Charlie Rose

young84  06/06/2011 05:56 PM Report

All the negative commentary on Turkey vis-a-vis Cyprus, Kurds and Armenians is simply UNIMPORTANT. Complain all you want but so long as Turkey continues to become a more influential power with a strongly growing economy, especially in the wake of an increasingly weaker West, Turkish interests will prevail. Talk is cheap but POWER is all that matters. Never ever forget that!

ancientmariner  05/19/2011 09:57 PM Report

Amazed and disappointed that Mr Rose, in his interviews with Erdogan and Davutoglu, accepted their statements that Turkey has "zero problems with our neighbours" without raising the slightest objection over the case of Cyprus. Cyprus, an independent country, certainly qualifies to be called a neighbour. But zero problems? A large-scale military invasion, 35+ years of continuing occupation of more than a third of its territory and 35000 troops still on the ground would qualify as quite a problem by anyone's definition, and cannot be dismissed, as Davutoglu attempted to do, as merely "some difficulties" which caused problems with Greece in the past.

The Cyprus problem is quite complex and admittedly goes beyond the Turkish invasion, with both (and more!) sides deserving a good share of the responsibility for the current mess. But to let these "zero problem" statements go unchallenged is poor journalism, which I would not have expected from Mr Rose.

danish  05/16/2011 11:16 AM Report

stop invading cyprus with dialect, culture, religion and population brought from turkey!

Al_Bayrak  05/16/2011 09:29 AM Report

Thank you, Mr. Rose for interviewing these key political figures in Turkey. Your fine work attests that quality informative reporting still exists.

There are many in the world who feel that Tayyip Erdogan wants to undo what Mustafa Kemal Ataturk has done. Since, speaking against the founding father of the TR Republic is a short sighted position that some people take.

Albeit unorthodox, Ataturk's actions were necessary for the preservation of the Turkish people and state. Had he wanted Turkey to not be associated with Islam, it would have surely been arranged. And most likely, to the EU's delight; TR would be in "The Club" this very day, with all former issues long forgiven and forgotten.

But the reality is, Turkey remains a Muslim country, and a strong one at that. Its peace policy is genuine to the principles of Islam. That is unless someone decides to war

against, or plot to overthrow it from within.

The issues with Kurds, Cypress, and Armenian 'genocide' are inflated diversions by the West to stand off an impending certainty.

Truth shall prevail, much to the disdain of the unjust.

I applaud Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his leadership to fortify the identity of the Turkish Nation and bring it back on its feet. Both Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Fatih Sultan Mehmet would be proud.

jirairT  05/15/2011 10:36 AM Report

Et tu Mr. Rose. So disappointed in your interviews with Erdogan and Davutoglu of Turkey. an hour and a half of Q&A and not one mention of the only closed border in Europe- with Armenia, the issue of denial of a genocide and the continuing civil rights struggle of Turkish Armenians, now in its 103rd year and counting. Very disappointed.

DanyQDC  05/13/2011 02:58 PM Report

Mr. Rose, your bias towards Israel is so evident in your interviews and questions. Your ignorance of life on the ground in Palestine seems to cloud your otherwise intelligent meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister. Perhaps if you were more balanced, informed by and relied equally on the pro-Israeli lobby as well as Americans for Palestinian Equal Rights, you could possibly see how far off you are. In your "recap" you TOTALLY miss the point of what his Excellency, Tayyip Erdogan, had to say with regard to Israel and Palestine. It's too bad your recap doesn't include the full text of what he said, but perhaps it further underlines your anti-Arab bias.

Murat  05/13/2011 10:00 AM Report

Those who says that Turkey is not democratic country anymore, they have to bring just one, just 1 example that was better before and geting worst today. Turkey has been terribly antidemocratic country. ?t was under military control and administered by burocratic deep goverment. Personally i dont like Tayyip or AKP but they are way more democratic, they have more toleranc to minorities of Turkey than their alternatives do. Period.

