Opinion

Opinion
April 2003
Year 14 No. 317

Bashing Turkey for 72 Hours
Ahmet Gursoy, Special to The Turkish Times - Three major cable news and the printed word from coast to coast in February 20, 2003, were bashing Turkey over the delay in reaching an agreement for the establishment of the northern front on Iraq in case of a war. It started Thursday, February 20, 2003, the New York Times carried a front page coverage with three additional articles on a dedicated page titled "Impasse with the Turks" and an editorial titled "Dollar Diplomacy." The editorial said: "Turkey, in effect, told Mr. Bush this week to ante up $32 billion if he wants Ankara to take a seat at the table. The business of lining up reluctant governments to provide bases and support for possible military action is not exactly an exercise in Wilsonian idealism. In the administration's efforts to line up Turkish support, it risks trampling on the very values America claims to be fighting for." More

Beware of the Kurds
By Melik Kaylan, Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2003 - Some miles over the border into the Saddam-controlled part of Northern Iraq, a local contact told me that Saddam Hussein has placed tanks and explosives in narrow streets to maximize collateral damage. He has also forcibly billeted troops and loyalist cadres in civilian homes in readiness for street fighting -- and to prevent the populace from fleeing. Saddam has done this in neighborhoods mostly populated by the Turkmen and Assyrian Christian minorities, whom he has repressed and decimated. His troops, though, are unlikely to survive their hosts' ire once the shooting starts. More

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LETTERS

Preserving Turkish
Sirs, Resist at all costs the loss of Turkish as your 1st language. Here in the United States, we are losing our identity as Americans. Bilingual-mania is overtaking our society. Illegal aliens are diluting our language.

My grandparents spoke German, immigrated from Switzerland but in the US spoke English. We kept our Swiss/Germanic heritage with cooking and at church on Christmas we had German masses. That segment of our society is gone. No more masses in German, my family is all dead. English is the only language in my house.

I spent a year and a half living in Izmir. I lived downtown and spoke the language, not well, but everyday. I loved the Turkish people and the Turkish culture. I share some Turkish phrases with my children as well as some Spanish and German. However, English is the official language here and must stay that way to keep our society intact.

I'm no racist, but my ancestors spoke English after leaving their native lands, as do the French, Spanish, and Italians that came here. We are a diverse society that needs one language.

As I said, resist. Keep your identity as Turks. Do not let outside influences change your society. Nationalistic pride is not bad, it's only bad to the people that want to change your lives.

Greg Natsch
Jefferson City, MO

Mr. Kinzer’s Joke
I am writing about the March 2, 2003, article "WHAT SCARES TURKEY , Forget Hussein. Iraq's Kurds Are Free Already." By STEPHEN KINZER

Mr. Kinzer's assertion that the Kurds turned Northern Iraq to a prosperous democracy is a joke. Part of this area was run by Molla Barzani, and it is ruled by his son Masood Barzani now. The other part is ruled by another warlord Celal Talabani in similar manner. Recently Mr Talabani was shown in TV carrying a Kalishnikov. These two areas are in some equilibrium and getting wealthy from smuggling of oil, other goods and U.S. aid. I never heard of any elections in this area since time in memorial. Did either Talabani or Barzani ever run for an office ? These are absolute and ruthless leaders. Kurds in fact need to be liberated from their own tribal leaders. It is ridiculous to depict these warlords as if they are instrument of democracy.

Mr. Kinzer knows better than that.

Tamer Acikalin / Louisiana
The author is a former President of ATAA.