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Friday, February 25, 2005

JTW Comment - US-Turkish Relations: Hail to the Columnist!

"US-Turkish Relations: Hail to the Columnist!
Fehmi Koru
By Fehmi Koru

We all write for a purpose. The purpose of a columnist is to affect the thoughts and actions of the others. If I knew nobody would care enough to react to what I write, I would not go on taking all the trouble. I spend half of my time collecting material for my columns, the other half is spent to put those material to good use. I would not survive as a columnist if I stop getting reaction to my articles.

With this in mind, I had watched the developments surrounding Robert L. Pollock's piece in The Wall Street Journal on Turkey with envy. After a one-day visit to Ankara accompanying Undersecretary of Department of Defense Douglas Feith, he diagnosed our country's sickness. The title of his article 'The Sick Man of Europe --Again' accused us, the Turks, of being mad. Mr. Pollock, the journalist, is nowhere to be seen in that piece; Mr. Pollock the polemicist as an arm of the US government is very much evident. "

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