Erdogan is a liar, a thug, a dictator, and a demagogue. He’s killed a secular Turkey. He has consistently failed to understand the concerns, and denied the rights, of those who oppose him and his policies.
Time for the U.S. to stop holding its nose over this guy. Realpolitik can only go so far.
4
Dear President Erdogan,
You can control your countries press, you can perpetuate your hate for the Kurds and non Sunni citizens of Anotolia, you can jump up and down and look to Trump, Putin and Alah for help, you can brainwash your citizens and try to win favor with Americans, but you cannot bamboozle the currency markets.
They know the truth.
37
if you make a vacation in turkey you will see a lot of tourist from middleeast. Most of them love Erdogan more than anything, it's not wise of trump administration to bring turkey on the palm tree. in the end turkey can live without usa... but usa without turkey will lose its supremacy in the region. especially usa has to extradite gulen. and stop cooperating with enemies turkey.
5
Those that the gods would destroy, first they make mad. You are certainly mad Mr. Erdogan.
8
Shame on you to publish the historic lies of a crazy person without restoring the truth.
Cyprus has been invaded and 40% of the country is still occupied by the brutal forces of turkey.
Cyprus is a Christian , western with very high literacy level.
U.S.A, Britain and all western countries did absolutely nothing the last 44 years to help us.
Again , shame on you big truthful newspaper.
24
I’m disappointed to see that NY Times published an article by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a tyrant that imprisoned many journalists based on their writings and reports
RCT is a dictator that controls judicial system in Turkey He is a master of manipulation and demogag
It is a shame you do not respect your journalist colleagues that are imprisoned by this man and allow him to use his manipulative policies in your paper Please also print the injustice done by this man
27
Dear NYT;
I think any additional stories regarding Turkey should be located in your World: Middle East section rather than your Europe section.
14
Thank you New York Times for stashing the Yemen atrocity into never, never land. All I ask you NYT why?.
8
Another "L'Etat, c'est moi" hero. Hopefully he and Donald can wind up on an island somewhere. Like Elba.
8
The NY Times should not have given this particular individual a platform to present his unchecked, one-sided, and distorted views. He is a thuggish autocrat who does not respect human rights. He is dishonest and not a true friend of the United States or Europe. I am waiting to read an op-ed rebuttal. It is really needed.
23
By giving a platform to President Donald Trump’s fascist heroes, the New York Times is providing the Trump Administration, its Republican enablers in the U.S. Congress, America’s citizens, America’s allies and the rest of the world with an invaluable public service. The lessons we learn will save the world much grief.
The responsibilities and required skill sets of a corporate executive and a chief executive of a nation are not equivalent.
Therefore, it is folly for CEO-turned-U.S. President, Trump to crush on the copious manifestations of strength exhibited by tyrants, such as Erdogan, as many of their displays have been inappropriately anti-democratic. And since our nation is the premier democracy in the world, these displays are anti-American.
As for Erdogan’s threat to find better friends to play with, I would say to Trump and his national security team that this is what happens when an American President publicly supports dictators.
I would advise the Trump Administration, NATO and the rest of our friends to act according to Erdogan’s threats as if he means them but truthfully they should have been doing this all along as he has clearly demonstrated that he is no democrat.
2
There is no national risk. But states must be careful at every step. Turkey has always stood by the peace. The year is 2018, mankind is still fighting. You did not learn to finish the war.
In the face of these attacks, we will not change true way by Allah's leave.
1
I am quite sure that everyone who criticizes you, Mr. Erdogan, here would be in a Turkish prison by now if they were caught in your country. You talk about terror, but terrorize your own people.
I have planned often to come to your country, but with your police clamp down I will not do so until you can demonstrate democracy in your country or you voluntarily resign.
I understand your inability to get along to with our erstwhile president even though you have a lot have so much in common.
13
Erdogan is a tin-pot despot and should be considered a reprehensible, dangerous enemy of the USA. He has already put down one revolution. There may be more to come.
10
Erdogan, you haven't a leg to stand on, I wonder who you thought your audience would be. Half our nation is at least somewhat informed while many are very well informed and we see you for who you are, a dictator. You are just one more aspect of the MEs intractable problems. Just another power jockey only interested in personal power
11
Select observations:
(1) Turkey is vital to America's national security interests. Turkey has enabled the United States project military power throughout the Middle East;
(2) Turkey shed blood and vast sums of treasure in Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11 in support of America's war aims: fighting the Taliban and propping the US-sponsored Afghan government;
(3) It is rich for the government of a constitutional republic, the US to force the executive branch of an allied democratically elected government to intervene in the judicial process on behalf of a foreign power. Incidentally, the judicial process will in the end produce an outcome the US desires anyway.
(4) It is a fact that the American Green Card holder Turkish cleric Gulen residing in Pennsylvania was behind a brutal coup that sought to murder Erdogen and his family. While the US says it can not extradite Gulen in violation of judicial processes, yet demands the opposite from Turkey;
(5) I do not particularly care for Erdogen; however his party has struck a balance between free market capitalism, Islam and some measure of democracy, thereby offering alternative to Iran and autocracy in the Middle East;
(6) Bottom line, in this instance the US is sacrificing its national security interests on an issue that can easily be resolved through diplomacy. Perhaps pro-Likud hardliners inside the White House want such an outcome. Had Erdogen not walked off the stage on Peres at Davos, things would be much different.
3
President Ergogan is asking that the US administration "understand and respect the Turkish people concerns". Reading many of the comments on this open ed, the reader is left with the impression that the arrogance and ignorance of the current administration is matched by many in the public. We are consistently accusing "others" of failing to assimilate while we ourselves always expect the whole world to speak our language, accept our culture and bend backwards to accommodate us. This may have been tolerated while we were the sole super power but there are increasing signs that the world is no longer willing to keep up with our arrogance, not when the current president is changing us from a superpower to a mercenary force which demand payment in return for protection. We cannot have it both ways, we are either the sole superpower that looks after our allies or an isolationist nation that refuse alliances and trade deals and sanction half the world. I take president Erdogan threat that Turkey will find alternative allies very seriously especially when we know that the EU, Canada, Mexico and many other nations are all thinking that the US is no longer a reliable ally
7
Trump is making China and Russia great again—that’s the message Turkey is sending. Why are we alienating Muslim democracies like Turkey and cozying up to tyrants in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and UAE—including the latter two countries horrific war crimes in Yemen?
49
There are several inaccurate claims in this article that I would like to point out:
1- The missiles during the cold war were first installed in Turkey against USSR which led USSR to use Cuba for its missiles. So I do not understand how Turkey gets the credit for being an ally that removes the missiles which led to removing the missiles from Cuba.
2- Turkey listed PYD/YPG as a terrorist organization while Turks have murdered thousands of Kurds and not the other way around. I am not sure why the author gives credibility to a govt that committed massacres against the Syriacs, Armenians and every Christian minority in the region.
3- It was Turkey that is trying to use the international mood against Trump to put him in the situation that the author is mentioning. It is Erdogan who threatened Tillerson of leaving the NATO if the US keeps supporting the just cause of the Kurds. Actually, to avoid bias here, I urge readers to read the history of the Kurds and how they were ill-treated by every country they claim to have borders with. The US administration nowadays is siding with the just issue for people asking for minimum sovereignty.
4- There are official documents proving the involvement of the Turkish govt with ISIS. They used to buy gas and oil for cheaper prices from ISIS-controlled regions.
5- Turkey was squeezing the arm of Europe by allowing immigrants from Syria to flood in without allowing refugees to settle in Turkey.
11
Trump is making Turkey out to be our enemy because he was ordered to by Putin. Putin wants NATO weakened so he is having his asset Trump drive the wedge.
Trump can't help it . If he doesn't do what he is ordered to do his money laundering past will come out.
3
The oncoming downfall of Turkey is world news and has to be documented. Nevertheless, Turkey emprisons a great number of journalists, mostly domestic. Don't let that be unmentioned NYT.
Erdogan did a great job in his first terms, but has now long outstayed his capacities. Alleged corruption can't be prosecuted. The judicial system is rigged and the press is silenced.
No western country has yet accepted the 'proof' of Gülens role in the coup. That coup was followed by a legal coup by Erdogan himself, cleaning society of alleged opponents and reforming the democratic system towards a presidential and insufficiently controlled system.
The great advantage of democracy is the competition between ideas and the change of power without violence. Stop this process and stagnation and misuse of power are immanent, see Putin and Erdogan as most visible examples. They have no alternative than to cling to power. Turkey has hard times to come.
3
Turkey, has been our - sometimes petuous - ally for years.
Erdogan, on the other hand, is a militarist-Islamist.
His poorly disguised decapitation of resistance to yhe Islamist movement within the military fooled no one.
He and his henchmen are the inverse of allies.
Obama presided silently over his rise, not surprisingly.
That Trump recognizes the growing threat of an Islamist takeover of Turkey is to his credit.
5
Just as Trump, perhaps the most un-Christian president in U.S. history, cynically patronizes Christians for political gain, so too does Erdogan patronize Islamists in Turkey. The two men share a great deal of horrible traits as they enrich themselves at the expense of their own people.
May the fates intervene and liberate both countries from these despots.
9
Turkey is the latest country aliented by Trump's
thoughtless decision. It is underpinned by
arrogance and indifference to the interest
of other countries. America first is the terrible
concept for friendly relations. Try this with
your friends and see how long the friendship
lasts. Time will come when USA won't have
a friend left and need the help of other
countries. Contrary to the notion of America
is the indispensable nation and nothing
will happen without American leadership,
countries have formed CPTPP when Trump
pulled out of TPP, 194 countries have stuck
to Paris accord on climate change after Trump
pulled out,Europeans joined AIIB( Asian
infrastructue bank created by China) despite
American objection and pressure. world is
moving on. America first has become America
alone.
60
It is a shame for New York Times to publish lies by an ultra-nationalist dictator. I always startled by the naivity of the West in regard of Turkey&Erdogan. Turkey is one of the most xenophobic, paranoid country in the world. They hate minorities, Christians, Jews without any need to hide their contempt. Turkey is a country with imperialistic ambitions but does not have sufficient resources. So they need the West to fund their imperialistic vision. That's why, Turks hate the West with passion but still cannot severe their relationship with it.
11
Mr Erdogan;
Actually I am surprised that relations with the US are frayed considering you are a role model for our current president. There is nothing more he would like to do than throw journalists in jail, tell judges how to rule and rewrite the US Constitution.
To everybody else on the planet, you are fast becoming a dictator. If those of us who speak out offend you, then perhaps you should in fact seek out some new friends. I'm sure you would find the welcome mat out in Russia, Hungary and N Korea.
9
MR President:
You and your government have denied the Armenian Genocide, an historical fact memorialized in these very pages of the New York Times. Now, you are using these same pages to justify holding Americans against their will?
10
It looks to me like there will now be a prisoner exchange in the works. The US gives up Fethullah Gulen and Turkey gives up Brunson. Both dictators will then be satisfied and we all move on. The Evangelicals will get their way and so will Erdogan, in short, the devils get their dues.
1
How lovely of the NYT to let us in on the innermost feelings of this dictator of a nation where even non-muslim women (I have direct accounts of this) are daily being pressured to cover up.
So many other persons whose valuable insights could have occupied the space so undeservingly gifted to this tyrant whose wife has at one time hinted at the ostensible merits of the harem. Go away.
9
I was surprised reading comments. "You are democratic till you choose the person we recommend" that's what most Americans believe. Shame on you.
2
In the interest of fairness, NYT should publish an op ed with a perspective from the Turkish opposition.
23
Overthrow all dictators.
6
Erdogan is a dictator who uses religion as a means of leverage. He is the mastermind of the coup attempt and he enabled to grip all the power within Turkey by secretly utilizing such an incident. He is always a harsh critic of the USA with tons of illogical blames. He accuses of the USA for the coup though he is the main driver of the coup.
Now Turkey is not a democratic country at all anymore. He is the decision maker of everything. A journalist said a while ago about the situation in Turkey that ” I fear for my life, I do not feel safe in Turkey. I spent the night in a cell with 40 soldiers, all of whom showed signs of torture, bruises and bloody wounds. They were not allowed to go to the toilet either. ” (Fatih Yagmur)
There is still an ongoing witch hunt against journalists and all oppositions today in Turkey. Everyone is under the direct threat of being sent to prisons. The prisons are full of innocent people including more than 20 thousand women and with hundreds of babies. He is becoming Hitler of Turkey of today’s century.
He controls the media, the financial institutions, the military, the judiciary. He controls the every power grid within the country. But he does not believe in human rights, freedom of speech, equality and dignity, right to live. He only seeks power.
He is the greatest manipulator of this century. He sends an article to a famous and worldwide newspaper and this article contains manipulated and wrong information. What a big shame for Turks.
8
Mr. Erdogan:
To paraphrase an old marketing jingle, you may make friends with Kool-Aid and make Kool-Aid with friends; but don't ask your friends to drink your Kool-Aid. You and Donald Trump deserve each other; neither of our countries deserve either of you.
12
Mr. Erdogon's policy it seems is that "if your not with me, you're against me." Mr Edogon has met his match with DT. Bird's of a feather. Mr. Erdogon is leading his country away from the democratic country it was before his election. US support for the Kurdish rebels who are fighting in Syria has unfortunately pitted a helpful ally, the Kurds, against a some what questionable ally, the Turks. Such is the mess the US has become involved in, in Syria.
4
My first thought when I saw that President Erdogan authored this opinion piece was that the NYT editors were remiss in providing a forum for his views. I say this because I view both Mr Erdogan and Mr Trump as wannabe dictators who are willing to undermine the governance of their countries in order to further their own ambitions and fortunes. Neither politician will be remembered well by future historians.
The more I think about it, this is one of the times when the editors are right to publish this piece. The US must remain a place where ideas and viewpoints must be expressed so that informed citizens can debate the ideas and hold the protagonists accountable for them. Fortunately for Americans, we do have vast online resources of data with which to check assertions made be oligarchs.
Mr Erdogan is no Ataturk and Trump is, well, he is Trump. I won't degrade any presidential predecessor with a comparison to this conman.
The enormous difference between the US and Turkey today is that the US will be free of Trump in a relatively short time but Turkey will continue to suffer under Erdogan for a long time to come.
11
Turkey is an oligarchical dictatorship with theocratic and populist tendencies. I see no sufficient reason to call Turkey an ally and even less justification to consider President Erdogan a friend of the United States. If Erdogan's Turkey drives a wedge between Trump's GOP and Putin's Russia, that would be an irony that I will enjoy for some time to come. A world in which Erdogan cozies up to Putin instead of a siting US President is a more rationale and better world to me. President Erdogan please proceed to look for other friends and allies. I believe President Putin is waiting for you.
10
The basic divide between the US and Turkey can be summarized in the difference in the understanding of the term, Democracy. You are on record as having stated that democracy is a bus ride. “Once I get to my stop, I’m getting off." Quite a difference with Abraham Lincoln’s definition that democracy is: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”. I would add that the apparatus of American constitutional democracy covers checks and balances, the rule of law, a free press, and an independent judiciary. I would venture to guess that an opinion of the state of affairs that currently exists between the US and Turkey by a prominent US politician or scholar, would not receive a welcoming platform in the Turkish media as has been offered to you by the NYT
134
@Jud Hendelman
I guess the opposite. Turks really would like to know why the US chose to heavily arm the PKK, why they would not extradite Gulen - a Turkish citizen, dubbed Turkey's Bin Laden - and why they think the government would have any control over pastor Brunson's trial. In summary the regular everyday Turks would like to know why the US is trying so hard to lose its long term ally.
3
@MG
1- The US supported the Kurds since they proved to be the most effective force in fighting ISIS
2- Turkish requests for the extradition of Gulen did not meet even the basic requirements for any extradition case.
3- The Turkish government exercises a strong, non democratic, control over the judiciary
3
@Jud Hendelman
>I would venture to guess that an opinion of the state of affairs that currently exists between the US and Turkey by a prominent US politician or scholar, would not receive a welcoming platform in the Turkish media as has been offered to you by the NYT
Im guessing you dont read Sozcu and Cumhuriyet.
you other statement is a misquote.
Its quite Ironic you would bring up Lincoln and not know the domestic conditions in terms of democratic ideals or lack of that were present during the Civil War. there are many who called Lincoln during the times of the civil war, a dictator. same was applied to Washington and FDR. same was applied to John Adams and Andrew Jackson.
people have very selective memories. It seems you are also not familiar with the state of Turkey during the 90s, before the AK Party and the Authoritarianism present then. Erdogan in that respect is not that different from past turkish leadership. there is no "erosion" for something to erode, it has to initially exist. Authoritarianism has been a staple since Ataturk. Ironically, If you know Turkish history, the AK Party was responsible for removing much of the authoritarian measures of past regimes. Turkey though has gone back on the things the AK Party initially brought, much of it, due to the syrian conflict which has had a profound effect on the domestic affairs of the Turkish state, with the refugee influx, and the terror attacks and an active conflict south of its border.
