Erdogan playing on Turkish hate
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recip Erdogan's reaction to the flotilla of fools is playing on deep-seeded hatred that Turks hold for Jews (and not 'just Israel,' but Jews). Turks similarly resent Christians and Americans, according to Steve Rosen. All of which has to make you wonder why they thought they would fit in to the EU in the first place. Could it be that there is something more to Mr. Erdogan's rage against Israel than just a spontaneous reaction to the loss of life here?Why the World insists on sucking up to this regime is puzzling. But those attitudes ought to give the EU and NATO second thoughts about associating with the Turks.
Turkish elections, 13 months away, hold the answer. Backing for Mr. Erdogan's party has fallen to 29%, the lowest level since it won power in 2002 and far below the 47% it scored in July 2007. So Mr. Erdogan decided to play the Israel Card.
He tested this tactic in January 2009, in a confrontation with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Davos. Mr. Peres asked him in front of the cameras: "What would you do if you were to have in Istanbul every night a hundred rockets?" Mr. Erdogan shot back, "When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill." Thousands of Turks applauded Mr. Erdogan's performance, greeting him with a hero's welcome and a sea of Turkish and Palestinian flags upon his return home to Ataturk Airport.
Mr. Erdogan's anger at the Israeli blockade is even more popular among his countrymen. In fact, 61% of Turks surveyed in one poll did not find his rage sufficient. "The public is in such a state that they almost want war against Israel," the pollster commented. "I think this is widespread in almost all levels of society." Mr. Erdogan has become a hero in the Muslim world, where he is seen as the "new Nasser," in the words of one Saudi writer.
The truth is that friendship toward Israel was always limited to the Turkish secular elites, including the military chiefs. Turkey is fertile ground for Mr. Erdogan's demagoguery because many ordinary people are raised to dislike Israel and—dare it be said—Jews. In April 2010, the BBC World Service Poll found negative views of Israel among 77% of Turks.
Jews as a people fare no better than the Jewish state. In the 2009 Pew Global Attitudes survey, 73% of Turks rated their opinions of Jews as "negative." Meanwhile, 68% of Turks rated their opinions of Christians as "negative."
Turks don't like the United States much more than they do Israel. The same BBC poll found negative views of the U.S. among 70% of Turks, one of only two countries where perceptions of the United States actually worsened after the election of Barack Obama (positives fell to 13% from 21%, and negatives increased to 70% from 63%).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:22 AM
4 Comments:
I don't want turkey in the european uninon. (period) Their union is with the others. I could not amagine from the beginning the european even talking about it if we are to be european let's keep it that way and not step out of bounds...
"When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill."
This is exactly the kind of comment that apparently was not responded to. The Turks are pretty good at killing unarmed people. This should have been mentioned.
It's too late to redo that encounter, but no comment by Ergodan attacking Israel should be allowed to pass.
Islamist Turkey is not going to be invited to join the European Union any time soon. Why would Christian Europe, which is already diluted with millions of Muslims, want to add 80 million more of them to its club? Turkey's membership in NATO should be revisited also.
"All of which has to make you wonder why they thought they would fit in to the EU in the first place."
Sounds like they would fit right in to me Carl!
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