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Terror attacks in Paris.

81usaf92 said:
Because the Turks are very westernized and are not a national enemy like some Arab and Persian nations
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Turkey's military, like Egypt and Pakistan, is the elephant in the room. They tend to be a little more secularized and greatly influence how much rhetoric is spewed. It's because of Egypt's military, that the muslim brotherhood were quickly ejected from office and arrested.
 
81usaf92 said:
Because the Turks are very westernized and are not a national enemy like some Arab and Persian nations
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True. However, Turkey is the gateway to Syria. Fly to Turkey and you're on the terrorist suspect list.

I had some Turks visit me on a business trip about ten years ago. I took them to dinner on Ft. Lauderdale Beach and they seemed to love America. They were very Westernized, or gave the impression. They spoke good English and I suspect they were trained how to "act American." I don't know what element had the soccer stadium packed. My buddies could have been in that crowd for all I know.

How do they fill up a soccer stadium on a Wednesday afternoon??
 
Paris officials having a press conference now....

BREAKING: Paris prosecutor: terror cell neutralized Wednesday was ready to act.
BREAKING: Paris prosecutor says police fired 5,000 rounds during assault on attackers' hideout.
BREAKING: Paris prosecutor: Identities of 2 dead in Saint-Denis raid still being investigated.
BREAKING: Paris prosecutor: suspected attacks mastermind, accomplice not among those arrested in raid.
BREAKING: Paris prosecutor: authorities trying to determine identities of those arrested, killed in raid.
BREAKING: Paris prosecutor: Precise number of dead in Saint-Denis raid is not known.
 
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81usaf92 said:
Because the Turks are very westernized and are not a national enemy like some Arab and Persian nations
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Displaced Bama Fan said:
Turkey's military, like Egypt and Pakistan, is the elephant in the room. They tend to be a little more secularized and greatly influence how much rhetoric is spewed.
Click to expand...

ValuJet said:
True. However, Turkey is the gateway to Syria. Fly to Turkey and you're on the terrorist suspect list.

I had some Turks visit me on a business trip about ten years ago. I took them to dinner on Ft. Lauderdale Beach and they seemed to love America. They were very Westernized, or gave the impression. They spoke good English and I suspect they were trained how to "act American."
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I'll apologize up front for a long post and for hijacking this thread, but I have a chance to share some experience here.

I lived in Turkey for 1 1/2 years back in the early 90's. Things have changed since then, I'm sure. But during that time frame, the average Turk loved America and Americans. Any American, male or female, young or old, was safer on the streets of Istanbul at 2:00 am than on the streets of any American city at 8:00 pm; by far. They yearned to be seen as a Westerner, and wanted badly to be a part of the EU. The country, as it exists today, is a relatively young republic (1920's) and is democratic, secular, and has a constitution. One stipulation of their constitution is their military is empowered to overthrow any Turkish government that seeks to enforce religious laws upon the population. Hence, one of many differences between Turkey and Saudi Arabia (lived there 1 year also). In Saudi, if you are Muslim and don't go to prayer when called, you are beaten, thrown in jail, or both. While Turkey is 97% Muslim, when they are called to prayer, they just turn up their TV sets to drown out the call of the muezzin.

The Kurds make up about 20% of their population (I think), and are seen by the Turks as leftist rebels and terrorists. Given that Turkey is a key NATO ally due to its unique geography, the USA's view of the Kurds compared to the Turk's view of the Kurds creates some touchy diplomatic situations at times. Knowing this helps to understand why just empowering the Kurds with military equipment and supplies to fight ISIS creates other issues for the American government.

But Turkey has some bad neighbors (Iraq, Syria, Iran), and, from their perspective, some troublesome neighbors (Greece, Georgia, Armenia). That fact, coupled with Turkey's long violent history, causes them to react strangely at times from a Westerner's perspective. Their uneducated population is easily manipulated by radical thoughts and influences. In fact, this is true throughout the Middle East as well. Until our history includes situations where rulers are forcibly overthrown, beheaded, or exiled, it's difficult to understand the constant threat the Turkish government, and leaders of friendly Middle Eastern countries feel day-to-day. The rhetoric you hear in public from Turkey and friendly Middle Eastern countries is often spoken for the sake of controlling a difficult-to-control population, and not meant to convey the real relationship they want and need from America.

For the Christians on the board, it might surprise you to know that the Seven Major Churches of early Christianity (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia) are all in western Turkey, and can be visited today.
 
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mittman said:
Meh, I'm not going to get into a diplomatic fit with a key ally because a bunch of soccer fans booed inappropriately. But that's just me.
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It could have been 10,000 Syrian refugees who piled into Turkey and flooded into the soccer stadium.
 
For the Christians on the board, it might surprise you to know that the Seven Major Churches of early Christianity (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia) are all in western Turkey, and can be visited today.
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Yes, but they were Greek cities back when Paul was ministering to them...
 
I don't know their customs, but there has been a flood of young Turks (sounds odd, I know) on my Facebook page explaining that the whole event was misinterpreted by the western world. This is a quote from "Deadspin," quoting a Turkish article:

The more important clarification the article makes is that the chants of “Martyrs never die, the country will never be divided” and the reported cries of “Allahu Akbar” were in no way meant to show support to the perpetrators of the Paris attacks. According to the writer, the former slogan is actually a common anti-terrorism chant expressing a sentiment that no matter what kind of attacks Turkey faces, it will remain as one. It too was chanted during the moment of silence after the Ankara bombings. As for “Allahu Akbar,” the article points to another popular chant that, while nationalistic in origin, has become a typical “Let’s Go Team!” type of thing.
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However, it should be noted that it definitely has an anti-Kurdish history. That's the terrorism which is the target...
 
TIDE-HSV said:
I don't know their customs, but there has been a flood of young Turks (sounds odd, I know) on my Facebook page explaining that the whole event was misinterpreted by the western world. This is a quote from "Deadspin," quoting a Turkish article:

However, it should be noted that it definitely has an anti-Kurdish history. That's the terrorism which is the target...
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Okay, I get the Turkish unity thing (the Turks treat Kemal Attaturk like a god for unifying the country after WW I).
Maybe a moment of silence is best kept, I don't know, silent? Hard to misinterpret that.
 
Tidewater said:
Okay, I get the Turkish unity thing (the Turks treat Kemal Attaturk like a god for unifying the country after WW I).
Maybe a moment of silence is best kept, I don't know, silent? Hard to misinterpret that.
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Well, that would seem to be so, from a western point of view, but this type of display - most often in response to PPK atrocities - appears to be common...
 
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