[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
International News Title: Rising Anti-American And Anti-Israel Feelings In Turkey By 0smail Duman, World Bulletin In recent years, there is an increasing anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment in Turkish society. While some commentators argue that the U.S. tries to promote ‘moderate Islam’ on the Turkish model, how can we explain these feelings? In other words, can Turkey be a ‘model’ for the other Islamic societies through “anti-American” and “anti-Israeli” society? As Hasan Kanbolat, ORSAM Director, says, “Turkey’s fascination with the US gradually grew after World War II and during the 1950s. For Turkey, the US meant democracy. It meant development. It meant power. The US was a country that set an example for Turkey.” In 1960s, leftist and some Islamist groups began to criticize American policies in Turkey; but they could not spread their feelings and ideas into the society. In this period, conservative groups were powerful in Turkish society and they were focusing on their national identities rather than their Islamic identities. In this way, there was no strong anti-imperialist agenda. Conservative Muslims were preferring to struggle with communist groups rather than the policies of the U.S. This picture has begun to change through Iran Islamic Revolution. After that date, some conservative Muslims began to define themselves as a Muslim rather than nationalist or conservative. Despite all these changes, there was no anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment in Turkish society generally until 2000s. After 1990s, this picture has changed in the general population. According to Hasan Kanbolat, “the main factors for this change were the First Gulf War (1990-1991), the Sept. 11 attack, the US occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US becoming a de facto neighbor of Turkey along the Iraqi border, claims that the US is aiding Kurds and giving them weapons to ensure Turkey’s division, the hood incident in Sulaimaniya in 2003 (an incident on July 4, 2003, in which dozens of US soldiers raided an office used by the Turkish special forces in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya and took 11 Turkish soldiers into custody over allegations that they were planning to assassinate the governor of Kirkuk), the pro-Israeli attitude adopted by the US administrations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the ever-growing and settling of anti-Muslim sentiment in the West.” What are the roots of this shift? “This rosy picture of Turkey, however, slowly began to fade in the lead-up to Iraq's invasion. In March 2003, after six months of contentious military, political, and financial negotiations between Ankara and Washington, the Turkish parliament denied U.S. troops' access to Iraq via southeast Turkey. The reaction in Washington was shock and disbelief. Turkey's decision not only forced the Pentagon to change its original war plans—there was to be no northern front against Baghdad—but also complicated the post-war situation.” says Omer Taspinar and adds: “Unlike past domestic trends, the current wave of anti-Americanism in Turkey seems to be embraced by all segments of Turkish society.” On the other hand, Ihsan Bal’s comments in this issue are so: “This feeling has been fueled by American policies towards the PKK and most recently the assumptions of use of Armenian allegations as a carrot and stick policy against Turkey.” In addition to these, we know that the structure of relations between Turkey and Israel changed after 2000s. Hezbollah-Israel War, Davos Panel, the Israeli onslaught on Gaza and Mavi Marmara incident were the factors which led to problematic relations between these countries. And also, as Seyfeddin Kara says, first blow in this issue came in 2004. Erdogan was outraged at the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and called it a “terrorist act”. He also described the Israeli policy in the Gaza Strip as “state-sponsored terrorism”. Today many commentators and authors discuss if this anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment in Turkish society is related to Turkey’s AKP Government or not. As Ihsan Bal says, “according to the neo-cons Turkish people have become anti American because Turkish government is Islamic and Turkish media, particularly Islamic one, steaming hatred against Americans in Turkey.” Before looking at the AKP’s viewpoint to America and Israel, we want to quote comments of some Turkish commentators on Israel’s policies in the Palestine. MORE... Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|