He basically said Turkey is ruled by Islamic terrorists and that they should have no part in NATO, nor receive any U.S. Foreign Aid.
That’s three strikes right there, fuckwit. Time to head back to Texas, where that sort of stupidity doesn’t get noticed.
I love their hypothetical description of the poor schlub at the State Department who had to field the Turkish Ambassador’s complaint:
I didn’t watch the whole debate, but I did catch that little gem. He’ll be gone after the SC primary.
Hopefully the Turks will see this for what it is, a fringe candidate with no chance of winning saying some dumb shit to get himself back into the news cycle.
…longstanding Governor of our second largest state. He’s not that “fringe”, though I agree he has no chance of being the GOP nominee for Prez.
Turkey’s ambassador to the US responds
[QUOTE=Namik Tan, Turkey’s Ambassador to the United States]
“I am disappointed and concerned that Turkey and its time-tested ties of alliance, partnership and friendship with the United States became the object of misplaced and ill-advised criticism during last night’s Republican candidates’ debate. Needless to say, the Turkey described in the debate simply does not exist.
“Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the U.S. Our bilateral relations are based on the common values of democracy and respect for human rights, rule of law, and free market economy. Whether in the fight against terrorism or violent extremism, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or against the proliferation of WMD, we stand side by side to tackle the many common threats and challenges of our times. Through NATO and bilaterally, Turkey and the U.S. will continue to cooperate day in day out to establish peace, security and prosperity around the world. Contrary to statements during the debate, Turkey receives no significant sums of foreign aid dollars from the U.S. Indeed, Turkey is a strong and growing trading partner with the U.S. in general, and with Texas in particular creating thousands of jobs throughout that state.
“Turkey is obviously not the same country that Governor Perry visited in the 1970s. As an accession country to the European Union and a founding member of the Council of Europe, Turkey has been continuously reviewing and enhancing the rights of all its citizens irrespective of their ethnic or religious background. Moreover, Turkey is now the 16th largest economy in the world, and the 6th biggest economy in Europe enjoying one of the most robust growth rates in its region and beyond. Its democratic standards, its economic strength, and its secular nature make Turkey an inspiration at a time when the Middle East and North Africa are undergoing a major transformation.
“While it was unfortunate, we do hope this episode in last night’s debate leads to a better informed foreign policy discussion among the Republican Party candidates, one where long-standing allies are treated with respect not disdain.”
[/QUOTE]
That was a dignified response. What Governor Perry said was a disgrace: he owes Turkey and his fellow US citizenry an apology. And any pundit who loaded plaudits on both Palin and Perry should provide an explanation or be summarily kicked to the curb.
I’m amazed that he’s still around, even. It seems like ages ago that he was on the cover of Time as a viable nominee. Now, however, someone should just put him out of our misery.
“Mr. Ambassador, do you have idiots in your country?”
Perry will be out by this time next week. South Carolina was a last-ditch thing and he never had a shot there anyway.
While it is true that Turkey has increasingly been breaking away from its great Kemalist tradition of secularism and has increasingly been antagonistic to Israel, such extreme comments are uncalled for especially by a man seeking to be President.
Yes, we do, sir, but none of them is running for president!
Actually, it would surprise me if Turkey didn’t have idiot firebrands running for president. Btu we’re the big dog, and we make headlines. They don’t.
Man, don’t antagonize the Turks. They’ve always had our backs when we needed them. 15,000 Turks fought in the Korean War just because they were asked nicely, and they allowed us to put all the bases and missile stations we wanted there. Still do, in fact.
I’m gonna go blast some Mehteran music in tribute to them.
Which reminds me of the Turkish embassy’s serious contributions to jazz music.
What do these two things have to do with each other, please? You don’t have to be religious to be a bit cross with Israel’s government at the moment, especially from Turkey’s perspective.
Too many people fall into the trap of equating a Muslim majority with being a terrorist nation. To have such a simplistic worldview is simply incompatible with being qualified for the presidency. Perry is nothing more than Palin in flats.
He was probably referring to the Turkish government’s “support” of Hamas. And I use the term loosely, not in the material sense but in the diplomatic sense. The US considers Hamas to be a terror group.
I doubt that his thought process is that complicated. It’s more like “Grrr.. Muslims! Muslims Terrorists!”
I don’t think so. His support for his statement was that the putative terrorist rulers of Turkey were “targeting their own citizens”. I don’t really see how that squares with being about Hamas.
Granted trying to parse out “what Perry is thinking” about any given topic is kind of a pointless exercise anyways.
My wife and I sat with jaws dropped listening to that idiot talk about it with Wolfe Blitzer last night. His willful ignorance simply defies belief.
Au contraire, while I sure as hell never voted for that dumbass, land grabbin, child innoculating, chicked fried dipshit, I think everyone’s eyes, even those of his aggie base, have been opened now. This lead tongued jackass needs to go crawl back under that racist rock waiting for him at the deer lease.
That was only part of it. Here’s the transcript:
A muddled response, to be sure, but the question explicitly contained a reference to Hamas. He seems to be saying that country is ruled by what could be considered terrorists, and they are not targeting their own people. That is, the terrorist designation came first.
So Perry took the bait, without questioning the characterization of the “embracing” relationship of Turkey to Hamas (which is certainly arguable). I am sure that was intentional on Blitzer’s part, and Perry stepped in it. He is unfit for the presidency, if for no other reason than this demonstrates he can be easily manipulated.