http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AzsIRz2a1I&feature=player_detailpage#t=570s As you see, the situation is dead serious. The video is filmed by a Kurdish guerilla on May 9, 2008 - while PKK was killing so many Turkish soldiers.
Albert, you made me smile. I like your way of thinking. It's absurdly simple, you don't have to deal with complicated world politics to make a conclusion on what is going on in the world. But in case you're really interested, the source is PKK itself. You can easily confirm this through PKK's websites. And what does this thread have to with Turkish-American friendship. LOL again. For the record, Turkey has quite a lot of friends in the US. But you seem to not like Turkey. That's all.
I'm sort of like a scorned lover. Hell hath no fury......... I was a friend of Kemalist Turkey, but that phase of Turkish history is over now. Today Turkey runs a current account deficit and has become the creature of Saudi Arabia and unreliable as far as America is concerned. Our interests just don't coincide any more. I am quite serious about Turkey's lack of friends in America. There is no constituency in America for Turkey like the Greeks and Armenians have. It was only people like me who argued on Turkey's behalf. But the past can't be restored. I would appreciate it if you would answer one question for me. Why does Turkey remain in NATO when it no longer has any interests in common with the West? Pipelines across Turkey no longer matter to American conservatives. The world has changed. In the same way Turkish membership in NATO is an anomaly in the present era. It's interesting to see how geopolitical forces play out isn't it? In any event, the Kurds, Cypriots and Armenians aren't going away are they? I have one more question while I'm in this subforum. Do you think Turkey will initiate a nuclear weapons program after the Iranians get the bomb?
This is super off topic. But I am going to answer this anyway. First off, I like American people, they are great nation. But at the same time so many Americans are far from being conscious of what's really going on in the world, which is, sometimes, a good thing. So,the vast majority of the American people probably don't even know that there's a country called Turkey in the world. Tiny portion of the population that heard Turkey probably don't know where it is and what Turks are like, even when they learned something about Turkey, they got it wrong because they don't really care. So, saying that Turkey has no friends in the US makes no sense at all. There are some people in the US who know Turkey really well though. Many of them work in the Pentagon, If you want to know. And they are the friends of Turkey. Look at you, you are attending an international discussion board and you are supposed to know something about Turkey, at least you heard Kemalism, but still you're so clueless about what's happening in the ME and Turkey. And as a side note, you should realise that you're not the US government. So please stop acting like you were the spokesman of the US state department. So It's you who think that Turkey is unreliable and "our interests just don't coincide any more." Not the Government. And what makes you think so is just because of the lack of valid information. As for the NATO issue, again, It's you or any misguided person who think that "Turkey has no any interest in common with the West." Not NATO and not Turkey. So chances are that you just can't understand the whole thing. Turkey is not becoming Islamist, Turkey just looks like Islamist to dominate the ME. AKP is not Islamist party, it's a conservative party similar to the Christian democrats of Europe, in fact AKP is an observer member of the Christian democrats of Europe, as I said thousands times before. Turkey has not become the creature of Saudi Arabia, Turkey is more powerful than Saudi Arabia, and Erdogan is more powerful than the King, for God's sake! As for the Iranian Nuclear plan, again, you have no idea about the ME politics. Turkey and Iran are not rival countries in the region. Iran focuses on the gulf and threats the Saudis. What's more Turkey's industry is relied heavily on the Iranian gas! One more note: Historically there has been no tension between Turkey and Iran for centuries. About 20 million Turks live in Iran. And the last but not the least Turkish NATO bases have enough nuclear bomb to wipe out Tehran from the map entirely. Since the early days of the Cold war.
It doesn't matter what bureaucrats in the Pentagon think. Nothing can be done in America without conservative consent. There are reasons we have turned against Turkey. Conservatism in America has many versions, but the intellectual community has a number of guiding lights, e.g., Victor Davis Hanson: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/273154/resignations-turkey-victor-davis-hanson# The Azeris of Iran are Turkic, but not Ottomans. Edit: As far as Turkish/Iranian relations are concerned, I can't help thinking about the relationship of the Ottomans and the Safavids. Turkey is going to be used by Saudi Arabia as the Sunni bulwark against the Shia. PS: US nuclear weapons and bases need to be removed from Turkey as soon as possible. The Turks are unpredictable in the American experience.
Albert, this time, you really made my day. Thanks. I am not going to answer your post but just one thing should be noted, even to the most religious Turks, there's not much difference between Shia and Sunni. They would probably say "So what, they are both Muslims right?" So the tension between Shia and Sunni in the ME (Especially in Iraq and the Gulf) doesn't really apply to the Turks. And yeah Azeris of Iran are not Ottomans. Thanks for the note. You should also note that the independence day of the US is the fourth of July, Captain Obvious.