2
Erdogan seems to be adopting China's playbook, thinking that Trump's unpopularity can be exploited to help rescue an authoritarian regime from U.S. foreign policy decisions. It won't work. Most Americans remember that Turkey refused to allow the U.S. to stage operations from its territory in the Iraq War. We also don't like Turkey's record of murdering and imprisoning journalists and other political opponents. The fact that Erdogan is blaming his country's economic and currency problems on the U.S., whipping up anti-American fervor among the Turk population, doesn't help either.
The U.S. has said it will extradite Fethullah Gulen if Turkey follows the requirements of a U.S./Turkey extradition treaty which mandates that some evidence be supplied of criminal wrong-doing. Erdogan doesn't appear to have the evidence or much respect for the rule of law... which brings us to the question of why he's persecuting an inconsequential American pastor.
Erdogan vs. Trump is not a pretty fight. We already know that Turkey is going to get the worst of it. Erdogan should come meet with Trump. I'm sure they can concoct some phony face-saving deal, so we can all move on. Turkey is not that interesting.
5
There are a few things about Turkey which the US media repeatedly and perhaps purposefully misreport.
- Turkey was under defacto military rule before Erdogan. Erdogan's rule is probably the first ever period of democracy the Turks enjoyed since the foundation of the Republic in 1923, Ataturk's term included. The military frequently intervened in politics and even hanged the prime minister Adnan Menderes in 1960 coup. One major example of these was in 1997 when tanks patrolled the streets of Ankara and the prime minister Necmettin Erbakan was forced to resign by the military. The Gulenists tried their own military coup in July 2016, but the people defended democracy with their lives.
- The journalists and others who are arrested are either part of the Gulen organisation or members of the PKK terrorist group. The remark that "Erdogan jailed opposition members" is false in every regard, since the opposition is quite strong in Turkey and they mounted a strong campaign in June 2018 elections.
Erdogan is elected president of the Republic of Turkey in fair elections. He campaigned his heart out for three months. We may not like the guy, just as we may not like president Trump, but that is how elections work.
4
Dear President Erdogan,
Some five years ago you had the opportunitie to make pease with the Kurds and open the boarder with your neighbor Armenia. You chose neither, and you wonder why your country is in flames and why Turkey can not be accepted into the European Union. You have moved Turkey backwards, yet for the sake of the good Turkish citizens I wish your country the best of fortunes
4
"Attempting to force my government to intervene in the judicial process is not in line with our Constitution or our shared democratic values."
Had me till this...
Come now, Mr Erdogan, you can't expect anyone to swallow that one? Not that I have a real opinion on this "minister", but that comment of yours is pretty specious...
8
Mr Erdogan! Let Hagia Sophia become a church again, and Andrew Brunson be the Pastor.
6
So now the NYT gives a platform to the petty tyrant of Turkey? What hogwash: he's been poking in the eyes of the US and our allies for years, and just last year violated NATO rules by buying Russian military equipment. He staged the "coup" through which he completely neutered the military, the press and every other sector of Turkish society and now you give him the platform to threaten the US ?
I say, good for President Trump for standing up to this islamofascist dictator. Kick him out of Nato, tell him to forget about joining the EU once and for all let him see how well those "other options" will work out for him.
5
Sorry, Recip. The readers of The Times are a rather intelligent, and worldly bunch. They're not about to be swayed by your sophistry, since they're well aware of your crimes.
They may despise Traitor Trump, but you're not going to get their sympathy because of his sociopathic tendencies to dance with you before he steps on your foot.
5
Dear President Erdogan,
Had you decided to normalize relations with Armenia, you would have so neutralized so much of Russia’s grip on the Cacuses. You would still have influence in Azerbaijan and diminish Russia’s grip on Armenia and the Trans Cacuses in general. Now with Crimea and Syria, Russia is surrounding you. Putin is your arch enemy, and he is looking to take territory away from your spheres of influence.
10
In America the world domination, neo-conservative entity, is directing its foreign policy ! The deteriorating relationship of Turkey and Israel parallels our relationship with Turkey!
1
Mr.Erdogan, you have written an opinion piece for the New York Times.I take that to mean that you believe in a free press.We in America treasure our free press and are willing to read the ideas of world leaders with whom we do not necessarily agree.We welcome an exchange of ideas.If you favor the free press why do you not honor it in your own country?Would you publish an argument by our Secretary of State in your most prestigious paper?
7
Just as it's not the proper business of the US to interfere in the internal affairs of Turkey, it's not the proper business of Turkey to demand things of the US. If Mr Gülen is a legal resident of the US, and has broken no American laws, Turkey has no standing in demanding his extradition.
If, of course, on the other hand, it's true that the US government has provided material aid to any party in Turkey's internal disputes, that's inappropriate. It's none of our business--and we here in America, an ocean and a sea away from Turkey, are in no position to decide who's right and who's wrong in those disputes.
21
Mr. Erdogan,
Others in these comments have pointed out the fictional elements of your version of recent history, and have pointed out the glaring weaknesses (largely brought on by yourself) in what you call Turkey's free democratic republic. I hope you read them carefully. Under your leadership, a great and historic nation is being eroded as you exercise control over free media, attack judicial independence, and jail innumerable dissidents by pinning the label of terrorist. You are no better than the so-called leader of the United States. You two are peas in a pod. I visited Turkey with my wife last year for my honeymoon, and we basked in your country's rich history and cultural life. But I felt sadness for the people who are subjected to your despotic attacks on liberty. You can justify allof this by pointing to the coup??
Lastly, I add this: if you want to get this President's attention, don't use the New York Times. He doesn't read. Use FOX News.
200
Mr. Erdogan those are empty threats and You know it. You writing an Opinion piece in a major US newspaper one day after the collapse of your country currency is more a sign of desperation than anything else.
Second, Mr Erdogan talks about an ally responsibility . Let me ask you Mr Erdogan, :
-What Ally use suffering refugees to blackmail ally countries in the European Union like you've done several times since 2011?
-What ally goes out and buy an Anti-defense missile from an adversary like Turkey did?
You talk about the independence of the Turkish judicial system, yet you have no problem asking the US to extradite Mr Gullen despite the lack of evidences.
Mr Erdogan talks about the US support to the Kurd that he calls terrorists.Yet, it is under your leadership Mr Erdogan that Turkey was turned into a terrorist hub with 90% of foreign terrorists entering Syria through Turkey.
Turkey needs the US more than the US needs Turkey. This should be obvious for a man like You who has used his position of strength to jail and get rid of your opponents.
Mr Erdogan, you chose the wrong time to mess with the US, for the Man in the White House is as bully and narcissistic as You and he has the bigger weapons.
94
@Chaks
>Mr Erdogan talks about the US support to the Kurd that he calls terrorists.Yet, it is under your leadership Mr Erdogan that Turkey was turned into a terrorist hub with 90% of foreign terrorists entering Syria through Turkey.
yes, turkey had the bad luck of geography and bordering Syria, the better question would be why are Turkey's allies sending terrorists to Turkey, whether its the PKK or ISIS or others, how many of those fighters have origins in the UK, France, Germany and US and Canada? why are these countries not stopping terrorists from leaving their countries and trying to cross into syria though turkey, while pretending to be tourists.
>Turkey needs the US more than the US needs Turkey.
Turkey controls the Bosphorus, Turkey ensures NATO control over the Bosphorus, Turkey is NATO's access point into Central Asia and the ME region. NATO supply routes to Afghanistan go through Turkey. dont be like Trump and misjudge the benifits of your friends. These things may not mean much to you, but you can bet these things arent missed by the policy makers at the CFR and the Pentagon. Turkish Troops bled alongside the US in Korea, and this is how turkey is treated years later.
>mess with the US
no one is messing with the US, grievances are be brought up to the American Public and policy makers, to help understand how things look from Turkey's perspective. Understand the PKK is viewed by Turkey in the Same Manor that Bin Laden and al qaeda are viewed by the US.
1
@Chaks
Ill try to address a few of your questions
Turkey has taken in millions of refugees, literally millions, remind me how many refugees "allies" like Poland and Hungary and the other eastern european states have taken? germany gets to set a narrative of being some humanitarian savior b/c it took in thousands, as opposed to Turkey which took in millions?
>What ally goes out and buy an Anti-defense missile from an adversary like Turkey did?
the Kind who is neglected, when it came bagging its "allies" to supply it with desperately needed air defense in a volatile region, and fell upon deaf ears. Turkey approached the US for Patriot missiles, congress didnt see it as a priority and was uninterested, its like a girl rejecting a guy to go to prom, then being jealous when he asks someone else out.
with regards to Gulen, there is absolutely evidence(video footage of Gulenists inside the airbase coordinating the coup), please familiarize yourself with it, the least the US could do, is launch an FBI investigation into the Affairs of the Gulen Organization.
1
@Chaks
Gulen is a Turkish citizen, not a US one. Turkey possesses every legal right to ask for his extradition.
I agree that Turkey, as a nation, as its point of view. However, Erdogan is a fascist, religious fanatic and a tyrant, like Putin and Xi, and the NY Times should not give him a platform. So I won't be reading this article.
5
This is the same Recep Erdogan who had his bodyguards physically assault American protestors on American soil? Please, save your lectures for the people that you oppress.
197
@Steve Tunley As a citizen of Turkey I never listen him. It is impossible for him to lecture to me...
1
I can fix this.
Erdogan still refuses to admit that the Armenian holocaust happened and that it was perpetrated by the Turks.
With that in mind, it is difficult to take much of anything that he says here as an honest outreach. Erdogan is a dictator, as his actions have proven throughout his "presidency".
7
Can any USA citizen explain that why USA protect Fetullah Gulen in Pennsylvania by lots of FBI agent ?
Why USA government pay lots of money for security of Fetullah Gulen by your Taxes. Why Fetullah Gulen is very important for USA government much more than normal USA citizen ?
If you need evidence to find responsible of failed coup in Turkey, just think in this perspective.
4
@Serkan Gecici
Think about the idea that Erdogan fabricated the coup in order to purge 180,000 journalists, teachers and politicians throughout Turkey.
4
@Serkan Gecici + why US not trying to change the regime in Saudi Arabia?
3
When erdogan admits to and apologizes for the Armenian Genocide, i’ll begin to take his point of view seriously.
8
@cary: You are too kind to this despot. When he disappears from power and is behind bars, maybe I'll be satisfied.
When your goon squad jumped out and attacked the people listening to you speak here in the US a few years ago you showed who you are. We don't want or need anything from you so go back to your country and stay there.
10
@J Alfred Prufrock I dont want him to live here in Turkey too...Lol..He can go to Qatar, Uganda or Sudan
3
Erdogan,
You are nothing short of a brutal dictator who represses freedom of expression, freedom of press, and freedom of religion. Shame on you.
13
Turkey is slowly moving away from democracy and openness and into the pitfall of Islamism. Pres Erdogan is leading this unfortunate turn, and he's disappointed by the reaction in the West. He should not be. We respect Turkey's challenges, but not all of its troubling 'solutions'. Turkey's place in NATO and the European community are in jeopardy, and we can all agree that this is unfortunate.
5
Trump should ask Erdogan to honor extradition requests for his guard thugs that beat up protesters several months ago in Washington DC.
5
When an Evangelical preacher goes to a Moslem country to convert the locals, he knows what he is doing. He is taking a great risk and asking for trouble.
I am no fan of Mr. Erdogan, nor am I am fan of our president using Mr. Brunson's reckless behavior as a tool to pander to his supporters.
A pax on both of their houses.......
5
@JWH He is a fellow American correct?
Turkey is no friend to the US.
Turkey is just another Islamic terror state- along the lines of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.
Turkey treats its minority populations brutally. It routinely murders Kurds.
Turkey aides terror groups throughout the Mid-East.
Turkey should be booted from NATO immediately.
9
Where is Attaturk when we need him?
4
How wonderful that the Turkish President reads the New York Times, if only our president did.
9
Leave Turkey alone. It appears as though it's about to fall of the edge. String them along to keep them out of the hands of Russia. Self-destruction is also something WE need to worry about.
4
Restore Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's vision and approach and then come back and we'll talk.
6
Well, I'll say this: The letter reads as though Erdogan may have written it, but his spoken English isn't as grammatically correct so he had a bunch of help.
Sadly, the POTUS could never write anything so clear, focused, or comprehensive (whether or not you agree or disagree with Erdogan's view of history and fact) because it requires the ability to, well read and write to do this.
So, Erdogan, A+ for penmanship. Oh, the future POTUS, missed class and is busy harassing the cheerleaders...
4
Why is Turkey still a member of NATO?
The Turks are attempting to walk a fine line between militant islamic fundamentalism and Western civilization.
Those two elements have proven to be incompatible.
Oust the Turks. Who needs them.
7
I was surprised to see the NYT publishing this man's [Erdogan] lies and propaganda. Was this intended to allow the other side to tell his story? or was it an intent to denigrade Trump by publishing Erdogan's lies?
It is and was a well known fact that Erdogan concocted and organized the coup to gain control and turn Turkey into an Islamic Caliphate? He arrested thousands of Journalists, Judges, High ranking government officials, Army officers and anyone he felt will be in his way to achieve his Sultanic intents. He did not allow international press to attend his fake trials of these people, and destroyed the lives of thousands of Turkish loyal citizen.
No, the coup was not Gullen's doing but was entirely organized and orchestrated by his will to achieve absolute power. The PKK was and is the only Turkish group to try to return Turkey to Ataturk's free Turkey.
Last year he organized a second coup by getting himself voted as Edee Amin did "president for life".
He destroyed a great relationship with Israel and supported the Hamas Terror organization, he destroyed his relations with Egypt, Jordan, Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
So I ask, why would the NYT give this man a platform to spread lies the the NYT knows they are?
Would the NYT allow Putin to write an OP Ed about the fact that he had nothing to do with the 2016 elections?
12
@Victor Sibilia
2016 coup was Gulen organisation's doing. There are confessions in the hundreds. These documents are shared with US counterparts.
PKK has nothing to do with Ataturk - that is laughable. It is a communist terror group who just recently murdered a 23 year old mother and her baby, and claimed the life of 40,000 people in 40 years, mostly ethnic Kurds.
Erdogan was elected president for a 5 year term.
1
@Victor Sibilia My friend, your thoughts about PKK is not correspond with the reality. PKK is a radical left terrorist organization which was found to realize independent Kurdish state based on Marxist-Leninist principes. Such an illegal and terrorist organization does not have any similarity with Atatürk, neither today nor in the past
@Victor Sibilia: Well spoken. Good job. It's a tragedy to see the wonderful Turkish people, culture and insititutions suffer so under this brutal despot.
The bottom line is;
1-Why does US drilling & arming a terror group PKK with heavy & sophisticated weapons in mass at Turkish border?
2- Is US planing to attack Turkey? if not, why does the US objecting Turkey's purchase of a defense radar S400?
3-Why does US is threatening its NATO ally Turkey by supplying weapons to the terrorist PKK at Turkish border?
4- A terrorist group that US itself sees as terrorist officially. A terror group that have killed over 40.000 Turkish civilians & service personnel including teachers, doctors, nurses & abducts underage children & exploits them sexually for 40 years!
3
@Bunyamin
Quite clear i would say.
1The Kurdish people in Syria and Irak have proved to be reliable towards the western countries. They could be too in Turkey.
2 It is risky to deliver your best arm systems to countries that do not deserve them because of an unreliable leadership.
3 It is not. It has a partnership in fighting ISIS. It should not betray its ally.
4 Erdogan was on the verge of making peace with the PKK some years ago. That could have been great, Nobel prize stuff. He halted the process because the Kurds did not vote in his favour and this woud break his electoral position. So out of electoral cowardice he reopened the civil war, making both turkey and the PKK display terror again.
Mr Erdogan mentions the turkish military invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and Syria in 2018 as a "reminder" that Turkey can "take care of its own business". He forgot to mention the Armenian Genocide. That would make his case even stronger. How lovely.
14
Mr. Erdogan, at a time where the executive branch of your authoritarian government has usurpated the judicial, the Turkish government has forfeited the right for extradition.
3
Dear President Erdogan,
You lost.
Assad stays in power !
Russia has you encircled !
Now let that sink in.
4
RE: Unilateral actions against Turkey by the United States will undermine American interests and force Turkey to look for other friends and allies.
I just love all the NATO "allies" e.g. DEPENDENTS who think they are doing the US some favor by allowing us to support them. Since WWI (though NATO is not that old ) it's been a century of a one way flow of lives and money from the US to EUROPE / NATO.
Time for the NATO DEPENDENTS to start pulling their own weight.
3
@Reader In Wash, DC
Turkey is perhaps the only NATO ally who stands on its own feet militarily. Turkey is located on one of the most volatile regions on Earth and it could not rely solely on the US for protection, therefore it developed its own military capabilities.
@Reader In Wash, DCI just love those naive Americans who think our country builts military bases around the world for altruistic reasons instead of US economic and geopolitical interests.
2
@MG Turkey is not among the 5 countries (out of 28) that meet their NATO spending target.
It’s really rich that dictator Erdogan uses our free press to reach our own dictator/45, both of them pawns of dictator Putin. The 3 of them deserve each other, but the Turkish, American, and Russian people deserve none of them. May they all choke on their own cruelty, filth, and corruption.
