Why Turks no longer love the U.S.

[babylonsister]

Why Turks no longer love the U.S.
US Secretary Rice arrives Friday to defuse tensions over Kurdish rebels in Iraq.
By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the November 1, 2007 edition
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Reporter Yigal Schleifer discusses anti-American sentiment in Turkish culture.

Istanbul, Turkey - The US has hailed Turkey as moderate Islamic democracy, the kind it would like to see develop elsewhere. It's a key NATO ally, with US aircraft stationed here.

Yet, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Ankara Friday to defuse tensions over Kurdish rebels operating in Iraq, she faces a nation that is now the most anti-American in the world, according to one survey. In the meetings with Ms. Rice, and next Monday in Washington with President Bush, Turkey's prime minister is expected to press the US to take steps against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in Iraq.

That might help soften attitudes here toward the US. But given the depth of anti-American feeling that has developed in just the past few years, few expect Turkish public opinion to turn quickly.

In a recent global survey by the Pew Research Center, only 9 percent of Turks held a favorable view of the United States (down from 52 percent in 2000), a figure that placed Turkey at the rock bottom of the 46 countries surveyed.

"People have become accustomed to this plot line of America being a threat to Turkish national security. This was inconceivable five years ago, but now it has come to be the prevailing view," says Ihsan Dagi, a professor of international relations at Ankara's Middle East Technical University.

That perception has been reinforced in the past two years by some of Turkey's most popular books and films which portray the US and Turkey at odds – if not at war. Turkey's all-time box office champ, 2006's "Valley of the Wolves," saw a ragtag Turkish force square off heroically against a whole division of bloodthirsty American soldiers in northern Iraq.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1101/p06s02-wome.html

[tanyev]

1. Heckuva job, Georgie.

[mmonk]

2. And Turkey to ours.

[JCMach1]

3. Poppycock... I saw no 'great' anti-american strain

going on in the country last Summer. People were, if anything, more friendly and helpful than people in Europe. Don't even get me started on the British.

[babylonsister]

4. Maybe we've wasted any goodwill we might have had. nt

[Javaman]

5. Maybe the like americans but hate america. nt

[JCMach1]

6. Bingo... that's the case with most of the ME

[Cha]

7. The American goverment which rice is

a big part of is a threat to the national security of any nation including its own. First Iraq..and the Iran..you get the picture.

[cascadiance]

8. Perhaps she'll see rows of signs like this there!...

For the record...

"piç" (pronounced "peach") - means "bastard" in Turkish...

"im piç" ( pronounced "im peach" ) - means "bastard sign".

So you can see the double/triple entendres... :)

And if Bush sees these signs there, the ironic thing is that he might think they're praising him when they aren't. And they could also intersperse pics of Cheney, etc. too and work just the same too!