According to the Turkish press, several Turks attacked American sailors shopping in the resort town of Antalya after the USS Abraham Lincoln, on its way back from the Persian Gulf, docked there on a port call:
The attackers, who were reportedly members of the Turkish Youth Association (TGB), at first verbally attacked the American soldiers, who had left an American aircraft carrier moored off of Antalya to shop. Police intervened in the incident and detained the seven men when they tried to put bags over the American soldiers’ heads. A group of TGB members gathered in front of the police station to protest the detention of their friends. The detained men were later released.
The Iranians are already gloating about the attack. Thanks to a decade of Islamist rule and a constant barrage of anti-American incitement from Turkey’s top leaders, Turkey is now among the most anti-American countries on earth.
While Turkey has changed during the past decade, central neighborhoods of Istanbul and Mediterranean resorts have long remained safe; no longer. Americans are not safe in Turkey. The Pentagon should immediately suspend all port calls in Turkey, and should consider requiring non-essential personnel to leave the country. Greece and Croatia are also lovely places, and can accommodate both destroyers and aircraft carriers. More importantly, they would welcome American business and the tourism boon that a port call brings. Turkey is big on demanding apologies; perhaps it is time Prime Minister Erdoğan or Ambassador Namik Tan make one of their own.
While I agree that Turkey is becoming gradually an unwelcoming place, stating "Greece …. are also lovely places, and can accommodate both destroyers and aircraft carriers" seems detached from reality. Greeks have shown rabid anti-americanism for a very long time (CIA station chief murdered, protests all-over the place against the bases that used to be there, violent protests when Clinton visited etc. etc.etc.) so I wouldn't really count Greece as a better country to host USN ships.
This is a sad event but I am not convinced that Michael's approach is the best one. The reality is that sometimes our sailors are not as welcomed by all the citizens as we would like in foreign ports. That some folks attacked them is horrible, but the police did intervene. The next step is to see if there will be prosecutions of the attackers. n nIn parallel, there should be assurances from Turkey that they will clamp down on such perpetrators in the future and that the government will do all it can to guarantee the safety of visiting Americans. To suspend all port calls there would be a hardship for the thousands of sailors on carriers and is, from this one incident, too drastic a step to take now. n nBy the way, I was in Antalya in the 90s while on board Enterprise. The admiral's staff loved the city, the shop keepers loved the sailors, and there was deep affinity in both directions. Some of my friends purchased gorgeous rugs there, too. It would be a shame to see that hospitality ended because of this attack.
” That some folks attacked them is horrible, but the police did intervene. “r nr nYes, but in a revolving door sequence ” The detained men were later released. ” r nMost probably they were initially detained to prevent the issue from escalating into a diplomatic issue.r nObama is too busy now trying to get re-elected to have him bothered.
Turkish peace activists maliciously attacked by Zionist war criminal US soldiers. Erdogan has already demanded eleventy billion dollars in reparations, a formal in person apology by Obama and all US soldiers indicted for war crimes and arrested everywhere in Turkey. Then he blamed the Jews.
So close it hurts!
Turkey was once a great nation that stood next to the United States against the USSR. n nNow they are fallen, surrendering their liberty to Islamic clerics who would return them to the 13th Century. n nToo bad for them.
As alway anti-islam anti turk media spinning is at work here. You people have been selling for a while now but sorry nobody is buying this crap anymore. I travel offen and I have visited turkey 3 times last five years and I can asure you there is no country I have been to made me feel more welcome, if you do your research you will find out this was done as a retaliation to what was done to turkish soldiers in northern irak few years back by the american soldiers. this is more like a nationalist getting back at americans rather than islamist unwelcoming west, again sorry we are not buyying it. Apperantly americans are welcome but not the israelies anymore….
Well said, and either Greece or Croatia would be excellent and welcoming alternatives for both U.S. troops and civilians. Turkey (and Erdogan) need to finally learn that they can no longer continue to rely on their “strategic importance” to cover their anti-western, anti-Israeli and expansionist behavior.
Zionist u0130sraeli motivated propaganda to demonize present Turkish goverment for adopting independent foreign policy and support of Palestinians and the elimination of the Gaza blockade. Tu00fcrks are not anti-American only foreign policy that is one-sided in support of u0130srael and failler to stop settlements out of fear of Jewish votrs and money.
Ameer, since you say that you don't like us Israeli imposing a very limited bloackade on our mortal enemies in Gaza-Hamastan, perhaps you can urge the Turkish govt to stop its blockade of Armenia which has been going on for 18 years, and is a total blockade. Whereas Israel sends huge amounts of food to Gaza every week, nothing is allowed by Turkey to enter Armenia [also called Hayastan].
Nonsense! Turkey is throwing off the shackles of a fanatic anti-Islamic military.
” Turkey is now among the most anti-American countries on earth. “r nr nMaybe someone should tell the this to the current administration?
Rubiin Knows this but is a neo-con think tank propagandist out to demonize Turkey for the sake of u0130srael.