Ongoing Friction between the U.S. and Turkiye

In this article I would like to delve into how Americans view Turks and how Turks view Americans. 

I felt the need to write this article after an intense conversation between myself and my dear wife. But first, a bit of background. For the past 30 years I have been happily married to an American girl, born in Boston and raised in Florida. She is just like what you would imagine- blonde hair, blue-gray eyes, with an English, Irish, Swedish, Danish heritage. I, on the other hand, am a true Turk- dark brown eyes, olive skin, and my previously black hair now completely white. My DNA is 75% Caucasian from Central Asia, the remaining 25% Italian and Greek. 

On this particular evening we were having one of our ongoing discussions about Turkiye (we have had countless discussions in the past 30 years). I was reiterating the fact that we Turks originally came from the Altay and Ural Mountains in what is todays’ Russia and Central Asia. I than added something new that I had just learned. According to Ataturk’s investigations, Turks originated from a continent called MU which was a group of islands north of Australia; now completely submerged under water. 

Turks believe that they are descended from the 8th son of Noah, and that the Turkish peoples were originally shamans, just as the American Indians are. It was only at the hand of sword wielding Arabs who brought war, that Turks were forcefully converted to Islam in the 6th century BCE. 

Our conversation meandered to the fact that Turks have always been on the side of the underdog. There are many examples of this during the Ottoman Empire. Bosnian and other foreign non-Turks accepted the Ottoman religion of Islam and come under Ottoman rule for protection. The Ottomans believed that God chose them to be the leader of the world and to rule justly. 

As I began explaining the belief many have that present day Turkiye will rise to the status of a hegemonic power, my wife emotionally interrupted to state her assertion that Christians will never accept Sharia Law. 

I was taken aback by the fact that she expressed such a false belief about the Turks. Her statement made no sense to me at all. She has traveled the length and breadth of Turkey with me and knows full well that the Republic of Turkiye has been a secular democracy of nearly 100 years. Turkiye is a predominantly Muslim nation, but Christians, Jews, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc. all are free to practice their religions. I wondered do other Americans have this same impression? 

I gently reminded her that yes, it is true that the Ottomans ruled by Sharia Law. But the Ottoman Empire no longer exists and the Republic of Turkiye is NOT the old Ottoman Empire. Present day Turkiye does NOT follow Sharia Law, despite what Europeans may believe, despite what those here is the U.S. may believe, and despite the fact that the young followers of the current AKP government brag and exaggerate that Turkiye is returning to its Ottoman roots. 

After our conversation concluded, I felt the need to delve further. Let’s first take a look at things from a Western point of view. 

The West believes that Turkiye is still rising out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. That could not be farther from the truth. Next year will mark the 100^th anniversary of the Republic of Turkiye founded my Mustafa Kamal Ataturk; 100 years of a secular and democratic government. 

Then, there is the belief that some Americans have- Turks are the enemy of the U.S. One American general stated that in order to really taste the war you must fight against a Turk. I think I know what the general was saying. 

During the Korean War, American allies would borrow Turkish flags to attach to their vehicles as protection from the North Koreans. This same strategy was used in Afghanistan. High-ranking American officials attached Turkish flags to their vehicles when they drove down the streets of Kabul. 

Why? The Taliban would not attack if they saw a Turkish flag. Somehow in the minds of soldiers (both American and non; Christian and non) this created a fear about Turks. 

My response? As a Turk, I must emphasize that Turkiye does not want to be seen as a nation to be feared. Ataturk painstakingly changed and removed that fearsome Turk image. We want to be as civilized as civilized Westerners. However, as a side note, the term civilized Westerners is questionable. 

Turks are not savvy when they attempt to defend themselves in international affairs. Not at all like the Greeks, or the Armenians, or the Jews. They are much savvier in creating exaggerated talk and they always come out on top. Turks do not even know how to defend themselves properly. This can be likened to the way the American Indian was portrayed as the savage, someone to be feared. They are not. The Turks are not. But the West still holds on to the belief that they are to be feared. 

It is so ironic as to what is truth and what is not. No matter how hard they try, the Turks become the savages in the eyes of the American public. 

Sadly, there are several larger issues behind all this. American missionaries have been creating the savage Turk image since 1863 when they opened Robert College in Istanbul (now known as Bosporus University). Then there is the rift between American Cent-Com, the Pentagon, and Turkish Armed Forces. The rift started when America invaded Iraq. 

