The political crisis shaking Turkey spilled over into the country’s ties with the rest of the world on Saturday, as Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed outside forces for the country’s worst corruption scandal for years and appeared to threaten the US ambassador.Oh, do tell us about it. To be sure, it's nothing of the sort, but even if it were, he'd be asking for it with his track record of bigotry against infidels.
Speaking at a rally at the Black Sea town of Samsun, the prime minister attributed the investigation into the scandal – which involves allegations of millions of dollars of bribes, smuggling, the fixing of tenders and illegal construction – to a plot “with international dimensions” against his government.
Any hostility he may have voiced against the American ambassador in Turkey should be cause for concern too, and just shows that even a leftist government in the USA won't make him cooperative.
Turkey’s relations with the US hit a peak in 2009, when President Barack Obama praised the “model partnership” between the two countries.I suppose the reason he's against Assad is because the Syrian overlord isn't Islamist enough for his tastes.
But ties have become tense with differences over Egypt, where Mr Erdogan called for the West to denounce the coup against former President Mohamed Morsi, Syria, where the Turkish prime minister wanted a Kosovo-style campaign against President Bashar al-Assad and Washington’s concerns about the Turkish government’s crackdown on mass protests.
“I presume this will work with Erdogan’s core constituency,” said Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations of the prime minister’s latest remarks. “There’s a reservoir of anti Americanism in Turkey and this is going back to the well.” He added, however, that despite frustration with Mr Erdogan Washington still sought co-operation with Turkey because of the country’s strategic importance.Too bad. They could save themselves a lot of money and other hassles by not wasting their time maintaining ties with such an awful politician. And honestly, what importance does Turkey really have at this point anyway?
