Monday, July 30, 2012

Obama and His Best Buddy, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, to Bring Democracy to Syria

This story just out from Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/us-turkey-accelerate-syria-transition-white-house-202114418.html):

"President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone Monday 'to coordinate efforts to accelerate a political transition in Syria,' the White House said.

This 'would include the departure of (Syrian leader) Bashar al-Assad and be responsive to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people,' the statement said.

Obama and Erdogan shared their concerns over the Syrian regime's crackdown on opposition 'and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions throughout Syria as a result of the regime's atrocities.'

. . . .

The statement said US and Turkish teams 'would remain in close contact on ways that Turkey and the United States can work together to promote a democratic transition in Syria.'"

Ah, yes, Obama and Erdogan will together make the world, or at least Syria, safe for democracy. The problem is that Syria's Muslim Brotherhood is not in the market for democracy. Perhaps theocracy, but not democracy.

But more to the point, how is Erdogan in any position whatsoever to assist in another country's transition to democracy? As observed in a March 9, 2012 comment in The New Yorker entitled "Turkey’s Jailed Journalists" (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/03/turkeys-jailed-journalists.html), by Dexter Filkins:

"Measuring strictly in terms of imprisonments, Turkey—a longtime American ally, member of NATO, and showcase Muslim democracy—appears to be the most repressive country in the world.

According to the Journalists Union of Turkey, ninety-four reporters are currently imprisoned for doing their jobs. More than half are members of the Kurdish minority, which has been seeking greater freedoms since the Turkish republic was founded, in 1923. Many counts of arrested journalists go higher; the Friends of Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, a group of reporters named for two imprisoned colleagues, has compiled a detailed list of a hundred and four journalists currently in prison there.

The arrests have created an extraordinary climate of fear among journalists in Turkey, or, for that matter, for anyone contemplating criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. During my recent visit there, many Turkish reporters told me that their editors have told them not to criticize Erdogan. As I detail in my piece in the magazine this week, the arrests of journalists are part of a larger campaign by Erdogan to crush domestic opposition to his rule. Since 2007, more than seven hundred people have been arrested, including members of parliament, army officers, university rectors, the heads of aid organizations, and the owners of television networks."

You sure as heck know how to pick your friends, Mr. President! Yet another foreign policy success!

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