19
@SWAT Senior Women Against 45
What is truly rich is that people like yourself actually believe the senseless musing that emanate from your cranium. We do not have dictators in the United States as we have a Constitution and a representative republic.
You can disagree with Donald Trump all you like but he was elected and did not forcibly take offic.
Maybe if the left cut down on the hyperbolic rhetoric things would cool down.
2
@J. Scott " You can disagree with Donald Trump all you like but he was elected and did not forcibly take offic." What about Mr Erdogan, is he not transparantly elected by Turks?
I am not sure I understand why the NY Times would publish an op-ed written by the Turkish President, a propagandist and autocrat who purged 180,000 from public life since 2016.
While it would be difficult for a US paper to ignore the US President, I would like to think that good editorial journalism filters out the words of most strongmen.
11
Bye bye turkey. See you again when the real coup brings you back to civilization.
9
Kick this dictator out of NATO. We don’t need him. He can go ahead and make friends with Russia and Iran and China.
8
You should thank PKK for doing what you would not do. As a NATO member or human, you should have removed ISIL from the area. You did not. You also have imprisoned the formerly free press.
3
Erdogan should be slapped some sense into. Completely lost the plot, thinks he is a new Sultan. Time to recognise the Kurdish state, kick Turkey out of NATO and out of Cyprus.
6
It is interesting for Mr Erdogan to talk about Turkish judicial system as there is none. The so called judges take orders from him; we currently have prominent journalists in prison (Nazli Ilicak, Ahmet Altan, Enis Berberogku to name a new) based on his orders. If he wants someone in prison, that person is put in prison. If he wants someone to be released, that person is released. That is not democracy and does not reconcile with western values. He has slowly destroyed the core institutions and well on his way to turning Turkey into an Islamic Republic (where democracy is a means to an end and his goal is to establish a totalitarian Islamic dictatorship) . People are afraid for their futures. Well educated Turk are migrating to other countries in droves. I am really sad for my homeland.
127
Erdogan has revealed his self serving agenda by immediately approaching Putin and Russia after Trump revealed plans to sanction Turkey. As with most dictators, he will ally himself with whatever country that can help him to feather his own nest. Kick Turkey out of NATO.
53
@paul
So he goes to Putin? Isn't that like going to Trump anyway? So Erdogan and Trump can both have the scent of Putin on them now...seems cozy...
@paul
Isnt going to Putin like going a round about way to Trump? So Erdogan can now have the same musky Putin scent on him, like Trump. Birds of a feather...
@paul
Turkey approached Russia to mitigate the refugee crisis, to form deescalation zones, and to lessen the carnage in Syria. It also approached Russia out of necessity b/c its NATO ally abandoned it in Syria and chose to ally with the PKK, which is now using Syria to launch attacks into Turkey, and carrying out terror attacks and planting IEDs and shelling Turkish cities that border the syrian border which the PKK Affiliate controls. additionally it is using US supplied weapons against a NATO state.
with regards to the s-400, you should understand that the need for an air defense is a national security matter for turkey, as turkey is in a very unstable neighborhood, and has states that have ballistic missiles that border it. NATO's air defense only covers 30% of Turkish territory, Turkey NEEDS an air defense for its security. Turkey apporached the US about Buying Patriot missiles(ones which the US had no problem selling to Saudi Arabia and Israel, neither of who are NATO alllies) but refused it for Turkey. hence turkey had to seek alternatives to satisfy its defense needs.
As long as governments having police and military power identify themselves by ethnicity and/or religion they will oppress others of differing ethnicities and/or religions.
Secularism and ethnic inclusiveness are the necessary buffers against oppression and conflict and the preconditions for a thriving, innovative economy.
In the US, secularism is written into our constitution. Ethnic inclusiveness has been making progress since the great immigrations and assimilations of the 19th and 20th centuries and the civil rights movement.
Together with Canada and Mexico we've done a pretty decent job of maintaining peace and prosperity on an entire continent. Now secularism and ethnic inclusiveness are under attack by our own high ranking officials: Trump, Pence, Sessions and others.
Unless we can electorally or judicially rid ourselves of such malevolent politicians we risk descending into the confusion, economic chaos and internal and external violent conflict that Erdogan bemoans and exacerbates in Turkey.
6
@Steve M
And secularism is written into Turkey's constitution as well. Ataturk structured the new nation as a secular democracy when it was founded.
3
@Steve M With Mexico? Really?
@Jenise Secularism seems to be at risk in both countries. The Turks haven't got a sterling reputation for ethnic inclusiveness given the Armenian holocaust and ongoing conflicts with the Kurds.
While I do not agree with the process by which these sanctions became imposed upon Turkey, I do believe sanctions are long over due for the exact type of treatment that Andrew Brunson is being subjected to. The Turkish penal code sets out an incredibly amorphous and expansive definition of acts or persons who can be consider a terrorist. The effect, and purpose, of such a provision is to silence opposition, whether it be overtly through bringing charges or the chilling effect the existence of the provision can have on others not yet charged.
These provisions have decimated Erdogan's opposition, especially the free press, and made his rise to what one times op-ed writer coined as "dictator on the Bosphorus" possible.
This presents the international community a chance to stand up to Erdogan, look past what he can do for them, and say once and for all that democratically held elections do not give elected leaders the right to trample on democratic principals.
6
@Ryan Lavigne
an...oh you mean like the vagaries of the US terrorist watch lists? The no one can know the reasons why they are on various lists, but only that they are sort of vagaries?
The trampling on human rights by caging children, losing track of their parents sorts of stuff?
Let me borrow your last paragraph.
"This presents the US Congress (international community) a chance to stand up to TRUMP (Erdogan), look past what he can do for them (GOP only, but the "do for" is sketchy) and say once and for all that democratically held elections do not give elected leaders the right to trample on democratic principals."
We'll be right back for the next segment of, Hypocrisy, How the US lives it everyday.
1
Imagine a country where Donald Trump is president and actually possesses the power to lock up all the people (journalists) he wants to. That is Turkey. And Erdogan calls that a democracy...
26
Mr. Erdogan was supposed to be one of Trump's new best friends. We remember Turkish Security beating up protesters at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. We remember Trump crowing about Erdogan's leadership. Now Turkey's economy is getting too soft, and the clubbing of journalists and activists continues, much too hard. Take the faux outrage somewhere else.
18
America's most motivated and effective allies against Sunni Muslim Arab extremism in the Middle East and beyond are Sunni Muslim Kurds and Turks along with Shia Muslim Arabs and Persians.
America's most dangerous and duplicitous "allies" in this fight are Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey is a member of NATO that also seeks EU membership, Turkey occupies a strategic geographic location along with ethnic sectarian demographic advantages. Modern Turkey kept faith and state separate along with a strong sense of gender and income equality and democratic values.
7
Trump assured Americans that the dispute with Turkey will be resolved soon so that no one's Thanksgiving Holiday is disrupted.
13
@I'm Just Sayin' Right. After the elections it will fade away like so many other quarrels.
2
Dear Mr. Erdogan,
I have read your column today. I am deeply distressed by not only the current state of our relations, but your continued attempts to destroy the Turkish democracy that was one of the cornerstones of Kemal Atatürk's modern, secular and progressive state that so many fought for after World War I.
During my travel's in your country, I have developed a deep appreciation and love for your people, traditions, culture and so much more. It has been my pleasure to encourage Turkish high school and college students to study in the U.S. to help both our countries understand each other. One such student, with a Master's Degree in Business and Finance, is in the U.A.E. today rather than in his homeland ready to assist in its recovery. Why? He seized an opportunity that should have been afforded him in his homeland and he fears where you are taking that homeland. This is one example of many and the fault lies with you alone.
While stating that U.S. actions, at present, are exacerbating your economic crisis, your invoking of Allah in a dire situation, that you have caused, is a disgrace to the Prophet and your Muslim faith. Please think of Turkey, its place in the world, the future of its fine people and not of yourself. What you are doing is not the Turkish way.
Sincerely,
A Great Friend of Turkey
27
President Erdogan, I’m just an ordinary American. I thank the NYTimes for printing your views, but to me, the Turkey that was our ally in history is not the Turkey I see today. How can you be for an independent Palestinian State, yet deny that future to the Kurds? I urge you to meet with neighboring countries and perhaps each adjust boundaries for a new state. It might be an example for....others.
And frankly, when you align with, use, extreme Islam, slowly destroy your secular history- you lose me. Aside from our current, .....unpredictable president, it is you who has changed, not us. You can surely find other allies, but if you think they won’t ‘interfere’, won’t use you, compromise you- think again. Our country has recently run off our historic rails, too. Hopefully we can both get back on track.
32
@Jo Williams Obama is the one that piloted our train off the rails. Why do you think Trump was elected?
@Jo Williams. The Palestinians are pawns for Arab states to use to froth up and distract their own populations by blaming Israel.
1
Just because Trump is a bully doesn´t make it Ok for Erdogan to be a bully. And vice versa.
9
@S North And what's the one thing you can't do with people like Putin, Xi and Erdogan? Push them around in public. They're afraid any concession will be seen as a sign of weakness at home.
3
Mr. Erdogan:
I admit the current inhabitant of our Oval Office has little clue how to conduct international relations and certainly can undertake actions that you might find confusing and off-putting.
But if you want to see the greatest threat to your great nation and its people, take a long look in the mirror.
17
"Instead of siding with Turkish democracy". Is this really what Erdogan calls his regime?
You have to be kidding. Democracy.
This man is power hungry authoritarian. A horrible dictator.
He cares little about his fellow countrymen/women. Just power!
13
U.S Army, Retired 2012. I have been following what has been going on there since the start of the Iraq War. Erdogan is a delusional strong man who is destroying his own people and country. He is the classic 'Insane Evil Villain'. It is better to have him as an open enemy in front of us than a 'Frenemy' within NATO's alliance.
27
I believe we must punish the dictator of Turkey now. Now is the time. Also, an eventual partitioning of Turkey is probably the long term solution (Kurdistan, European Turkey, Moslem state). In it current state this country is a huge instability factor.
3
I am fed up with commenters comparing Iran with Saudi Arabia and making the outlandish claim that Jews have no rights in any Moslem country:
There are 200 churches and synagogues in Iran, with Christian and Jewish Members of Parliament. In Saudi Arabia Judaism is outlawed and the punishment for importing Bibles, Torads and Talmuds into Saudi Arabia is death by beheading.
Where do some of your readers obtain their information? Certainly not by visiting these two totally dissimilar countries.
There is no love lost between me and the Mullahs. But anti-Iranian propaganda has its limits.
23
@Hamid Varzi "There are 200 churches and synagogues in Iran, with Christian and Jewish Members of Parliament." then why it is called "Islamic Republic of Iran"? Shouldn't it be called "Republic of Iran" ?
3
@Hamid Varzi
You are right, Hamid. Saudi Arabia is the real sponsor of terrorism and most repressive regime in the world, not Iran at all. Saudi Arabia gets a pass from US governments because they love the Sheiks and their oil. It is a disgrace. The US doesn't really give a whit about human rights. That is merely a faux moral discourse bandied about to justify political meddling and aggressive military actions. Most Americans are ignorant of Iran, history, and most other countries in the world. They swallow every bit of propaganda and bigoted misinformation offered up to them without question.
2
@Hamid Varzi
I've known and admired many Iranians. However, the current Iranian govt sponsors terrorism, wants to annihilate Israel, and is trying to build nuclear bombs. Get a better govt and your country will again be welcomed into the club of civilized countries.
1
Turkish foreign politics are exactly young Turkish girl's behaviors. It is childishly. You should think exactly like Erdoğan thinking. And he always change his thinking and ideas. So he expect that you must change your idea and say and behave same like Erdoğan. Gülen was an strong ally of him in past and he is an enemy. Ypg was not enemy in past but now it is. And other countries must think that way too. Otherwise he threats you to find another ally or friend. And say that you are not real friend or ally. He is making face and that's really childish and unrealistic. So in the end, who will be our friend? Russia? Iran? Syria, İsrail, Suudi Arabia. Come on... Russia killed three Turkish soldiers in Syria and it was said, it was an accident. But it was a retaliation for Russian plane. And in the past they invaded our land many times and they always imply to attack our country. Syria & Esad are already our enemy because we support jihadist rebels, Iran side with Syria and Russia and they are strong Sia islamist. We are also odd with Egypt because Erdoğan support Muslim brotherhood which is recognized as terrorist organization by Egyptian army and government. And with S.Arabia is same situation. He has classical Islamist policy. I am always right, west is always enemy. And he knows that Turkish people are emotional. So he can control their emotions through media. That's the summary of Turkish policy.
17
The US should not throw stones in its glass house.
8
Think-tank after think-tank, American and European alike, has put out study after study showing how you actually staged the coup of 2016 to push your agenda for more concentrated power.
You have arrested hundreds of thousands, yes, hundreds of thousands of innocents in the name of that staged coup. You brought your armed thugs to D.C., many who are now charged with assaulting Americans like me who protest your leadership. You bring your Grey Wolves agenda to national political parties in European countries like DENK in The Netherlands. We see through your skulduggery.
I don't like Trump as much as the next 6 out of 10 Americans. But you sir deserve everything Trump throws at you.
29
When bullies but heads......
2
To understand today's tensinon between USA and Turkey is need to go back last decate. Gulen escaped to USA in 1999 ,but in that time there was no Erdogan's goverment when Gules escaped. Erdogan became a prime minister in 2002 and also usa backed Gulen movement supported Erdogan during his election campaigns. Later on ,in Turkey usd backed Gulen movement members wrapped everywhere like a cobweb in education, economics, academy, judgement, police, militiray....
Erdogan and his cabined have been awared of that usd backed Gulen movement was aiming to take control of whole state. They were working for a Gulen's revolution in turkey and then Gulen would be back to Turkey as a usa backed lider. So Erdogan started to clear every area of the state from Gulen movement members since 2009. He fired Gulen related staffs from the state... this caused to start fight with usa backed Gulen and Erdogan government ( turkish public backed Erdogan )... 15th July,2016 we had got a coup attemp by Gulen movement, but it failed with our strong standing up in front of weapons.
7
@Ibrahim In addition of Mr Ibrahim, Can any USA citizen explain that why USA protect Fetullah Gülen in Pennsylvania by lots of FBI agent ?
Why USA government pay lots of money for security of Fetullah Gulen by your Taxes. Why Fetullah Gulen is very important for USA government much more than normal USA citizen ?
If you need evidence to find responsible of failed coup in Turkey, just look at that perspective.
2
Some readers says: Erdogan is opposite of kurtish. His wife is kurtish. :). He is opposite of terror groups as pkk, IS, pyd etc... Usa (a rich group in usa) want just to get oil from North Iraq. Because they bought all oil companies a few years ago.Just to get oil to Mediternian sea, they can kill all citizens there, arabic, turkish or kurdish, moslim or christian... They used there just to kill people firs IS and now pkk... u can just seach the oil companies in North Iraq, and when they were bought and when began usa to help pyd....
4
When I saw the name of the author I went straight to the comments. Why give that lying dictator the light of day?
15
The NYT, which never seeks to remind us of the value of journalism and freedom of the press, has published an op-ed by this reporter-jailing, despot-in-waiting? How many journalists, soldiers, civil servants, teachers etc has this man ordered locked up? And what of the autocratic powers he has had bestowed on himself? What of those US citizens his goons attacked in the US?
And I’ve yet to see any evidence that Mr Gulen was behind that coup.
20
@Mat
Tens of thousands, he has locked up tens of thousands of ‘em.
1
Why is the NYT providing a platform to this man? I did not subscribe to hear the lies of a despot whose country imprisons more journalists than any other in the world.
10
@Dario Pollice
The NYT gives Erdogan the platform so all can see his hypocrisy !
1
@Dario Pollice Why? Were you impressed by the quality of his writing? You also understand that poor writing can undermine your case and appear foolish. Erdogan took a chance. He sounds like a tired, old man but right now he's also news. Why wouldn't the paper agree?
1
@Dario Pollice Our Dear Leader has provided a platform to Putin. So what is wrong with giving equal time. Oh, by the way, he has also provided a voice to white nationalists extremists.
Give us a break Mr. Erdogan. This is pure propaganda aimed at trying to justify your undemocratic and simply dangerous behaviour.
You kowtowed to Putin after he showed you your boundaries, and since then you have been on a rampage against anyone you view as being weak. Your countrymen will pay the price for your nepotism and dictatorial behaviour. For decades to come.
That the current POTUS is a first rate idiot isclear and non-debatable. That is another issue.
17
How many supporters of free democracy were jailed, killed, silenced after the attempted coup? Mr. Erdogan is a dictator consolidating power and jailing critics and free press. I have no faith in US Administration's motives, which are always related to lining the pockets of this POTUS, but I have no sympathy for dictators and their supporters.
18
Erdogan was very happy when Donald Trump won the election. As a Turk, I can comfortably say that the source of our nearly all problems is President Erdogan himself. Instead of looking in the mirror, Turks are used to look outside whenever we face danger. You have caused the biggest distraction that this great country has ever experienced Mr Erdogan.