ShalomFreedman  05/13/2011 07:47 AM Report

I agree with the comments of Mr. Tull and MickeyVillaReal. They point out that the Turkish regime is destroying the secular Turkish state. They point to the oppression of the Kurds, the intervention in Cyprus, the growing hostility to Israel. They do not however mention the betrayal of the U.S. in refusing it right of passage when it moved into Iraq. Double- speak and 'peacebabble' are Erdogan specialties but his government shows no mercy whatsoever in suppressing internal dissent. Charlie Rose seems to have a penchant for cuddling up to the worst of the anti- Western leaders. Erdogan is no Ahmadinejad and may not even be a Bashar Assad but he is certainly not a friend of Western democracies, including the United States.

Mr_Tull  05/13/2011 05:56 AM Report

People are so fascinated by Turkey's rise and it's apparent islamic democracy. How nice. They forget it is occupying Northern Cyprus for over 30 years, settling its civilians there against international laws and is engaged in a brutal campaign against it's Curd population that has also propelled it to invade neighboring countries. Oh, and it is aggressively denying it's responsibility to the Armenian holocaust, a period of history that saw Turkey kill or aid to kill about 1.5 million people.

Mr. Erdogan's sympathy towards Hamas, an organization dedicated to the mass murder of Israelis is revolting. If blowing up innocent people in public buses and firing explosives towards civilians are not acts of terror, then what are they exactly?

Just as a reminder, last month saw Hamas fire an anti tank missile towards an Israeli school bus and calling Bin Laden an "Islamic Hero" after condemning his killing by the USA.

And if acts of terror against Israelis don't make people lose sleep, they should know it is engaged in brutal tactics against it's own population as well.

A legitimate political organization indeed.

With the murdering tyrant Bashar Assad as his best friend and Hamas and Iran as his allies, Erdogan lofty speech about liberal ideals and peace are left as hollow rhetorics.

Show me your friends, the saying goes, and I'll show you who you are.

Antierdogan  05/12/2011 11:54 PM Report

Erdogan is a true FASCIST. I wish you could interview him again with emphasis on his hatred for the father of Turkey Kemal Ataturk and his support for the religious zealot Fetullah Gulen. Turkey is on a dreadful road to becoming a sharia state rather than a democracy. He wants to change the constitution to guarantee his seat indefinitely. He is in power thanks to the illiterate vote which unfortunately is the majority. He has bought his votes by distributing coal, provisions and even large appliances to the poor just before an election. The secular population of Turkey is terrified by the current events shaping the country.

Ricardo_Amaral  05/12/2011 12:06 PM Report

Charlie, you will enjoy reading this article about Turkey:

Turkey: The sultans of swing

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD07Ak02.html

.

REMant  05/12/2011 11:38 AM Report

Turkey is indeed significant both as a model and as a leader in the Middle East, and, as was said, much of the recent economic unrest has undermined its political initiatives. That strategy aimed at building effective states in the region to bring stability and prosperity such as the country, itself, has enjoyed, but as Pres Erdgoan knows the Syrian govt is as much a minority as was Sadaam's and that Libya is full of tribes with little experience as a nation.

I agree with him that the return of Palestinian unity is a welcome development and don't think that refusal to recognize Israel is ipso facto terrorism, nor would I think even a barrage of wayward rockets is, tho I think that's certainly been counterproductive. Catering to the parochial and patronizing, if not outright bigoted, attitude of many EU and NATO members, is I think frankly beneath Turkey, but I hope they stand their ground and remain, if nothing else, a thorn in their side. Rather than throwing up obstacles, the US should back this kind of sanity.

Sedition and libel are quite different in monarchies than in democracies, because in the former speech like everything else in conceived of as a liberty as is the case still in the UK, while in the latter as a right, altho in practice there need be little difference. Even this country has had similar laws against Communism. And, likewise, monarchies are not only historically religiously uniform, but the character of religion, as with sedition, begins with the idea that people are God's subjects. The idea of a market for religion began with the idea of the polity as a market itself. But as with our polity, the Founders of this country hoped to shed obeisance and ritual yet retain the basic philosophical conception of a nation under God, tho that battle appears largely lost, replaced by separatism and competition with unfortunate consequences for morality, and, it seems, peace.