
popular columnists and six screenwriters.
The revenge prosecutions continue. On Wednesday, the chief
prosecutor's office in Ankara issued warrants for the arrest of 54
police officials on charges of wire-tapping the president. They've
also issued an arrest warrant, on unspecified charges, for Fethullah
Gulen, a Muslim cleric and former Erdogan ally who has been living in
exile in Pennsylvania for a decade. Erdogan evidently blames Gulen for
stirring up this corruption stuff. Like me, I guess he won't be
traveling to Turkey anytime soon, either.
Perhaps the pinnacle of Erdogan's pettiness (I hope he doesn't also
make alliteration a crime) came last week when one of his lawyers
lodged a complaint with prosecutors against Merve Buyuksarac, a model
who was Miss Turkey in 2006. Her crime? She posted a poem on Instagram
from a satiric magazine that may or may not have suggested Erdogan is
a master thief. The prosecutor is seeking a term of four years in
prison.
It turns out that Erdogan did not tear the roots out of Twitter.
Instead, his henchmen patrol the country's social media for evidence
that private citizens are criticizing them. Turkey has always been an
uneasy democracy. Soon, they won't even have the pretense. Erdogan
seems determined to lead his nation off the `streetcar.'
A France-based human rights group, Reporters Without Borders, says
that Turkey's Press Freedom Index has steadily declined during
Erdogan's dozen years in power. It was 99th in 2002; it now ranks
154th, putting it behind such bulwarks of liberty as Russia and Iraq.
It has been a source of surprise in the U.S. why Turkey hasn't done
more militarily to combat ISIS barbarism, which is taking place within
easy striking distance of the Turkish military. Perhaps it shouldn't
be. Perhaps, too, Americans should ask themselves if this is a
government worthy of being called a U.S. ally.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/erdogan-652626-turkey-war.html