13
What is frightening is seeing this president in all his actions doing the kind of fracturing of relationships that must make Putin happy. Maybe that's what they discussed privately.
5
The problem with the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey is that they are both wrong. Neither has the moral right to preach to the other about human rights, which is ostensibly what the U.S. sanctions were all about:
Erdogan has turned Turkey into an Islamic Police State, undoing the exceptional achievements of the great secular democrat, Kemal Ataturk.
The U.S. has been blowing up everything in the Middle East, either directly or through proxies. The U.S. has also tacitly condoned Israel's formal transformation into a racist state with basic rights afforded only to Jews.
So the U.S. and Turkey can continue screaming senselessly at each other, while in fact each would each achieve far more by looking in the mirror.
79
Whatever one thinks of Mr Erdogan, the story is mostly about US foreign policy (seen from the outside). Turkey isn’t the only nation to experience the bullying and asymmetry that comes with relations with the United States. And no American, in the early days of the 21st century, has any right (or credibility) to lecture other nations about the nature of democracy and the sins of autocrats. We have long been outstripped in the arena of well-functioning democracies. Viewed with any kind of impartial critical eye, ours is a farce. I don’t even have to mention the current occupant of the White House. Kudos to the NYT for printing Mr. Erdogan’s letter.
17
Thank you @Gerald, the best comment out of 100s
2
If erdogan is dictator you need to proof this. I m living in Turkey and our democracy powerful than a lot of countries (for example 15 July Coup) Erdogan can make mistake but he is a leader of Turkey. He is changing the world's balance. U.S and Israel dont want the strong leader in Middle East. They know if Middle East havent a leader, they can easily steal petrol, and another mine.
2
@Furkan Durmaz The USA has plenty of oil and doesn't need to "steal" the oil of others. US oil companies are engaged in international development throughout the globe, with the approval of those nations and private sector groups. Things are not black and white in terms of world politics, but shades of gray. Trump, the repulsive US president doesn't understand diplomacy, but plenty of people in the US do. Do not judge us all by him.
4
Huh? This self-serving article omits central issues. Turkey, under Erdogan, has jailed more journalist than any other country, that Kurds have been reliable allies of the as in fighting ISIS—considerably more reliable than Erdogan, and that the link with Gulen, although plausible, doesn’t not reach the level to justify deportation and certain extremes punishment by Erdogan.
First, Erdogan must demonstrate his commitment to Western values and one place to start is an open trial of the American pastor. Followed by allowing open media, he may increase his credibility in the eyes of many Americans.
3
At least this is a reasoned op-ed in a reputable paper. That is, it's not just a tweet from a golden throne or a golf-cart. Turkey is in two or three cleft-sticks. American whites moan about multiculturism, as if they knew what that meant, but Turkey has the mother of all ethnic and religious tensions within its borders. I grew up with the names of Gallipolli and the Dardanelles all around me. Barbara Tuchman's fine book, The Guns of August, details the efforts of German, French, Russian, and British diplomats to draw Turkey into an alliance. And here we are, a century and four years later, still trying to make sense of the land of Constantinople/Istanbul and of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.
8
This is what happens when dumb meets dumber.
The problem with Turkey is that it still believes that despite it being a bankrupt backwater country it still is a global power like the Turkish Empire of old and that Erdogan is some sort of allmighty sultan.
The problem with Trump is that he believes that putting sanctions on each and every nation that will not completely submit under his command is a solution to anything.
The only thing that will happen is that Turkey will fall apart and become another rogue Islamic State like Afghanistan and the US will go bankrupt, not because Turkey is such an important partner for the US, it may be in the NATO but seen from an economic perspective it isn't, but because Trump will try to apply this recipe of sanctions against each and ever nation he does not like or understand.
In the end, the US will fail because it will have been able to completely isolate itself from everything it needs to do business.
Turkey and its demise is just a stepping stone.
I assume that China and the EU will be next and those are much stronger entities than Turkey.
Those are the foreign entities that will bring down the US on an economic level.
Time to get rid of Erdogan as well as Trump.
19
Big win for russia, another sign us losing its edge.
9
I'm no expert on these matters. However, my observations of the developments in Turkey over the past decade and the critism Erdogan has received during this time begs the question...
Why then do the majority of the Turkish nation continue to elect this "Dictator" Erdogan and his poor policies to govern them, time and time again?..
5
@Phoenix kind of like us electing Trump but twice. Just imagine Trump's diehard supporters being 50% instead of 30ish and we are Turkey (and cooked).
3
@Phoenix because he is the best man serving his country & his people after the Kemal Ataturk who founded the state of Turkey.
2
It's a veiled threat to the US about the safety of its military base in Turkey and the strategic stakes in the Middle East.
9
@Prof. Jai Prakash Sharma
From a New Yorker, currently in Jaipur, a reminder: read prof. Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilization" to fully comprehend Turkey's political vector under Erdogan.
2
@
Prof. Jai Prakash Sharma
Jak, It's not a clash of civilisation but a clash of two leaders with authoritarian instincts trying to play the one-upmanship game. As about the Huntington thesis that is proved wrong by the intra sect strife and the Sunni-Shiite violent conflict for dominance or the inner contradictions of the transatlantic alliance made more pronounced by Trump. Thanks.
I think Trump wants Turkey out of NATO and western world. I don't know how this will help US, west and Turkey. This is clearly a lose-lose proposition. Hope common sense wins and both leders find a way to agree.
1
Though Turkey has been part of the Western alliance, the current government does not allow dissent. In fact prior governments had problems with criticism, especially assertions of non Turkish identity by ethnic minorities. If they have to seek other friends so be it.
Yes, it is convenient to have them as an ally, but they can hardly project power. And as far a capital for investment, they need the west so over time, they will come back.
3
The obvious retort is that Erdogan is a dictator who is ruining his country’s economy, looking to crush the Kurds and and more. But the salient point is that if America had a real president, America’s problems with Turkey would be managed, shall we say, more adroitly.
Trump is trashing the world order. Some in the punditocracy like to opine about how he is a symptom of larger post 2008 forces, not the cause. But the truth is that the amount and scope of power invested in that office is in its own way dictatorial and gives this one individual vast latitude for actions such as we have seen. Exacerbating the lack of controls on your executive is a Republican Congress that seem to be eager to become slaves.
Democracies do not go to war with each other.
77
@D Priest
Im sorry But democratic peace theory is an absolute joke, and is not reflective of realities, the reality is that these sorts of things have less to do with internal dynamics of a state and more to do with Geopolitical realities, the hostilities towards turkey have less to do with turkey's internal strifes, and more to go with a rebalancing toward the east in many forums for Turkey. Note how none of the western commentators(or atleast many who choose to remain quiet) talk about Sisi's Egypt others who have internal problems but are aligned with the occidental geopolitical nexus. Nixon threatened to Bomb India during the war with Pakistan. there were absolutely nuclear threats made. it was only after the soviet union stepped in, that the US backed off. India(which was part of the Non Aligned movement, but friendly towards the Soviets) was under a democratically elected govt then, and Pakistan was a military dictatorship(but was aligned with the US). The US chose Pakistan over India in that case, b/c of geopolitics.
Take a look at Suharto and Indonesia, and take a look at who the US supported, the US supported Suharto b/c he was anti communist, against an opposition that had socialist leanings.
we can go on and on, with south American examples of anti community dictators being supported to the detriment of democratically elected govts, who had socialist leaning in terms of outlook on economy and had an anti imperialist tinge.
Erdogan is trying to confound two totally different things here:
1. In 2016, by any objective measure the democratic format of Turkey was being threatened by Turkish religious and political leaders. Unique to Turkey is the fact that the military has a job description that is such that when this happens, it is supposed to intervene and restore democracy.
Contrary to what Erdogan claims here, restoring democracy means restoring a free press, freedom of expression and separation of the three branches of power, NOT allowing a president elected by a majority of voters to do no matter what he wants to do, including undermining the democratic character of the Turkish state.
We all know that with sufficient propaganda, a majority of ordinary citizens can start to believe in, vote for and elect politicians that actively want to limit the power of ordinary citizens to determine what decisions a government will take. THAT is clearly what was happening in Turkey in 2016, and is even worse today.
2. Trump is totally wrong to start attacking longstanding traditional US allies for respecting the Iran nuclear deal when even all American inspectors have proven that Iran is respecting its engagements. So of course he shouldn't try to force Turkey to no longer do business with Iran. It's bad enough that he himself unilaterally broke America's engagements without any serious alternative plan. His irrational temper tantrums ARE indeed driving US allies into the arms of Russia and China ...
101
@Ana Luisa
Yours is by far the most serious and accurate depiction of how Erdogan has seized defacto theocratic dictatorship in Turkey and how the irrational behavior of Trump is destroying American credibility in the world.
1
It is a very sad thing when country leaders have no recourse but to post a public letter instead of having dialogues with the US country leader. Despite the problems of the choices made by both countries for President, it is tragic that the nor channels of diplomacy have been sabotaged. Turkey has been a US ally of great importance for many years. This letter is a clear threat.
4
Substitute “Turkey” for any other country and, in a nutshell, you have Trumplomacy. Soon, we will be an island.
53
@Bill
Turkey is currently in an economic crisis purely of their own making. Granted, President Trump is exerting maximum pressure at this time, but the American Pastor wasn’t even in Turkey during the attempted coup and no evidence has been presented against him. Because of the size of the US economy America will never be an island.
3
@Jim The size of America's economy makes America an empire. Which is crumbling, and driven asunder from within by its own president who ruthlessly exploits his country's hopelessly divided political system to his own economical gain, with plutocrats rising to the top and remaining there like the scum in a soup... This may make America not an island. But an increasingly hostile environment for the vast number of US citizens whose only occupation is trying to survive. I am very concerned about leaders like Trump and Erdogan, because they fail to see the worldwide consequences of their hypernationalist views and actions. Here we have one dictator warning another, who loves to be one. And these are only two among many others.
The bullying behavior of the US toward an ally is an issue not confined to Turkey, and separate from the specific disputes about which the US bullies.
The US have behaved badly at least since Dubya's "with us or against us" declaration that was taken very badly by many of our allies. We forget. They don't.
In many cases, the bullying becomes more important to the one bullied than the underlying dispute. These are the leaders of nations, and they are very careful of how they are treated, to remain leaders.
Many here just don't like Erdogan. They mostly don't like Trump either. They have reasons for those feelings. They mustn't excuse Trump's bad behavior just to bash on Erdogan. That is behaving like Trump, like what he hopes for among his followers. Don't be that.
FDR and Churchill were carefully correct toward Stalin, and rightly so. Nixon was carefully correct toward Mao, and rightly so. Erdogan doesn't hold a candle to Stalin or Mao. Even Trump behaved better even to Kim Jong-un, once he was meeting with him.
There is a right way to deal with an ally, and we are not doing it. In fact, we may well have participated in that regime change coup attempt, and Erdogan was just polite enough here to hint at that without open accusation.
We could mess this up, and our exit from two or three wars too, and we are on our way to making a mess of it.
73
@Mark Thomason
The US participated in the attempted coup in Turkey ?
You’ve gotta be kidding.
The “coup” was engineered by Erdogan himself as a ploy to purge hundreds of teachers, judges, military personal and journalists. Open your eyes Mark.
2
Our friendship went south when the citizens of Turkey chose Mr. Erdogan. Its a sad thing to lose a friend, but sometimes friends choose dark paths that we cannot follow.
9
@Ann
No, your interests went south and then you lost the friendship of citizens of Turkey. US supported terrorists organizations instead of its NATO ally Turkey.
And people of Turkey revoted for Erdogan. This is said by me, by opposition of Erdogan.
An utterly brilliant photograph! Perfectly coincidental timing! Both presidents caught on camera with their political identities 'out front in red white and blue'.
American evangelicals are running Trump's foreign policy towards Turkey. You know. His base.
15
Ridiculous, how Mr. Erdogan is presenting his government as "democratic". What about free press? What about proper discussions with internal and foreign critics. Mr. Erdogan compares German politicians like Mrs. Merkel Nazis and massively increases tension and frustration with Turkey from his side. It's about time that he get's clear sanctions. But as a side comment: too many crazy leaders around like Putin, Un, Erdogan and unfortunately Trump...
16
@Volker
Why dont you talk abaut PKK kurdish terrorist group which your country protects them?
Is this democracy? I think you look yourself and your country first.
Recept Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's President, has been in power too long. Time for the Turkish people to rise up, repeal and replace him.
4
@Nan Socolow
And you call this democracy? Should American people who don't support Trump rise up, repeal and replace him?
5
@Nan Socolow try to help to change Saudi regime please.
1
@Nan Socolow,
what exactly is the difference between your call for regime change and the Russian meddling in elections in the US?
4
Attaturk turns in his grave as you destroy the secular democracy he established. You will go down in history as a man with no vision, who set his country back 50yrs.
26
Erdogan is a dictator but Trump is going for a new Venezuela, and who will pay is turkish people and international security. The coup failed, in Brazil it was a sucess and look at Brazil two years after. Look at the infant mortality, crime, and employment. Look at the trust of Brazilians in their american flavoured justice. Erdogan warned Dilma Roussef there was a CIA coup against her. The first coup failed in Turkey, now we have the second, with other arms. Because Erdogan had tried to do a an agreement with Iran, and Brazil? And wanted to join the BRICS? Who controls USA now? Where are these people leading the world to? Anyway it's good news for Putin.
5
some quick thoughts:
-turkey led the world in disappeared journalists in the early '90s, and that situation is back today...
-turkey was an authoritarian but secular state for 70 years, and the secular urbanites were completely out of touch with rural (and quite religious) turkey
-turkey has viciously repressed all of its minorities. the armenians were slaughtered, the greeks fled, and the jews emigrated. for the past 40 years, there has been war with turkey's kurds and one third of the country is a war zone
-turkish F16s overfly Greek islands daily, as turkey is now calling into question greek possession of many aegean islands
-turkey has severely curtailed the rights of the liberal Alevi minority (an off shoot of shia islam that prays with music and dance, where men and women mix freely). this situation is quite worrisome, as the Alevi are at least 20% of the population, and are viewed as apostates by religious sunni muslims.
big trouble is coming in turkey...
13
@cossak Please do not believe what the media says. I'm a Turk. And there is no warfare in the third of the country. Only Erdogan takes the country backwards. He votes in an ignorant mindset.
1
the attempt to overthrow was staged. a pr show just at the right time to cement the power of erdogan. trump does something right the first time.
3
Is Trump under orders from Putin to “punish” Turkey with tariffs? Will Turkey react by leaving NATO? Is this all part of a grand plan?
7
Mr Erdogan should remember well that what goes around comes around. Some years ago, full of arrogance, the Turkish finance minister "offered" to lend money to the crisis-stricken Greece. Of course, the offer was anything but a benign offer of assistance. Turkey, for the next years and while Greece struggled to overcome the crisis, kept bullying its neighbor, intervening in Greek affairs and violating Greek airspace and waters constantly. Mr Erdogan reached his peak delusion when he illegally detained 2 Greek Army officers, keeping them imprisoned until today without even pressing charges for something! Not to mention the pretext he found with the "coup" attempt to purge Turkey from his opponents. So, now he lectures the US and the West about how they let down Turkey and him. Well, I say that it is about time the the West finally stand up to his thuggish government who illegally occupies half of Cyprus, terrorizes its own citizens and supports extremist Islamists in the Middle East. Enough! Turkey is not a reliable ally and most certainly is not a democratic country respecting both the rule of law internally and the international law. Mr Erdogan's delusions of grandeur blind him and will be his undoing ultimately. For the good of the Turkish people and the entire Balkans and the Middle East, I hope that he will go quietly.
15
@DTheo We did not invade Cyprus. Since the Greek Cypriots persecuted people of Turkish descent, we went there to protect the majority of Turkish Cypriots. Do not misunderstand. I'm not a Erdogan fan.
@Metin There was indeed ethnic violence from both sides (the stupid locals, both Greeks and Turks were used by Greece, Turkey and the UK) and Turkey had a pretext to invade militarily a sovereign country. It should have withdrawn however and not stay there for fourty years, changing the country’s ethnic composition by bringing in settlers from turkey and changing the status quo.
I am not a fan of Erdogan. I read below comments and you are right about some points as there is no justice in Turkey, there is no independent media. We have one man only and he pushes us to like what he likes and hate what he hates.
The biggest problem is in Turkey isn't our huge debts. The problem is we can't hear any second thoughts. But all these things are our internal matters and we will find a way to get over with them.
I saw some comments according to Menbij. You are saying us to "get your hands off to Menbij". I suggest you before saying that please take a look to the world map.
Everyday our heroes giving their lives for preventing ISIS and PKK(YPG) attacks. What will do U.S if their citizen killed everyday with bomb or any other attacks ? I think we all saw it with 9/11. U.S protected his citizens after 9/11 and now we are protecting our citizens from terrorists.
Maybe we don't have "Ataturk" anymore but we have his thoughts and ideas. I hope my country will return to his ideas in a short term.
6
The honour & protection of being a NATO-member should be exclusively reserved for those countries in the world where the rule of law is unquistionable maintained by their administration. That excludes Turkey and includes other (Asian) countries such as Japan, South Korea and India and in other parts of the globe South Africa, Brazil , Australia etc.
