This Vegan Has Loved Turkey Since 1969

As an American of Jewish heritage I get frightened at the way Rick Perry pronounces "Israel." But just try to imagine how the 160,000 Turkish-Americans we have in this country (mostly in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois) are feeling today. We'll get to how the American ambassador in Ankara is feeling in a moment.

One of the largest coalitions of Turkish-Americans has condemned what it said “uninformed comments” about Turkey by US Republican contender Rick Perry during Monday night's debate ahead of South Carolina primaries.

Perry drew Turkey's ire on Tuesday after suggesting the country is ruled by Islamic terrorists and questioning its NATO membership.

Perry, the Texas governor whose candidacy briefly soared when he entered the race in August but whose shine faded after a series of weak debate performances, said Turkey was ruled by "what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists" and questioned the country's NATO membership.

...The Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) said Perry offended Turkish-Americans by insulting Turkey's democratically elected government officials and threatening Turkey’s membership in NATO.

In a statement released by its president Lincoln McCurdy, TCA said it respectfully requests that Perry apologize for “his divisive and uneducated remarks.”

“Turkey is one of the largest contributors of support to US efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, including providing the second-largest NATO army on the ground, leading the NATO troops in Afghanistan three times, and providing over 70 percent of the international logistics support to US troops in Iraq,” McCurdy said.

He said the “level of ignorance” shown by the governor of such an important state as Texas is “appalling.”

...Turkey’s ambassador added that his country is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the US and whether in the fight against terrorism or violent extremism, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, “we stand side by side to tackle the many common threats and challenges of our times."

The first time I went to Turkey I was barely out of my teens, driving a VW van from London to India. I fell in love with Turkish hospitality, culture, food and, most of all, the wonderful, friendly, honest people. I spent time in Istanbul, but for a couple months I drove from one small village to another all through Anatolia. And I was always blown away by the generosity and sincerity of the people I met. Once we left Istanbul, no one in my party ever spent a night in a hotel for the whole two months in the country. I've been back a dozen times. I was absolutely mortified when I heard Rick Perry's idiotic answer (video above) to a pretty stupid question to begin with. My first thought was, how was the U.S. ambassador in Ankara going to explain Rick Perry to the Turkish foreign minister the next day? "Oh, he isn't a serious candidate for president"? "All the talk about him being the commander-in-chief of the Texas military is just a little joke"?

Frank Ricciardone is a professional career diplomat who previously served as ambassador to Egypt and the Philippines and as deputy ambassador to Afghanistan. He went to Dartmouth with Ken and speaks fluent Turkish as well as Arabic. He was confirmed as ambassador to Egypt when Bush appointed him, but Republican obstructionists in the Senate refused to confirm him for his Turkish post because he was nominated by President Obama. Obama ignored them and gave him a recess appointment. I have faith in his diplomatic skills, even if these crazy GOP debates are stressing out the whole U.S. diplomatic corps. And don't think the Turkish government wasn't pissed off.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry released a scathing statement saying Perry's comments were "baseless and inappropriate" and that the U.S. has no time to waste with candidates "who do not even know their allies."

..."Turkey joined NATO while the governor was still 2-years old," the statement said. "It is a member that has made important contributions to the trans-Atlantic alliance's conflict-full history. It is among countries that are at the front lines in the fight against terrorism."

Turkey has been ruled by a government led by pious Muslims since 2002. Although its ties with Israel have deteriorated, the government has maintained close ties with the West while seeking to represent the views of the Muslim world.

Most recently, Turkey began to host NATO's early warning radar system as part of NATO's missile defense system, which is capable of countering ballistic missile threats from Iran.

And while the United States recently deployed four Predator drones to Turkey from Iraq to aid Ankara in its fight against the autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels, Turkey does not receive U.S. foreign aid.

The Turkish statement said Turkey's leaders were "personalities respected not only in the United States, but in our region and in the world and whose opinions are strongly relied on."

I wonder if Ricciardone helped him write it. Reaction from the lively Turkish press was less diplomatic.

"Rick Perry: what an idiot," was the reaction from top Turkish Hurriyet Daily News columnist Mustafa Akyol on Twitter, according to CNN's Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert.

Turkey's main state broadcaster TRT added, "The debate that the Republican candidate Rick Perry attended on American Fox TV turned into a scandal that contained very ugly statements about Turkey," also according to CNN.

Just horrible to think that these proud and sensitive people have come under attack so some pathetic Know Nothing running a moronic and pointless vanity campaign can try to score political points in front of an audience even stupider and more ignorant than he is.