We Didn’t Leave Turkey, Turkey Left Us

I missed this Wall Street Journal piece by Robert Pollack. Then again, I miss all Wall Street Journal op-eds (well, I really MISS very few of them) because of the WSJ subscription policy. In any case, Pollack explanation for the downturn in Turkish-US relations is not, of course, that the United States has engaged in an ill-conceived and unpopular war on Turkey’s border. His explanation is that islamists, communists, and the “decadent Istanbul elite” have led Turkey astray in the last two years:

And at the 2002 election, the increasingly corrupt mainstream parties that had championed Turkish-American ties self-destructed, leaving a vacuum that was filled by the subtle yet insidious Islamism of the Justice and Development (AK) Party. It’s this combination of old leftism and new Islamism — much more than any mutual pique over Turkey’s refusal to side with us in the Iraq war — that explains the collapse in relations.

And what a collapse it has been. On a brief visit to Ankara earlier this month with Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith, I found a poisonous atmosphere — one in which just about every politician and media outlet (secular and religious) preaches an extreme combination of America- and Jew-hatred that (like the Turkish artists) voluntarily goes far further than anything found in most of the Arab world’s state-controlled press. If I hesitate to call it Nazi-like, that’s only because Goebbels would probably have rejected much of it as too crude.

Wow. So, increasing Turkish democracy does not necessarily and unproblmatically lead to closer relations with the United States? The hell you say! Send the “stupidest fucking guy on the face of the planet” to a foreign country and he receives a chilly reception? I’m astounded!!! Democratic political parties in Islamic countries don’t want to cozy up to Israel? Knock me over with a fucking feather. Must be the fault of the liberal, coastal, blue state, Frenchified, Islamic, Istanbul, Communist elite, because I’m sure that you would find much more appreciation for Israel and the United States in the rural hinterland of Turkey.

Pollack’s solution? This comes from a Turkish newspaper, courtesy of dear chum Turan:

Elif Ozmenek: The US supports democratization in Turkey. Do not the debates in Turkish media that you object indicate development of democracy in Turkey?

Robert Pollack: I think the opposite. The imposition of political, intellectual, and media representatives’ biases that lack any proof endanger democracy. In such circumstances political leaders should challenge and contradict these kinds of reports that lack any proof.

Elif Ozmenek: What can be done?

Robert Pollack: The first method should be to contradict these kinds of news. Newspapers such as Yeni Safak who have a history of fabricating these news should be discriminated. Do not misunderstand me. I do not suggest censorship. They should write whatever they want to write, yet they should be discriminated. Politicians should not agree to interview with newspapers such as Yeni Safah unless they change their news policies.

Unfortunately Turan’s translation, from the original Turkish, is far too complex. My translation:

Elif Ozmenek: Isn’t debate, especially in the media, a sign of democracy?

Robert Pollack: No. Back in America, we did away with dissent in the media, and everyone’s been a lot happier.

There are still those within the Bush adminstration who harbor the hope that Turkey will be America’s “trojan horse” in the EU, carrying with it pro-American attitudes and an inclination toward friendship with the US. What we see, of course, is that Turks react to US foreign policy arrogance in the same way that French, Germans, Poles, Spaniards, and every other sort of European do; with revulsion.

Pollack’s arguments are useful for what they render crystal clear: This administration and its supporters are not concerned with democracy. They don’t care about free debate or contested, fair elections. What they do care about is close adherence to US policy. In short, supportive of the US=democratic, while opposed to the US=authoritarian. As it is in Turkey, so it will be in Venezuela and Iraq.