4
"Failure to reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect will require us to start looking for new friends and allies."
As much as I oppose Mr. Erdogan's autocratic leadership, Turkey remains a member of NATO, is located at the critical crossroads of East and West, and is a strategic ally, at least for the time being.
It seems both leaders need to dial back the rhetoric and start a low level dialogue to improve relations. The last thing the U.S. should want is to have Turkey leave NATO, or worse as Mr. Erdogan states above, find new friends and allies.
3
"Attempting to force my government to intervene in the judicial process is not in line with our Constitution or our shared democratic values".
May be. But if the judicial process is not in line with the Sultan Erdogan, just change the judges.
9
@Candide001 You don't know anything about the people of Turkey,We have a big democracy in middle east,Erdogan won elections and Turkish people (%52) supported him and Erdogan is not a dictator İt is a big lie from Fethullah Gülens terörists,and USA goverment defeence them in Pensilvania .Andrew Brunson is not a pastour he is work for CIA.(Soryy for my bad english,I hope you can understand to me )
1
@İrfan Just having alot of votes in the elections actually says nothing about the precidency is a dictatorship or not.
We've seen this in Germany where a dictator got legally ellected. Same is true for Turkye now.
Erdogan has established a dictatorship in turkey and increasingly messed up relationships with most European countries by his own fault. Due to this i have many relationships between turkish and kurdish people living in Germany seen worsening, also many germans now are more suspicious about how Erdogan uses the turkish people in germany for his politics. In this conflict with the US Erdogan will definitely be on his own
2
Mr. Erdogan, we do not know you much, your footprint suggests your duplicity on values, and your article is one sided. It fails to look at the contrary point of view, as a mature statesman might.
To threaten that you have options is childish. I learned in business school, and you might benefit from learning, that you should make a threat in negotiation only if you can pull the trigger if needed.
Russia is not an option for you. They will eat Turkey for chocolate.
So stop threatening, and open yourselves up. Your people want it. They have launched more than one coup, haven’t they?
If your country wants Western values, what business do you have to deny them?
And if they don’t, well, writing unilateral opinion pieces in US papers is a giant waste of everyone’s time.
Including a President’s.
7
I consider myself a staunch Ataturkist. One need not to be Sherlock Holmes to guess that I've never voted for Mr. Erdogan. However his arguments in this essay are essentially what most Turks feel. Infantile outbursts by Trump
only galvanize the Turkish public behind the global distaste for American policy bumbling. Lost under the cacophony of arguments is the fact that trying to bully Turkey has been US policy since we refused taking place in the catastrophic Iraqi invasion of 2003. Despite all this entangled incompetence of diplomaacy, let us never forget that in political science there is a concept called "natural allies". United States and Turkey are the definition of that relationship. Surrounded by the spheres of influence of long term rivals such as Russia, China and Iran, the Turkish people are the last best hope for a globally integrated strong Turkic muslim country that upholds western principles. To alienate that people after all that they have persevered as a medium power through the ordeals of the Ottoman decline, Ataturk's triumph and the 80 year journey to a functioning democracy is quite simply a byproduct of lack of vision by the Pentagon, CIA and your Evangelical controlled President. Sheltering Fethullah Gülen will cost so much more than it gains for the United States. Let us never forget that Presidents come and go, but people remain. The Turkish state was there before American one, and will exist long after American primacy declines.
3
Ataturk's Turkey and Lincoln's America are no more, so the story of cooperation between America and Turkey Mr. Erdogan is referring to is about two countries that have ceased to exist. Turkey and the United States are now in the hands of two dictators which apparently have unlimited power to destroy an international order aiming to peace as well as the basic freedoms of their citizens. Let's hope for a change, so that Turkey and America cease to be identified with intolerance, prejudice and corruption.
4
@Agustin Blanco Bazan Comparing both Ataturk with Lincolnd but also Trump with Erdogan is absurd. Lincoln was a staunch democrat who abolished slavery in the US. Ataturk was a dictatorial leader who massacred countless Greeks and other minorities in the territories of the former Ottoman Empire. And of course while Trump is a flawed leader, with illiberal insticts and with anti free-press tendencies, he is not an elected dictator who imposed a state of emergency in order to purge the country of his political opponents, which is exactly who Erdogan is.
2
@DTheo
I see Greek education is still woefully bad. Ataturk did nothing except being a great man, and schooling many greeks on the art of war, but then again I guess that is why you remain sore dear neighbor.
Why would the NYT agree to give this Dictator a platform. Erdogan rightfully should have been toppled from power in 2016 but the U.S. could not figure out a way to turn off Facebook - thereby allowing Erdogan to summon his mainly anti-Western supporters into the streets & thwart the coup attempt. Since then democracy in Turkey has been usurped by Erdogan, thousands imprisoned, hundreds of thousands fired, the free press throttled, support for Hamas, Iran & Russia increased. He is a problem that needs to be dealt with forcefully & not coddled. Under Erdogan Turkey has been moved from a secular state to an islamic state & under Erdogan Turkey deserves to be treated as an adversary!
9
@Robbie why do you call him as Dictator. Does dictators come to power with election. He got %52 in the last election. If another canditate could get it he or she would be the president. I did not vote to him but I have to respect to public choice. In the parliament he lost the majority. He needs to collaborate with other parties to issue an Act. I dont think he is a dictator.
2
@Ceyhun
Because Dictators stifle political opposition; because Dictators clamp down on the free press; because Dictators take all the levers of power into their own hands - like appointing Judges, putting family members in positions of power, rounding up & jailing opponents, real & imagined. Glad you have a lot of confidence in the integrity of the Turkish electoral system - hope that is not what is coming to America!
I think people fail to recognize the PKK as a terror organization, Turkey has repeatedly had terror attacks carried out by the group inside Turkey, If you consider Hamas a terror organization, If you consider the IRA in the UK a terror organization, then it is absolutely hypocritical to not see the PKK as a terror organization. This group has been responsible for numerous car bombings inside turkey on civilians, just this year it was responsible for setting up IEDs inside Turkish cities that killed a mother and her child. In fact the PKK has an infamous reputation of being known as "baby killers" for their attacks on civilians in Turkey. they have been responsible for carrying out murder of Kurds who dont agree with the group's warped ideas. So people should understand why Turkey is behaving the way it is in its attitude towards the US and its recklessness and shortsightedness in its Syria policy.
Now the terror organization is using Syria as a launching pad for attacks inside Turkey, and as a safe haven, and is being supplied with weapons by the US, which they have been recorded in using attacks on Turkey which is a NATO ally, so we have a case of a NATO ally directly arming an organization that is using the weaponry against another NATO ally and posing a threat and causing carnage to its Citizenry and jeopardizing its territorial integrity.
2
Turkeys alliance with the west was always a threat to Russia .. now Trump is pushing turkey towards Russia ..
It’s all make sense when we know there is a COLLUSION between Trump and Russia .
2
this article reads like an ultimatum to the U.S. Choose Turkey and me (Erdogan) over all my enemies (both real and imaginary) or else i will find others more deserving of my friendship (insert Putin and Russia).
4
Erdoğan’s oped mentions Turkey’s good deeds in the relationship between the 2 countries, most of which took place before either leader was in power. It’s also a 1 sided view: it doesn’t mention the unruly, bully-like, autocratic, corrupt side of his administration. At the end of the day, Erdogan’s destructive policies & his hunger to waste borrowed money on low value add projects brought about the failure of Turkish economy. However, his oped brings up interesting questions & provides a different perspective on Turkish-US relations.
Erdogan started out as a US-CIA project (falls on to US media to research that) & was paired with Fethullah (also a US-CIA project). So what happened that led to a parting of ways, a failed coup & US’s harboring of Fethullah, deemed a terrorist by its NATO ally, Turkey?
These questions can’t be answered without peeling off the layers behind US’s foreign policy in the Middle East & its strategy vs China in the battle of global leadership. Invasion of Iraq based on a WMD lie, destabilization of Syria with poor excuses, manipulation of Kurds as manpower to avoid sending US troops with the premise of an independent Kurdish state, etc. are all pieces of this puzzle & no, it’s not just about oil.
It’s easy to be provoked by these unruly leaders, whether they’re Turkish or American. What we need to remember is we see just the outer layer of something far more intrinsic going on. So, ask questions, read & demand better journalism & reliable information.
23
The ypg/ypg/PKK group is a communistic, dangerous terrorist group which will use any means necessary to achieve their goals. They have slaughtered tens of thousands of civilians, including children, to achieve their goals. They make use of child soldiers by abducting them from refugee camps because communists can't attract enough fresh blood for their fight. They hid behind the pretense of fighting Isis to steal Syrian lands. They have been terrorising locals, notably Assyrian, to assert control and dominance over Syrian lands. No one sane can support such a inhumane group. But the trump admin does and so does many commentators here, which is SAD!
Erdoğan has been democratically elected with massive turnouts that "modern", "democratic" nations can only dream of. No one can give a lesson on democracy to turkey, especially the united states, which has slaughtered millions of innocents in the name of democracy. You can not impose democracy on any one, and democracy is a system that can not be imposed. It is developed through culture and societal evolution.
Unfortunately, many so called "journalist" are just pawns of secret services. They do not fulfill any role of information or journalistic duty. Their goal is to disinform people and create discord. Many such cases in turkey, and these people WILL end up in jail (and not dead like in the usa). One has to wonder what a pastor is doing in a country so far away from his familly,... An irresponsible man for certain.
1
Erdogan is an anti-democratic autocrat who has used many of Trump's tactics before Trump came along: Claims of "deep state" conspiracies, demonizing the media (and, in his case, arresting journalists and shutting down media outlets), and arresting his opponents. He has used a supposed coup as an excuse to fire thousands of government employees and arrest thousands more. He has also used this event as an excuse to declare an almost permanent state of national emergency. He has created a bogeyman in Gulen, who lives in the US, because every dictator needs a threat to justify the extreme measures and absolute control he exercises. And through word and deed he has rejected the secularism of modern day Turkey and moved his country perceptively toward embracing more hard line Islamist philosophy as a governing tool.
I despise Trump but certainly weep no tears for Erdogan, a Putin wannabe who has done little but reduce freedoms and increase state control in his once vibrant country. solely to entrench himself in power. Attaturk must be spinning in his grave at the thought of what this petty dictator has done to the Turkey he ushered into the modern world.
10
For the NYT to be able to publish articles such as this one is fantastic for their subscribers. Whether you agree with the narrative or not, to be able to publish an opinion piece by a sitting president a day after such a major global event shows the strength and standing that The NY Times carries.
21
@Bryce
Excellent point.Turkey is hard to pin down but this op ed at least gives you a direct perspective
2
In February, Erdogan promised the US an "Ottoman Slap". Trump just gave him an American Right.
People should also stop referring to the PKK as "the kurds" b/c this is insulting to the Kurds, it would be like referring the ISIS as "the Arabs" or "the muslims". Turkey does not have an issue with "the kurds", this is misinformation. if anyone bothered to look, they will see that Turkey supports the KDP which is the ruling party inside Iraqi Kurdistan, and Turkey has a good relationship with the Barzani clan which is the head of the KDP inside Iraq. Turkey has a long relationship with the KDP, in assisting the group when they were fleeing Saddam and Turkey has ben arming and training the KDP Peshmerga in its fight against ISIS in Iraq. It should also be noted that Kurds serve in the Turkish Military, and make up a significant portion of the Turkish Armed forces, it should also be mentioned that around half the Kurds in Turkey vote for the AK Party, and that the AK Party was cofounded by many Kurds, and that Kurds serve and many Kurds like Mehmet Şimşek(Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, also served as Minister of Finance previously) have served as ministers in govt. Also if anyone bothered to do research they could see the reforms the AK Party brought for Kurdish rights inside Turkey for Kurdish rights, both linguist and cultural, among many others, again there is a reason why the AK Party has Kurds serving in high offices of govt and why half the Kurds in Turkey vote for the AK Party.
No the Problem that Turkey has is with the PKK, and its warped views.
I am no expert on political issues.
Nonetheless, I have always been reading news with employing a heightened sense of separating 'realities' from 'agendas' and 'opinions'.
Following Erdogan "textbook case" of extending his powers to near 'absolute level' through systematic 'mini-coups', methods copied from the early stages of the Iranian revolution, I have difficulty seeing any sincerity in his words.
Moreover, by collecting evidences, I have come to believe the alleged 'conspiracy' to topple the Turkish government by sympathizers of Gullen, was a 'manufactured' coup by Erdogan himself.
10
This smokescreen newstory ignores the most egregious approved strongman behavior between Trump and Erdogan.
In May 2017, Erdogan's security thugs beat up a group of peaceful American protestors outside the Turkish Embassy in Washington Dc.
It was captured on camera, approved by Erdogan.
Autocrat wanna-be Trump said absolutely nothing about the incident. Not a word.
In other words, Trump indirectly approved Erdogan's action and wishes he could get away with similar abuse in our slowly eroding democratic America.
7
This is a well toned down and diplomatic article. As Turkish citizen, I could be more blunt. Since 1950s we were living under semi colonnial US regime. US needed Turkey against Soviet block threat and as guardian of its middleeastern oil/gas benefits. Turkey needed US because of mistrust against traditional enemy Russia, communism against religion and severe lack of industrial/technological infrastructure. Now all these factors are vanishing since 1980s and Turkey wants to have an independent agenda. Instead of respecting and adapting to that, US governments use every possible means (supporting Kurdish “rebels”, managing the country via heavyhanded pro-US generals, stagingbcoup via US grown fanatic Gulenists and now economic assault) to undermine this development. This is a nasty imperial power which is angry to its former vassal state. What is happening has nothing much to do with Mr. Erdoğan being a dictator etc (which is a very exaggerated statement anyway). Anyway we are en route to a painful divorce. Turkey will continue to establish stronger ties with China and Russia who is already helping Turkey in lowering the energy deficit (by establishing nuclear plants) and in acquiring advanced technology (such as long range missiles) At least they do not attack and undermine our country ilke what US has been doing since 1970s.
2
All I know about this is what I read here, that said Erdogan sounds like he has set himself up to be the life long supreme ruler of Turkey. I believe the place is now a democracy in name only. He seems to have the same thoughts as our dear leader, only he can fix it, the media is the enemy of the country, etc. I believe neither can be believed or trusted. We should leave them alone and let their people work out their problems.
7
@Thomas RennerYou don't know anything about the people of Turkey,We have a big democracy in middle east,Erdogan won elections and Turkish people (%52) supported him and Erdogan is not a dictator İt is a big lie from Fethullah Gülens terörists,and USA goverment defeence them in Pensilvania .Andrew Brunson is not a pastour he is work for CIA.(Soryy for my bad english,I hope you can understand
2
NYT should not offer this dictator such a platform. He's just gaslighting for Turkey like Trump does for the US, not for the country, but for his own power. What is the United States going to do when he makes good on his talk of taking back Greek islands? When will the world realize that the Kurds are the largest population in the world without their own country, which basically comprises the entire eastern quarter of Turkey?
Ugh.
5
Let's not forget how Erdogan's thuggish bodyguards viciously attacked anti-Erdogan protesters in Washington DC -- Turkish political brutality on American soil -- in 2017. The Trump administration did nothing, and whatever charges that were brought were eventually dropped.
14
A truly educational diatribe from the new Sultan. All the same old grievances based nothing or half truths conveniently told by lair. Now, as always seems to happen at some point, the New Dictators economy is going south. And of course that's everyone elses fault: not his. Freedom & The Rule of Law are gone now in Turkey. It only took a few years to pull it off.
A cautionary tale for Americans in the time of the Jackal-in-Chief. Resist.
2
This should be known that Turkey is no longer old Turkey. Whatever you do, we are not puppets like other countries to swallow them. President Erdogan stands against hypocrisy as our nation does. You say, we are allies but you send arms to terrorist PKK from behind. Indeed list goes but no need to write, because you will not believe. You are deceived.
4
@Hüseyin Fadullah Güngör
Both in Syria and Iraq, Kurdish leaders have been invaluable NATO allies in their fight against dictators which were undeniably Turkey's enemies too.
You cannot expect other NATO members to not collaborate with local groups fighting with us (= including Turkey).
Apart from that, installing a dictatorship in Turkey, as Erdogan is now formally doing (by ending the separation of the three branches of power and the freedom of the press) is certainly not an efficient answer to stop Kurdish terrorism inside Turkey.
Yes, all forms of terrorism should be condemned. That is why the PKK is on America's official terrorism list. But Turkey will have to negotiate with its Kurds and find a diplomatic solution, just like Spain and the UK did with their Basque and Irish internal terrorist groups. Turning Turkey into a dictatorship, as Erdogan is doing, won't do ANYTHING to solve this problem.
In the meanwhile, it's also thanks to the Kurds that today Turkey hasn't been thrown into an ISIS-led civil war yet, and that ISIS has largely remained outside of Turkey's borders.
If you cannot take the entire complexity of the situation into account, and prefer simplistic solutions (as any dictatorship proposes), you'll be never able to solve any problem, you'll only end up making it worse.
