Charlie Rose

Absurd_Kurd  12/12/2010 04:51 AM Report

You see, he didn't even mention the Kurds by name, this stupid turkey!

Border between Iran and Turkey is never recognized by Kurds, and soon it will be erased like the Berlin Wall.

Now this president is trying to once again play the old trick of Islam, saying to Kurds that they are brothers in Islam but it will backfire big time; Kurds are awake now, they will not be fooled or deceived again.

These blind people must see that. All world sees it, but this president is still in dark ages..

SecularistTurk  09/25/2010 05:25 PM Report

Unfortunately, Turkiye (Turkey) is no longer secular thanks(!) to Mr. Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Erdogan and their AKP Government. Turkey is now governed by a radical Islamic, Sharia (islamic law and order) demanding religious order/congregation leader called Fethullah Gülen who lives and operates in Pennsilvania USA! And he is protected and supported by the CIA and therefore the United States government! This Fethullah Gulen congregation is also financially supported by USA as well as some other countries.

REMant  09/23/2010 10:08 AM Report

In view of the fact that most Americans have little or no knowledge of history and geography...

Turkey is at the intersection of Europe and the Middle East and was a central transit point for the entrance of Christianity to the West. It was once full of Greek city-states, which became early Christian communities - some of the Gospels and Epistles originating there - and, of course, Istanbul was once Constantinople, seat of the Roman Empire after the fall of Rome and of the Church. Despite being 99% Muslim today, it is a secular state, with freedom of religion.

Turkey borders Syria, Iraq, and Iran as well as Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia and the Black Sea. It has been a democracy since gaining its independence after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI and the occupying powers in 1923. Altho neutral in WWII it was a charter member of the UN and the OECD, and has been a member of the EEC since 1963. It has been a member of NATO since 1952, and fought alongside the US in Korea with the United Nations. It was the existence of US missiles in Turkey aimed at the USSR that precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis. It currently has the largest military in NATO after the US, and like Britain houses American nuclear weapons on its soil.

The autocratic Ottomans controlled in Europe at its height in the late 17th c all of the Balkans including Greece and Cyprus, up to Poland and west to Budapest, plus all of country surrounding the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf, including Crimea, Georgia, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Somalia, as well as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and the African Mediterranean coast west to Algiers. That accounts for Muslims in places like Albania and Kosovo, as well as the cafes in Vienna. Not surprisingly the victorious Allies looked greedily at the spoils. Independence resulted in pretty much present day Turkey. Armenians, however, would prefer it had not happened. The Armenian massacre resulted from their throwing in with the Russians during WWI, much the same as, on the other side, the Irish and many Arabs looked to Germany. The same sort of thing on a smaller scale occurred in many border areas in both world wars, and nationalist movements of this sort were rife in all the old empires: British, Russian, French, Austro-Hungarian. Whether it is genocide or not depends, I would suggest, on what you consider the motive. In any case it happened nearly a century ago. Kurds are the largest minority group today, the discovery of massive amounts of oil in that region bordering Iraq only increasing their desire for autonomy.

Cyprus was appropriated by the British, who saw the island as essential to defense of the Suez Canal, early in WWI, and was nevertheless offered as a bargaining chip to get Greece to enter the war on the Allied side. It became a Crown Colony after Ataturk quit claims. Many Greek Cypriots fought with the British in both wars in hopes of being united with Greece. Despite a debacle which lost them Cyprus in WWII, Churchill claimed that his engineering of a Balkan resistance slowed Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in WWII just enough to ensure defeat in the winter. Britain relinquished the island only in 1960 in an agreement with both Greece and Turkey. It did not, however, end ethnic animosity, and Turkey invaded to protect the Turk minority when the Greek govt was overthrown in a military coup. However, the former allies refuse to this day to recognize the situation despite having gone to war to protect Muslims in the Balkans.

zainrs  09/23/2010 02:37 AM Report

Turkey is unique example of how religion could be reconciled with secularism. Taking religion out of the equation, as the comment above suggests, is a logical error.

robdverity  09/22/2010 02:45 PM Report

Charlie was right to hit on the "secular" issue. The fanaticism of all religions - but particularly one that reinforces it five times a day - makes peace and reason all the more illusive. Turkey may be its next victim.