9
@Ana Luisa as a Turk, please distinguish between my lovely Kurdish brothers and PKK terrorists. They are NOT same. PKK doesn't represent Kurds.
Also as you said PKK is in America's terrorism list, then why they help to PKK? This clearly shows America is behind of them.
@Hüseyin Fadullah Güngör About time to get the PKK off the terrorist list and arm them to the teeth to stand firm against turkish oppression and dictatorship.
Erdogan can whine all he wants but either he takes steps to mend relations with the United States or he can watch the Lira's worth go to zero and his economy be ruined.
2
NYT: " In 1962, the Kennedy administration was able to get the Soviets to remove missiles from Cuba by removing Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey."
Actually, upon the discovery of Soviet missiles installed on Cuba and aimed at the USA, Kennedy announced and implemented the blockade of Cuba. He openly stated " he stated “ ... what we shall never choose is the path of surrender or submission”.
Understanding the USA strong position, Khrushchev dismantled the missles.
At least Trump won't throw me in prison if I mention certain historical facts.
3
Sure, both Erdogan and Trump got what they want, to solidify their base, but neither the majority of the Turkish nor the majority of the American peoples want. Nor the rest of the peace and freedom loving peoples of the world for that matter. So if you two would go away, and take other dictators with you, it will be perfect
As a left-winger, I am hugely amused by the USA insulting and alienating what had been one of its best allies.
And from the comments, most US citizens wholly fail to see what they've done wrong.
Another sign of the failure of the US hegemony.
4
This reads as a charmed story of former peace and cooperation, except it has never been that. Moderation on both sides quelled the governance differences but now with two old men at the helm, both with fixed ego centric viewpoints the inevitable fall out.
Both men harm their citizens and suppress democracy and free speech. Neither are trustworthy. However, Trump's unskilled attacks will create animus with a strategic ally that borders on foolishness. Considering all the fights hes'needlessly started, this is another step too far; executive overreach.
Each passing day, the Trump tedium parade trots out more Twitter bile. Trump must change his approach to dispel the description of being a one trick pony.
4
Erdogan was Trump before Trump was Trump. Erdogan has jailed hundreds of journalists, thousands of university professors, and moved to eliminate opposition. He has used the boogeyman of "enemies of the state" like dictators do to rile up the population to support his policies. The two leaders should enjoy their time together as brothers from another mother.
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@Chris
You and the others have to know that people in prison are not innocent.
America continues to use terrorists against us. And
we unfortunately realized this after 50 years later.
Maybe you must live in Turkey objectively before talk like that.
1
@Tunc - Tunc, while I do not live in Turkey, I have business interests in the country and have watched as the Turkey that I knew succumbed to a dictator. How would you describe the actions of a man who attacked the education system of the country revoking the licences of 21,000 staff working in private schools, >15,000 employees at the education ministry were fired, and the state-run higher education council demanded the resignation of 1,577 university deans?
Erdogan is a Strongman in a non democratic state who should align with Russia negating his NATO obligations. There is no rule of law in Turkey. He is essentially a leader for life with little tolerance for other opinions.
This is not a Western democracy. It is unclear whether Trump is playing to his own religious base when he jockeys for the release of the Baptist pastor.
Kurds have been abused, murdered, betrayed in the world of international duplicity by many governments including the USA.
Maybe a unified NATO approach to Turkey would be best but the Trump approach is as dysfunctional as the Erdogan government so political chaos will rule.
4
I am an American living in Berlin, Germany and I assure you, the Turkish people do NOT have a good feeling for the United States, in fact there is a deep hatred which runs through many of the Muslim communities in Europe. And when I went to Turkey (Istanbul) a few years a go, a woman hit me in the head with a wine bottle from behind.
There has been a history of sharing strategy and being allies in regard to who can benefit and when, but beyond that, and in recent decades, particularly since the inception of thousands of targeted drone attacks on foreign soil, there is only hatred for United States and Turkey should be considered a country who would like to see ours fail.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
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@LV I'm terribly sorry to hear that you were hit from behind with a wine bottle while in Istanbul. That is truly awful. However I cannot agree with you entirely about this hatred for Americans. I am an American who has been living in Istanbul for ten years, and I have never heard of such a thing happening to anyone I know. I do actually feel safer here on the street than I generally felt in the U.S., and my experience is that Istanbullus are patient, curious, helpful and kind.
I plan to stay here for the foreseeable future, with the full understanding that things may change rather quickly. I take the 20th-century lessons of the Holocaust, the Balkans, and Rwanda, in which neighbors turned on each other, quite seriously. I don't forget. But I maintain my optimism and my appreciation for friends and neighbors here. I hope that we will always be able to differentiate between individuals and their governments.
All the best to you LV.
4
@LV While I agree with your assesion that a lot of mulims in many ways rightly despise the US I am also sure about Turkeys commitment to NATO despite some tensions. We must understand that Erdogan is to a high degree a dictator far from the secular teachings of Atatúrk.
I never voted to Erdogan. I dont like his rhetoric. But this time he is totally right. We can be poorer. Dollar can go higher. But noone can dictate Turkish people. We can live within worst economic situation. But we cant live without our honour. Trump must know this. If the case is our homeland the rest is a detail for us.
A new world order is established. And Turkey will take her place in this new world order.
We Turks have a motto from our great leader Ataturk. "Either independence or death"
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@Ceyhun
“Either independence or death”
Yo bro, we got one of those shiny sayings too.
“Give us liberty or give us death!”
See, we’re kinda like minded.
Ataturk: Never forget the Greek and Armenian genocide...
everything in the article is right on spite of how erdogan runs the country. US is unable to mae a positive impact on Turkey in any form or shape and current policies are NOT working. Even the most adamant opponents of Erdogan can NOT stand irrational illogical unjust policies imposed by US. Folks this is not 60s or 70s wake up. one by one US is loosing its friends. i must add not just Trump, Obama equally responsible for this trend that must be reversed before US becomes a distant disliked unwanted island in the world.
3
Unfortunately, the Turkish government has long not shared common values with the West in general and with the United States in particular. Erdogan, as an omnipotent leader, controls the courts, the army, prohibits civil servants without cause, forbids journalists and more.
For the past decade he has been exploiting the West (Europe pays him billions of dollars for stopping the infiltrators - which is not really happening), but facing totalitarian states.
Need to tell the truth - Erdogan represents the Muslim Brotherhood! His belief in values is different from that of Western values.
The story begins and ends and he refused to accept the deal he had concluded with Trump. It is important to emphasize - he is a liar.
In addition, he has no reason to threaten - he's already doing it. He long ago abandoned the strategic alliance with the United States, not in words but in deeds.
4
From the Kurdish point of view the Turkish government is a terrorist group.
250 Turks were killed during the recent coup attempt. How many Kurds were killed or imprisoned over those same few days? And how many more were killed or imprisoned over the last 40 years?
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@Green Tea
I'm a Kurdish person. Sorry but your explanation is definitely wrong. You have to ask like that.
How many Terrorist Kurdish group killed innocent Turkish falks, polices, soldiers?
Our state is Turkey. Not Kurdistan. Its a game playing by west. We have lived in peace for 2 thousands years (Turks and Kurds) and it will continue like that.
2
@Green Tea
Over 40k Turkish soldiers were killed by PKK over the last 40 years.
When there is a fight between two groups, if one side is a country with 80M population and recognized by all other UN members, and if the other group is recognized as a terrorist organization by almost all the countries including the US and EU, then the point of view of the second group doesn't really matter. The US can be seen as a terrorist country by some ISIS member too, does it make the US government a terrorist government?
The imprisoned Kurds are PKK supporters. Nobody is being imprisoned for being Kurd. Turkey even had Kurdish presidents, prime ministers, mayors etc. not only in the past, but also there are many Kurdish bureaucrats now in Turkey.
1
Don’t we need base rights in Turkey?
Really, both autocrats need to wear their big boy pants and figure out a way to back down, immediately, before irreparable damage is done.
1
Erdogan is a dictator and thug. In order to remain in power, Erdogan has capitulated to the religious right. What was once a moderate, secular country is no more. In its place is anything but an American ally.
5
Indeed it is a tough time for turkey.
I am hopeful that Turks will come out of this economic crisis.
The Turks should have understood that America is not a trust
able ally and they should have never put all eggs in 1 basket.
America, sorry to say, has killed a lot of innocent people. The current terror crisis in the world has got a lot to do with the senseless American policies based on injustice.
All the major wars in the past couple of decades had something to do with USA.
America has a spat with almost half of the world, which includes many of her own allies.
It will be hard for turkey in the coming months or years but they must show deterrence in face of Trump's sanctions
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Turkey's economy is finally melting down in ways foreseen as inevitable by everyone from investment bankers to economists to, honestly, anyone who has been paying attention. That ship has sailed: the big question now for Mr. Erdogan and the rest of the AKP is whether they can convince their voters that the current crisis is solely the result of an "economic war" executed by the US out of fear of Turkey's ongoing and inexorable "rise" to become a new global power.
As a masochist who regularly wades into the swamp of the right wing press in both Turkey and the US, as well as their odious accompanying comment boards, I have no doubt that the psychology and "reasoning" of Trump and Erdogan supporters is eerily, uncannily similar. Mr. Erdogan's voters by and large believe, often with fervor, that he has been leading Turkey into a new economic golden age, even while Rome burns around them. Mr. Trump's supporters believe roughly the same regarding a current US economy fueled by accelerating stock buybacks and stagnating wages. Supporters of both leaders believe that the relative global status of their countries is on the rise. Few observers, if any, beyond their true believers take this perspective seriously. But Breitbart in America and Yeni Safak in Turkey blare the same editorial message everyday: Trump/Erodgan is making American/Turkey great again.
Ultimately, all the posturing on both sides right now is about one thing: throwing red meat to their respective bases.
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@some guy in... Solid observations. I applaud you for keeping up with the right-wing news in both countries; I don't have much stomach for that. However, I did have a most interesting conversation with the men at my local manav a few nights ago. After the usual pleasantries, they asked me a lot of questions about Trump. Then, they concluded that America is finished (I feel like that, some days) and assured me that the Ottomans would rise again (er, I guess time will tell).
Then they insisted that I sit down with them and share their sidewalk mangal. The food was delicious and their hospitality was classic Turkish-style (e.g. I was stuffed to the gills). The difference: I can't expect that kind of post-discussion behavior from the Trump base!
3
@J. Thanks for that poignant anecdote. It sums up why I choose to keep living here.
@some guy in... Same!
I wouldn't dare praise Trump for applying pressure that could have the effect of weakening the vile Erdogan, because whatever action Washington has taken thus far have nothing to do with long-term geopolitical policy. On the contrary, EVERYTHING that Washington has done since the election of the man in the White House has been knee-jerk and entirely personal, putting this country's long-term relationships and alliances at great risk. Still, one cannot but be glad that Erdogan is finding himself in an uncomfortable situation, as he deserves nothing but discomfort although nothing that Washington can do will cause his imminent downfall. IF Washington had chosen to apply sanctions against our "ally" based on the autocratic policies implemented by Erdogan then I think this paper as well as most strategists would applaud the action. Unfortunately, my reaction to this current situation is decidedly mixed in that Washington's motives for applying these sanctions aren't honorable and yet I find it hard to criticize them due to my pleasure at seeing Erdogan's life made that much more difficult.
France is not in love with Germany, Germans don’t adore the Brits, countries have their own agendas and as long as their benefits align they’re in good terms, if not we know how play each other. But with certain political language and respect. We’re never friends, we will never be. Many hate Putin, but he knows how to play, unlike these two guys who act and cry like immature kids that have the urge to bully. So like many does I too think they’re incompetent for their posts.
Turkish and the Kurds lived together in peace for many years in the history. But the Kurdish, for the lack of education and cultural personality is very easily manipulated for the American use. They became the hand of the American medium-term politics when regional control is needed, so no more American lives would be wasted in that muddy region for oil, I admit it's wise. But neither the US nor the Turkish did not hesitate to utilize the terrorist elements in the region when it came to achieving their goals. Moreover Erdogan used the Kurdish nationalists in Turkey to gain power in his country, and abandoned them when he was done with them.
The coup d’etat in Turkey is obviously too deep for us to comprehend what exactly happened. But th US has many branched covert operations proceeding even now in many places he wants to control, like in the past, so it’s not a small probability that there was an American touch in that coup.
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@Lucas
While Erdogan’s history has proven that he benefits from such actions if well controlled, so no one is again purely innocent.
We’re talking about international politics, which is like poker; you may win if you know how to play a strong hand. Turkey never had a strong hand, now with Erdogan all he can do is to bluff more often. Erdogan wants to be feared by being tough by warnings and loud threats, with almost no bases, and he menaces making wild partnerships where he will be played discreetly and loose all he has at the end.
Turkey has never been a good poker player, obviously Trump is neither, but at least Trump has consultants who he sometimes listens to. Anyways, I bet on Putin on this table, as always he seems to be irrelevant, but he will know to win at the end.
2
Though Erdogan's claims of Gulen's involvement in the coup attempt are questionable, I think he is generally correct about the US government ignoring the Turkish point of view and taking Turkey's alliance for granted. Trump is making the situation much worse, of course, as he does with every situation. A competent US President would seek to resolve the differences with Turkey, which is a very important US ally.
2
Friends and allies? This administration has "associates," not friends and not allies.
3
After the succeeded self-coup Erdogan started to take hostages from the western countries just like ISIS did. Deniz Yucel of Germany freed after increased economic pressure by Merkel but of course in a more subtle manner. Trump now tries to do the same in his own way. It will probably also work but it will take some time. Yet no one cares about people having the original sin of “being Turkish”. Daylight abductions and torture in police custody have became ordinary in Turkey. Erdogan transformed Turkey into a mafiocracy and he should intimidate crowds to preserve his legacy. Turkish people abandoned to their own faith as the civilized countries are occupied with the hostage negotiations.
2
I do not believe that President Erdogan wrote this piece in order to inform the NYT readers but to demonstrate to his electorate that he is not afraid of the Americans and he had the guts to tell them through one of their best papers.
Erdogan’s sense of what is just and fair is based on what he “feels” is right and not what is prescribed by international law or treaties and his article follows this skewed view.
I am amazed that he has the nerve to “warn” America that he can go on his own and even more amazed that he is using his country’s military invasion of Cyprus as an example of what he can do !
I am not a Trump fan and this is not a case of Trump vs Ertogan. The West should not appease him because his country is indeed very important as appeasement has never worked in international politics.
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@Costas C
I don't fully agree on when you say he makes a demonstration of strength to his electorate. A part of that, and more probably I think that he thinks he's not heard enough by the Trump administration and he looks for support from inside the american public for lobbying, so it's a kind of a low profile behavior. Countries should learn to be strong through serious lobbying, not through simple public manipulations attempts, half of the americans don't even know and care who Erdogan is and what Trump's foreign strategies are.
So far his threats have not been proven to be backed up by real strategies who he benefits from, he wants to play with other tough boys, we should let him do it.
@Lucas
It's funny that you'd say half of the Americans don't even know or care who Erdogan is. I'd say less than 10% could pick Turkey out on a map! And that might be generous.
Two bullies fighting over so little while letting their immensely limited IQs get in the way of solving problems they created.
Kudos to NYT for publishing this article. We need the debate. The narrative here looks similar to many other instances and places:
- we will make "country xyz" great again (fill in as needed)
- our friends are betraying us
- we are surrounded by enemies
- we will not be pushed around any longer
- we have to defend ourselves against evil
- anyone who´s not agreeing with me is not a patriot
- criticism is an insult to our whole country
- vote for me and you´ll finally be proud of your country again
Looking at the number of elections won, without a doubt the most successful political ideology around the world during the last 5 years, at least. Give people better answers now or wait until the failure of these politics will become obvious.
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I had the privilege of living and working in Istanbul from 2011-2014. During that time I watched with great concern Erdogan’s increasingly hostile behavior to anyone or any entity that questioned his desire to transform Turkey into a dictatorship. The massive construction projects, his endless harangues, the attack on the media, the shutting down of many social media outlets and his relentless push of religion into every facet of Turkish life was then and continues to be appalling. Every one of my Turkish colleagues and friends would leave the country tomorrow if they could. These are highly educated medical, business, legal and educational professionals who love their country but despise what it has become under Erdogan and is “Justice and Development” Party. A more apt name would be the “Injustice and Overdevelopment” Party. I pray for my wonderful Turkish friends that they will be delivered from this tyrant In short order.
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well. I'd say, 'My dear friend, You have read only one page of the paper on purpose . In our country given the polls, about 60 % of people like him and do not consider him as a dictator but a humble, hardworking and genuine person. 25 % of Alevi- shia people do hate him. These people ,like you, prefer their own dictators such esad, trump to erdogan. so plz do not be biased. and By doing this you lose your ally.
2
@Robert K I pray that wonderful people everywhere be delivered from their tyrants: Orban, Kaczyński, Putin, Maduro, Kim Jong-un, Duterte, al-Assad, Rouhani, Al Saud, and more, and I pray to be delivered from Trump as soon as possible.
I am not one of supporter of President Erdogan; but there is nothing wrong or exaggerated in the article. Countries has no friend or enemies; they consider their benefits in the end. And yes our relationship is not good this time; but turkish folk inherits a rich and respectful culture. We will find a good way to cope with unrespectful behaviour as we did in the past; and i have confidence we will have. Being oppositer does not mean we will let others to ruin our country. And yes; there are good million people lives in our beatiful country and we will not depends on one man decision. Deciding applying extra tax to some products; made enormous currency movement here. Some greedy people must have heard this earlier so they took their position. Helloooo US did not declare war Turkey. In terms of economic world these are likely happen and we can make new aggreement in the near future. What happened yesterday was not acceptable and on twitter area every single person can have an idea what is going on. And yesterday was not credited to US, and we are not good with US this time.
3
Erdogan’s recount of support of the US skips over such items as its undermining NATO with its tensions with Greece; its refusal to permit the US permission to use its territory as a base to attack Saddam’s Iraq. More fundamentally, there is a divide in the very nature of the two governments.
Turkey is not a democracy. It silences the media, suppresses political opponents, and has aided and abetted terrorists. The intrusion of thousands of jihadists into the Syrian War was made possible by Ankara’s support. The renewal of al Qaeda as well as the rise of ISIS lies with Turkey and its renewed drive to recreate the Ottoman Empire.
There is a very distinct division in Turkey. Istanbul is more western and cosmopolitan whereas the interior of the nation which is more religiously conservative.
Turkey also has a long history of mistreating minorities—Christians, Greeks, Armenians, let alone the destruction of the Kurdish people. For the US to assert Kurdish rights in Iraq and Syria while turning its back on the Turkish treatment of Kurds is worse than hypocrisy. It is a betrayal of those who fought alongside us.
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@doughboy What would you make the unauthorized territory, what would it be for permission?
@doughboy
i can't believe someone else brought up treatment of minorities in turkey in a nyt comment...bravo!
The Sublime Porte expresses their thoughts. Satraps and Vilayets across the empire extoll the new Suleiman the Magnificent.
5
Having worked in Turkey--they are to be respected and won't be pushed around. They can be tough, but treating Turks the way we would like to be treated goes a long way.
We went for two years, stayed for five, and had a great time.
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Furthermore- it is the Kurds who have love and friendship for the American people, that has been my personal experience in the EU as well as openly recognized since the 1990s in the press, and possibly longer. The Kurdish nations and people are who we should invest our resources and time to.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
2
@LV Kurds - especially the pkk don't have much more liking towards the US than the Turks.. pkk at core is attuned to Leninist ideology and despises many things the US stands for. it was the US that helped Turkish secret service catch Ocalan (pkk's founder).. think they forgot that?
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@LV
The Kurdish people stand behind Erdoğan in this one. The terrorist of the PKK ypg and PYD are the ones receiving your support. Why aid a communist group now out of all times?
Such high-handed treatment with a NATO ally is further proof that Mr. Trump will do everything he can to undermine that alliance. Moreover he would flunk Diplomacy 101.
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@Ghulam
FYI: Turkey has been 'de-facto' out of Nato for quite a while. If you read news 'between-the-lines' of regional military drills by Nato members, you'll discover another 'de-facto' Nato member: Israel.
1
@Ghulam The one thing makes Trump the best president ever since 50's his treatment against this ridicules military coalition. Turkish state one of the most racist state on earth ( turkish nationalism, turkish identity). It build on Armenian and christian genocides, attacks it's own neighbours, suppressed it's own Kurdish minority and last decade it is became sunni islamist fascist dictatorial regime. If this kind country still member of NATO how you still attack on Trump? Only if a traitor american can do this.
Well. Mr. Erdogan certainly has made clear how Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees the crisis with the U.S., but the manifestly evident fact that he believes that this is equivalent to how TURKEY sees the crisis is emblematic of the basic problem.
This op-ed should have been passed through a cautious editor before offering it to the Times (much as tweets by another world leader would benefit from editorial efforts). If the purpose of the op-ed was to co-opt support among the informed of America’s readership to apply pressure on President Trump, then Mr. Erdogan might have avoided the questionable argument that Trump is asking him to “intrude” in the “judicial process” as regards Brunson … when Erdogan so completely controls at the point of a knife every Turkish institution, and when he is demanding that Trump do precisely that in facilitating extradition of Fethullah Gulen in the teeth of a legal determination that insufficient proof of Turkey’s claims against Gulen have been offered.
The entire op-ed reads like an exercise in enbubbled strongman arrogance. The Kurds have done yeomen work in our fight against ISIS, and we respect them for their efforts at independence in Iraq. We began by being uncomfortable given our dependence on them in the fight against ISIS that Turkey had serious differences with them, because we understood the basis of Turkey’s disagreement with them, and some of us even sympathized with Turkey because we reject tribal solutions. However, …
31
… that should have been a call to all sides for finding balance in a conflict that could end up by being destructive of shared interests. Mr. Erdogan’s insistence that the U.S. should ignore its legitimate and vital interests because Turkey has a tribal and territorial beef with Kurds simply is unreasonable. Kurds have a territorial dispute with Turkey, and some Kurdish elements wage that war with terrorism. That makes the whole situation … uncomfortable … for us, but that doesn’t mean that they are demons, or that we were going to ignore their very material participation in the eradication of ISIS.
In the end, Mr. Erdogan certainly is free to pursue his “alternatives”, and see how far he gets before he is played by Putin. Perhaps enslaved by Putin. He would be more intelligent to accept that his Islamist core is fundamentally opposed to Western convictions and even interests and recognize that for him to co-exist with us while partaking of advantages that accrue to being an ally he must work with us to find ways of balancing interests, not to complain that those who disagree with him on basic matters are without justification.
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@Richard Luettgen
"....not to complain that those who disagree with him on basic matters are without justification."
The same could be said of Trump
@Richard Luettgen
You can not find balance with communist terrorists. You can not hide behind pretense of fighting Isis to allow a communist terrorist group to thrive.
1st; Erdogan has lost his healthy way of thinking, so this article is not wrote by him, he has left lost his intellectuality due to Cancer treatment.
2nd; Erdogan has the same idealogy like Taliban and Hekmatyar but with a neck tie. Yesterday on of the pro erdogan journalist treated US with a new 11th of September.
3rd; We as the people of Turkey and the people who is always supporting peace in the world, want the international society to boycott Erdogan, he is literally a dictator now like Chavez, if he dies there will be. a more dangerous guy coming like Mudoro, maybe Erdogan’s driver who is now a representative in the parliment.
4th; 15 July was staged by Erdogan, and the US and EU knows this very well, and the Americans who are in Jail in Turkey are innocent, I knew few of them personally, the are really nice.
5th; Trumps and US knows how evil is Erdogan, who uses the holy things for his own benifits
6th; For your information 80% of Erdogans sayings are disqualified by his own speech, meaning that his mental health is not good.
7th; My comments are not exaggerated, I was proerdogan when his mental health was ok, and he was doing reforms and empowered democracy in Turkey!
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@Ahmet -- Erdogan did not have cancer nor treatment for cancer. All he had was a common colonoscopy, as someone his age (and mine) should. His found no cancer, but the doctors do insist. That's it.
The rumors were current for awhile in more hostile outlets of the Turkish press. They just made it up, tabloid style, like sightings of Elvis and findings of Martians reported next to the grocery check-out counter.
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@Ahmet
Your comment definitely looks like to have been written by a FETO supporter.
There's no way Erdogan or his supporters can threaten the US with a new 9/11. It would be a casus belli for the US. Where's your source for this?
July 15 wasn't staged by Erdogan and everybody knows this. Even the German government already stated that "It's impossible to overlook that the FETO members were involved in the coup attempt". The EU accepts the FETO structure. Only the US refuses to accept it, guess why. Fethullah has been living in Pensylvannia for the past 20 years. CIA maybe?
FETOists were supporting Erdogan when they were able to manipulate him and his government until 2013. After that year, when he stopped cooperating with FETO, he instantly became mentally unhealthy for the FETO supporters. In fact, he's been mentally much more healthy since he cut his relations with FETO.
I believe that the US government will accept the Turkish concerns and will extradite Fethullah back to Turkey. Otherwise, Turkey will be just another enemy of the US in the middle east in the long-term, also Incirlik can be closed in retaliation.
2
Did you ask my opinion when you say "we as the people of Turkey." Do you have the authorization to talk on behalf of Turkish people?
2
When you write about how you expect everyone to "express solidarity with Turkey’s elected leadership" and side "with Turkish democracy" all I can think of is the group of Kurds I met with after the most recent election, which the military, under your dictatorial control, refused to allow to leave their homes in order to vote. When you write how "On July 15, 2016, Turkey came under attack by members of a shadowy group led by Fethullah Gulen" who "tried to stage a bloody coup against my government," all I can think of is how you keep making sure that everyone knows that it is "your" government, just as Turkey is also "yours". When I heard you refer to that failed coup as a "gift from God" all I could think of was how you confirmed existing evidence that you and your Turkish intelligence services had a direct hand in planning the abortive coup in order to provide a pretext for your purges. When you insist they are all "Terrorists", all I can think of his how under your dictatorial rule Turkey now jails more journalists than any other nation in the world, and how you claim that these journalist are all terrorists. When you say "the United States has repeatedly and consistently failed to understand and respect" your concerns and how your "efforts to reverse this dangerous trend proved futile," all I can think of is how your "efforts" are supporting ISIS while going to war with Kurdish militias, who are America's allies, and the only ground forces that have taken on ISIS and won.
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@Robert B -- "When you write about how you expect everyone to "express solidarity with Turkey’s elected leadership" and side "with Turkish democracy" all I can think of is"
What he means for you to think is that you should not have tried a coup in your democratic ally. He thinks we did. He's been very clear on that elsewhere, while he is polite in it here. We might have, too.
9
@Mark Thomason, I knew exactly what Erdogan meant, but my story about the Turkish Kurds being prohibited from voting at gunpoint was not apocryphal, it happened, just as Erdogan jailing journalists is true. I therefore do not recognize Erdogan's right to list any grievances on behalf of either an "elected leadership" or a "Turkish Democracy". I'm a strong believer in the rule of law. An American leader who self-deals and violates the law is a greater threat to America than any foreign leader. I do not favor interventions seeking regime change in foreign countries; covert actions are no exception. If Erdogan wanted level a convincing grievance over potential American actions in Turkey he should have offered something besides pure innuendo. Further, his claim could have had legitimacy if he honestly stated that he was speaking on behalf of himself, an authoritarian, and argued that the US had no right to support a coup against him even if it regarded his government as illegitimate. I would have found that far more convincing. As to Erdogan threatening "to start looking for new friends and allies," he did that before any of this happened, and he has the same "new friend" as Trump. Putin is everywhere employing Active Measures and is the real winner here. (What else is new?) However, that doesn't mean Erdogan gets a pass for the things he's done any more than Trump does.
@Mark Thomason, I knew exactly what Erdogan meant, but my story about the Turkish Kurds being prohibited from voting at gunpoint was not apocryphal, it happened, just as Erdogan jailing journalists is true. I therefore do not recognize Erdogan's right to list any grievances on behalf of either an "elected leadership" or a "Turkish Democracy". I'm a strong believer in the rule of law. An American leader who self-deals and violates the law is a greater threat to America than any foreign leader. I do not favor interventions seeking regime change in foreign countries; covert actions are no exception. If Erdogan wanted to level a convincing grievance over potential American actions in Turkey he should have offered something besides pure innuendo. Further, his claim could have had legitimacy if he honestly stated that he was speaking on behalf of himself, an authoritarian, and argued that the US had no right to support a coup against him even if it regarded his government as illegitimate. I would have found that far more convincing. As to Erdogan threatening "to start looking for new friends and allies," he did that before any of this happened, and he has the same "new friend" as Trump. Putin is everywhere employing Active Measures and is the real winner here. (What else is new?) However, that doesn't mean Erdogan gets a pass for the things he's done any more than Trump does.
1
What judicial process. The same one that keeps 2 Greek servicemen, who crossed a snowy border while on patrol, normally a trivial incident, imprisoned without charges for several months now? Erdogan has proposed a trade between these and Turkish servicemen that fled to Greece during the attempted coup - and were granted asylum under an actual judicial process.
Such respect for democracy and the rule of law.
Apparently he's trying the same thing with this pastor now. Trade him for Gullen. This is not how the rule of law works mister Erdogan!
Trump will be gone in a few years, either by election, term limits or the judicial process of the USA. Erdogan will be there for life. If that's your choice, Turkish people, don't say you weren't warned.
49
@Dimitris Triantafyllou
Don’t start reading from the end.
Consider your Greek judicial process. Greece has not given assasinators back to Turkey. It’s really shame that you talk about “actual judicial process” in Greece. Same things have happened for decades for bombers. You keep them, let them live comfortably there.
I don’t vote for Erdogan, but yes, he gets elected, people love him. It’s democracy, I should appreciate and accept the results and you have to do the same.
1
@Dimitris TriantafyllouP
How many turkish ex-soldiers who attempted the coup and ran away from Turkey to Greece by combat helicopters, does greek government give the right of aslyum?
2
@Selim
who are the 'assasinators'? you mean kurdish refugees? or the soldiers who flew the helicopter to greece and asked for asylum in europe?
i agree with you...we all should accept the democratic results of the election. we can sit back and watch the erdogan lovers throttle the life out of the kemalists who ruled the country for the last 70 years...and then the party will really begin!
Poor Recep. You made the bed you are now laying in, and you have forsaken the wonderful secularity of Turkey with your stupid statements today.
I'm no fan of Trump, but in him, you simply met a more effective wannabe dictator.
Cry me a river. I know of a beautiful one near you.
19
We the Turks know that it was the US behind the 15 July faild cope. The site associated with CIA had broadcasted Turkish President Erdogan's journey live on that night, while the cope terrorists were still up in the air looking for the president Erdogan in 15th July 2016. The US has been supplying sofisticated weapons to terror group PKK in thousands, which US itself officialy sees them as terrorists!? Soon after 15th July 2016 the US vice president Joe Biden had promissed that in Ankara, US will leave town of Menbij and take out the PKK terorists with them in next 2 months. Today, after 25 months the US is still at Menbij with PKK terorist! PKK has killed over 40.000 thousand Turkish civilians and security personnel. Besides, PKK terrorists has been abducting, abusing and sexually exploiting the underage childeren in thousands over 40 years. When it comes to talking the US says, its fighting against terror-sts! Here we are witnessing that the USA has been arming terror group for 3 year!? This is a hypocrisy. This stubing your friend at his back. This a treason. And US has the face to turn around and blame Turkey!?
36
@Bunyamin This is a very good example what the regime does and how Erdogan supporters see "things" in Turkey. It may seem confused and it is mixture of unrelated issues. This is exactly what happens in the court indictments. If you look at the facts you can not find or support anything. Current regime in Turkey keep people in the jail in pretrial detention for years and then charge them with absurd "crimes". I suggest reading the charges against Pastor Brunson.
@Bunyamin HA! Erdogan staged the coup himself. The PKK are freedom fighters. The Turkish Army has done nothing but offer material and financial support for the Islamic State since Day 1. We will never forget Afrin. The Turkish Presidency is no different than Caliphate Abu Bakr. Both must be dealt with mercilessly by the West.
@Bunyamin I couldn't agree more bro. Thank you for providing facts to those not understanding facts.
Memo, to Erodgan - The USA has national interest that do not always aline with others, so take your ball and go play with your dear friends the Russians.
You do not like threats? Well neither does the USA
You of all people know, that those with the bigger stick get to play on the field of choice.
Thats is why the letter is a bluff. Turkey and the Russian.
Wow, that is sweet, until Putin has indigestion and blacklists Turkey like for the 2 years after you shot down their plane,
You may not like us, and we may not like you.
But at least we change presidents and parties every few years. New blood, new ideas are the benefit. Well besides preventing the consolidation of power, abuse and greed.
Look in the mirror.
8
Trump's way of doing things:
if there is any potential for making relationships worse
and undermine American national security then Trump will
make things worse and undermine American national security.
in Turkey as with Canada, the UK, the EU, etc. etc.
Trump makes things worse than when he found them.
Trump is so consistently corrupt and incompetent,
it is no longer even news
18
@David David from California.. I am David from New York and you couldn't be more wrong about what Trump is doing against Turkey. I'm not a fan of Trump either, but in this case Trump is right. And I know because I lived in Turkey for 3 years and Mr. Erdogan is a horrible tyrant who needs to be stopped at all costs.
@David
Very difficult to understand your worldview. While I didn’t vote for President Trump I must acknowledge that the US economy is doing great. Unemployment is at a record low including that of Black Americans. I hardly think that Trump is incompetent as his economic policies appear extremely effective. It is long overdue that we get over the results of the last election and move on. There will be another vote for president in 2020.
PM Erdogan:
Free our prisoners. You are supposed to be an "ally."
If you do not,
Then, in the words of a famous American Western:
"Bye."
7
@Jubilee133 Allys dont give weapons to terrorist organisations. US made that! Your prisoners? We have no war with US, this "prisoners" are marked criminals. Turkiye as constitutional state, independent judgment made to decide this criminals fate. We dont care US say to us "Bye" :)
1
My goodness, Mr. Erdogan, you must be the only authoritarian dictator on the world stage whom our Mr. Trump doesn't adore! Can't you get along? Maybe you could send some steel-toed goons back to the U.S.A. to stand trial for beating up peaceful protestors exercising their First Amendment rights on American soil. Oh, wait, you're the one who ordered the beatings. Okay, then, maybe you could cozy up to Mr. Trump by showing him some authoritarian tricks -- like how to silence the press with journalist arrests, etc. (Mr. Trump already knows how to rig elections and stack the judiciary.) I'm sure you guys can work something out.
87
@Will Tosee dictators don't come in power by elections. Erdoğan is in power by winning all the elections he entered. The US is used to organizing coups in countries where there's a leader who doesn't work according to the US demads, interests, expectations. Egyptian leader Sisi came in power as result of a coup which was organized and supported by the US and also, everybody knows that the US is behind the failed coup taken place in Turkey to take Erdoğan down almost 2 years ago.
1
@Will Tosee I'm Turk, Im living in Turkiye. I able to watch all tv chanells, I able to read all newspapers, I able to use twitter, facebook and etc. I able to vote anyone.
Im asking trully there is facts, where is the dictatorial regime?
US push Turkiye give the your dear pastor and US goverment to scream democracy to Turkiye. Who have a real democracy? US? I dont think so. I will say the real democracy legislative, executive and justice seperated in Turkiye. So US must wait the Turk Justice.
Justice dont look holy man or not.
Erdogen is a thug of the same order as Putin. He brutalizes the Kurds in Southeast Turkey and then labels them terrorists for fighting back. He floats a fantasy about Gulen’s responsibility for the coup, because of his personal vendetta and wish to destroy the man. He comes to Washington and has his bodyguards savagely attack peaceful demonstrators. He imprisons the press. who dare criticize him. And even those who don’t! He of course denies the Armenian genocide. In short, the man is a ruthless authoritarian, and we see him for what he is.
173
Mr Erdogan has crossed many of his allies. As a german i remember all to well of the many citizen of my country sitting in jail without a what i call reasonable indictment. I remember all to well how often Erdogan have stirred resentment in the turkish community here in germany.
Mr Erdogan, with schadenfreude i am watching you standing alone against Trump. While Trump is surely not an exemplary and wise statesman, i do not oppose him in lashing out against you. The chicken are coming home to roost.
32
US is like an elephant in the china shop. Will the currency manipulations, and idiotic sanctions work? I doubt it. Don't underestimate resolve of the people who threw themselves in front of speeding tanks to thwart a coup attempt.
18
@Mr. Sulu
There are some very smart policy experts who believe Mr. Erdogan staged the coup attempt in order to tighten his control on the levers of power and jail his opponents (both real and imagined). The currency manipulations currently negatively effecting Turkey were made by their own central bank! Sanctions can be very effective when a regime is tittering on the edge of economic collapse.
5
@Jim -- There are no very smart policy analysts who believe that. There is only propaganda, just made up whole, excuses.
Back off Trump ! (I have stronger words in my vocabulary but I don't find them appropriate to use here). The world is not a Texas farm!
Your treaths and actions are just making us to hate USA and what it stands for !
You are openly declaring war on Turkey. It's being an economic war does not change the reality that it is a war ! Including 2 world wars, most wars begun with economic duels !
First of all give us FETO that you hide in Pensilvania and relese our banker than stop aiding PYD-YPG terrorists, stop bullying Turkey by preventing delivery of F35 fighters which Turkey is the part of producing concorsium, stop fussing about Turkey obtaining S400 defense systems or does USA planning to airbomb to invade Turkey that's why you don't want us to have our independent air defense system?Behave like an ally and perhaps you can ask Turkey to do something in your favor !
What you mean free the so alled evangelist priest whose name involved in terror acts and spying??? If you have judiciary legislation we have ours too ! Making this and that a reason will not work anymore ! USA is clearly hostile towards Turkey and now attacking Turkish financial system. What is next? We withnessed the latest military Q in Turkey which seamed to be the toys of USA were unsuccessful, is USA now trying to change the regime and control Turkey by taking action itself instead of its subcontractors?
You will undestand the value of Turkey and Turks when you lose them ! But it will be too late !
12
Trump can demonstrate to his supporters that he will fight hard and refuse to back down in order to Make America Great Again. And he can do so by refusing to co-operate with Turkey in the authoritarian actions of a leader whose attacks on civil rights and peaceful demonstrators has even extended to Washington D.C. It would be hard for a scriptwriter to invent a better win-win situation for Trump.
3
@Steveim im certain going after emerging nations will make America "great again".
Erdogan, on his way to making himself a latter-day Sultan, uses a failed coup to throw his political opposition into prison wholesale. America won't give up Gulen on Mr. Erdogan's say-so, so he grabs an American pastor (and a bunch of others) and says "I'll trade you".
What a great guy! I'm surprised that Trump hasn't thrown Gulen under the bus, but if Erdogan wants to exit NATO and turn to Russia as its new best friend, let Russia support his dreams of grandiosity.
10
@franko -- "uses a failed coup to throw his political opposition into prison wholesale"
Attempt a violent coup, and fail, and that's what happens pretty much everywhere.
5
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a watchdog group, recently reported that for the second consecutive year Turkey leads all nations in the number of jailed journalists.
Yet, the leading newspaper in America gives the president of Turkey free op/ed space to lecture the American people. I’m really at a loss to say much more.
341
@Conservative Democrat
I am glad the NYT allows this discourse. We need not agree to listen to each other.
While I strongly disagree with Erdogan's autocratic rule and find his cherry-picked facts very transparent, he has a point that more force does not work for a nation that counts pride over money.
On top of all that: this is all triggered for ONE preacher who took it on himself to proselytize uninvited.
2
@Conservative Democrat
Your first paragraph should provide you with a good answer to your second. I am at a loss how you can't see that.
Erdogan writes:
“Before it is too late, Washington must give up the misguided notion that our relationship can be asymmetrical and come to terms with the fact that Turkey has alternatives. Failure to reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect will require us to start looking for new friends and allies.”
Because of trump and misguided GOP voters, the NYT will soon be flooded with editorials by every country on Earth expressing this exact same New Order policy.
Get rid of trump while there is still time.
16
I agree.
4
No Koobface,
if Trump bends over for these outrageous wants THEN every country on earth will come calling.
But that is meaningless to you. You did not read the article, and do not understand the issues.
You just are a bandwagon Trump hater.
No matter the issue.
And " friends and allies " work BOTH WAYS.
How many times did the USA want something and our allies object?
Look at the UN yeas and nays. Turkey and the USA are NOT on the same page on most issues.
3
Why does he sit like that? It makes him look bad.
1
Turkey needs NATO for a variety of reasons and Mr. Erdogan will walk a thin line with Putin. The US has numerous ways to pressure Turkey and if Erdogan pushes back he will end up on the short end of the stick. This is a fight that President Trump will easily win. They need to give up the Americans being held and work on fixing their economy.
3
@Jim We do not need Nato any way. We did not have Nato when we needed.
@Jim We dont need NATO, NATO needs us :)
Turkiye is second biggest and operational army in NATO.
Note to Mr. Erdogan:
#1: We Americans don't like autocrats and dictators. You seem to be somewhere on that spectrum both in your temperament and in your governing tactics.
#2: We Americans don't like foreign leaders who unleash their security guards on peacefully demonstrating people in Washington DC. You should apologize for that and vow to never let it happen again.
#3: We Americans think that slaughtering Armenians was bad enough, and add to that mistreating Kurds and you'll find we just can't have a warm and fuzzy feeling about you.
#4: If you want to decide fairly, democratically, and humbly, then you'll have more friends in the US. Don't try to force your friendship on us through extortion. It won't work. We will drive your economy into the ground and your own people will decide they've had enough of you.
42
@Dan your argument is faulty from the start. You Americans don't like autocrats and dictators? Explain your relations with Saudi Arabia. I really wonder what you have to say!
55
@Dan
#1: We have no dictator, we have elected president here. Voting rate in US %34 in Turkiye %84, dont give the democracy lessons here.
#2 I remember your local police not effective in this case. Our security guards made own jobs.
#3 I suggest you give history lessons. Who slaughtering who. Look the different historic sources. And we dont mistreating Kurds. Kurds have own party in Turkiye and Kurds able to vote own party.
#4 US must stop hostile behaviour to Turkiye. Turks dont like hostile actions. We will see economic war US to Turkiye and we will respond.
2
@Yasin . The geography of the Americans is weak. They think of Canada with Arabia. :)
Most of what he say is very true. Erdogan is one of the most honest and courageous leaders of Turkish history and the region.
9
I lived and worked in Turkey in the late 90's and fell in love with it's people, culture and history. President Ergdogan brought needed stability and prosperity to a country who's economic history in modern times prior to his election, had been volatile at best. Much to applaud indeed.
However, while there is some merit to Ergdogan's claims, so too stands out the hypocrisy. Little if any due process to those accused as conspirators to the attempted coup - independant courts?
What about the super highway permitted for those joining and recruiting for ISIS or military support to defeat them when needed? Humility in IR can go a long way. Since our president is incapable, it is up to you to show true leadership. Times awastin!
6
@Jeremy -- True, but a couple of additional details matter.
The Turkish courts were badly twisted this way for the last hundred years, and really as far back as records go. The military government gave us the Turkish justice of the movie Midnight Express.
When Erdogan brought civilian democracy to Turkey, his original ally was his now-enemy Fethullah Gulen. Gulen in particular played a big role replacing judges and teachers with his own people. That was a big part of his organization's contribution.
When they had a falling out, Erdogan tried to sweep out the people Gulen had put in while they were allies. He largely has.
That is not a perversion of a previous justice, it is just a continuing course of winner take all.
Likewise the jihadi highway into Syria is real, but it was set up by the US and run by the CIA, with Gulf money. It is like the operation run in Afghanistan that became our Taliban enemy -- it got out of control of the US.
The US asked for it, and ran it. The US still has some role in some parts of it, even while it lost control of other parts. It isn't something created by Erdogan. His involvement came late, and at US request for help.
8
I have been progressively saddened and concerned at the autocratic turn of the Erdogan regime. There is no evidence Gulen had anything to do with coup, which some suspect Erdogan engineered himself to create an opportunity to suppress dissent and jail opponents in all walks of life. The bald imprisonment of the American pastor fits the pattern of Turkey's attempts to blackmail the U.S. to ignore our own constitutional processes to extradite Gulen, a legal resident and former ally of Erdogan's, when there is no evidence he committed any crime. It is also distressing to see Turkey turning away from the secularism of modern Turkey's founder, Attaturk, in favor of Islamic fundamentalism and its inevitable erosion of personal freedoms of the Turkish people. I used to vacation in Istanbul whenever I could, but I will never go back as long as Erdogan and his ilk remain in power.
23
Those who insist that Erdogan fails at liberal democracy of the US/European strain do not keep in mind the developmental stages of political maturation of nations. Perhaps, at the heels of a coup, a bit of authoritarianism is in order! Perhaps he is doing a lot of good for his country and perhaps, if he's given a chance, all journalists will be released, as well as the pastor and others and--all will then live happily ever after!
3
It’s rich for an autocratic strongman to profess his love of democratic values. At least Trump puts up no such pretense.
166
Dear Mr. President,
A brief comparison between Western democracy and your "Turkish democracy".
Unlike the Turkish version of Democracy, here in the civilized world winning an election doesn't give you the right to seize all of the levers of power in government. Democracy is about sharing power with your political opponents.
In the civilized world, we don't jail journalists for doing their jobs, and we don't shutter news outlets because they disagree with the government's position.
And when Americans are invited to visit one of our friends around the world, we don't send our thugs to beat up and terrorize the protesters who are peacefully assembled across the street.
Sorry sir, but we don't do your Turkish Democracy here.
206
@NYInsider Of course in your democracy you don't jail journalist or whistle blowers- you just kill them or surprisingly they have heart attack or suicide...You don't shutter news outlets because globulists buy them for establishment.
Please just look present trump government& compare to founding fathers of usa and then talk about democracy today.....
8
@NYInsider
You can not offer support and protection to terrorists and their supporters without expecting consequences.
@NYInsider We dont want American Democracy is here.
Do you have democracy with the %34 voting rate :) Funny.
1
Could someone just come out and say it: The US and the CIA sponsored the failed coup because Erdogan, in addition to becoming unreliable and pandering to radical Islamists in a dream of destabilizing the region and recreating the Ottoman Empire, had used chemical weapons in Syria designed appear as Syrian to draw the US into the Syrian war because it appeared to cross the Red Line, the US and Russia are actually in alignment in the region, Assad isn't that terrible, the Saudis sponsor terrorism, Iran just wants to be respected, and too much perception management leads to American national decisions based upon untruths leading us to go around bombing people far too much? It used to be that the CIA could pull of real coups. Now they're third rate.
12
Dear Sultan Erdogan,
It pains me to have to tell you that the greatest threat currently faced by the great nation of Turkey is your continued presidency- a post in which you're evidently destined to continue for as long as you live, or for as long as your military remains well-fed. We do appreciate the many times that your nation has come to the aid of ours, all of which happened long before you moved into the president's mansion in Ankara. Your predecessors were mostly honorable men; you, on the other hand, rule your country as an autocrat and have been particularly harsh on the Kurds who've been much more friendly to the U.S. than you have. As is the case with the leaders of Iran, you've used your credentials as a Muslim to coerce many of your citizens into allowing you to make and enforce exclusionary laws and to change the Turkish constitution in accordance with your own whims. You pretend to be a loyal member of NATO even as you purchase military hardware from Moscow. You accuse an American citizen of instigating a rebellion against your rule and demanding his extradition without a scintilla of evidence (or none that you've disclosed, in any case). Our feckless leader in Washington remains a fan of yours because he's impressed by political "strongmen." The rest of us have no such illusions. Thanks to him, we know all too well that a mouse can pose as an elephant.
Have a great day (and keep your hands off Manbij).
278
Well said.
3
@stu freeman As an oppoisiton supporter from family, I never voted for Erdogan.
But, you mix up things pretty bad here, Manbij where PYD resides and all those organisations are not to be mixed with free Kurds. Many of them don't support or approve those anyways.
They are openly linked with PKK, a terrorist group that disturbs Turkey's stability in south east borders for almost 40 years.
So on that part, US is totally wrong to support a terrorist organisation against Turkey's offering of support against ISIS many times.
And in general, about this situation, Trump is making Erdogan the victim, ironically the best tool he uses for his propaganda.
Now, when both sides are wrong, you just look at who's making the first moves. Sadly, against Turkey US has always been the "bully" lately and their decisions do not punish Erdogan but us, the innocent people who have no effect on these decisions whatsoever. It just fuels the already existing hate against USA, strengthens Erdogan's support.
This is not a healthy way of politics, forcing 2nd strongest army of NATO to confrontation and on the brink of leaving the alliance is not good for anyone.
I sincerely hope both sides come to their senses and come back to a diplomatic solution instead of the current chaotic situation.
1
@stu freeman PYD and PKK nutshell of America. We dont buy your democracy screams sorry.
Turkiye have loyal NATO member and strategic partner with US. We request lot of times UAV our "ally"! Dont give it. We give lots of army stuff from US. But US give weapons dont give shells or reverse.
Last we request buy patriots. US dont sell that. In this case Turkey buyed S-400 from Moskow with technology exchange.
Dont blame the Turks, US made itself.
If what Mr Erdogan says is true,not only that Turkey will have to find new allies but the Americans will have to find a new President before 2020.
9
Erdogan has been in power now for fifteen years. That's too long. Elected or not, it's only when he leaves when Turkey can return to being a true democracy.
134
@abo There are a lot of democracy in Turkey now than ever.
Erdogan is one of the best leaders that has come to this day. The best solution for the world is trump’s going.
5
@hulya
There is not much difference between Erdogan and Trump. Both will lead their nations to ruins. You will see.
@hulya: If Erdogan stayed and Trump left how would you know the difference?
I have been lucky to meet many talented Turks, who have come to my country. I value their contributions, I've felt their angst, about how the Turks treated Armenia, BUT, Erdogon, like Trump; they need to let better people lead their countries. That is, if those leaders are true patriots. If they aren't true Patriots, I hope their countries will forget them.
16
@Milque Toast We dont treated Armenia in 2000 Turkey made agrement with Armenia.
Turkey open all archives to so-called Armenian genocide. But Armenians dont made it. Turkey have not legal 40.000 Armenians Why this peoples leave homelands? So Armenia future bad agenda give the money and land from Turkey.
The is the facts. There is no genocide to Armenians. Old Turk archive says "substitution Armenians peoples". In this substitution status some Armenians died we accept that.
But not 1.5 million Armenians killed with systematicly its exaggerated numbers with created Armenia and US Armenia Loby.
We know Japanese and German concentration camps in US on 1939-45 years.
1
@Muharrem
too bad turkey eliminated all the armenians, greeks and jews from the country...and now working on the kurds...
too bad the slogan of the country is " how happy is he that says, I am a Turk"...
no genocide of course...