In addition to the West, Europeans are watching as Turkiye becomes a powerful nation and they fear they will not be able to deal with it. They also are thinking of the Ottoman Empire. Please, Turkiye does not want to return to being the Ottoman Empire. Turks want to live and be at peace among civilized nations. Turks want to explore space. Turks want to protect their lands and the resources. That is all! Why can’t people understand this? 

Obviously, America does not understand this, nor do they want to understand this. (When I say America, I am referring to the U.S. government, not the kind, warm, open-hearted American public.) 

In order to stop Turkiye, America created what is known as the FETO group. The CIA openly said that by creating a soft Islam they would be able to change nations. They think of Arabs and the way America rules them. They think Turkiye will respond the same. So, the U.S. created the PKK/YPG, YPD/SDG, and Daesh. These terror groups surround Turkiye in order to slow the advances of Turkiye growth in power status. 

I reiterate- all Turks want is to live peacefully. But the Europeans and Americans do not want Ataturk’s educated nation. They want a nation just like all the Arab nations that can be easily managed. 

Is it only the Americans and the Europeans that want this? 

No! the Russians also do not want a powerful Turkiye. Nor does China! 

Here is a fact not many people are aware of. In the history of the world there have been 27 empires established and then disintegrated. Among those 27 empires, 16 were founded by the Turks. The Ottoman Empire was the longest lasting empire- 622 years. The Roman Empire- 400 years. 

I’d like to return to the subject of the friction between Cent-Com, the Pentagon, and the Turkish Armed forces. The U.S. detests the fact that they cannot rule the Turks. (Here is my belief- no nation in the world could ever rule the Turks). So, what the Americans did was try to create a Kurdish nation so that they could easily annex the lands back to the Jews for their promised land. 

In actuality it is the Jews behind this American hostility against Turks. The U.S. openly gave billions of dollars in weapons to the terror groups (listed above) in an effort to slow down Turkiye. This strategy failed. The U.S. attempted a coup. It failed. Three months after the coup Turkiye invaded Northern Syria and dealt with Daesh. After that, Turkiye completed five more incursions into Northern Syria. With that, the dream of making a Kurdish nation (in reality the Jewish dream of a larger state) and changing borders of 22 nations, came to an end. 

Also, the dream of creating a greater Armenia in Caucasia come to an end after 44 days of war between Azerbaijan and Western supported Armenia, all because of the intervention of Turkiye. Same scenario in Libya and in Northern Iraq the end of the PKK is near. 

What next? It will be Greece. And Greece will be the same scenario as the war between Russia and Ukraine. It is not Ukraine, but the British/Americans fighting with Russia at the expense of the poor Ukrainian people, with uneducated (comedian) Zelensky as the puppet. 

It is clear, America will never stop creating obstacles for Turkiye. In the Eastern Mediterranean, America allied with Greece, Israel, Egypt, and Southern Cyprus against Turkiye. One morning America announced that it no longer supported the Eastern Mediterranean pipeline which was extremely costly due to by-passing Turkiye which had already set up pipelines to carry natural gas to Europe. So, the allied group’s dream become the pipe dream. 

And now America has found another Zelensky in Mitchotakis of Greece. The Harvard educated Mitchotakis was invited to US to make a speech to the American Congress. The Pentagon politicians needed someone to speak on their behalf so that they could applaud. Mitchotakis did a perfect job for the American politicians. And the U.S. has literally taken over the nation of Greece by building more than nine military bases. The bases are there to provoke Turkiye into war in another attempt to slow Turkiye down. Then the U.S. can play the hero and bring peace between Greece and Turkiye. The mistake the Pentagon is making is pushing Turkiye out of their total control. The West certainly does not want Turkiye on the side of Russia, China, and Iran. 

One additional item as to why Cent-Com and the Turkish Armed Forces are at odds- the clash between the two that occurred in 2003. When Cent-Com, with all their mighty weapons, anchored their ships on the shores of Mersin, Turkiye and unloaded all their equipment they soon found out that the Turkish Parliament had voted no to letting the U.S. pass through Turkish land in order to invade Iraq from the north. 

Cent-Com had to reload all their equipment back on to the ships and take the long route through the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf. This was a great humiliation to the Americans. Americans assumed that the Turks were no different than the Arabs. They did not take into consideration Turkish democracy and their rightful sovereignty. Americans thought that Turkish democracy was similar to the Arab ‘kangaroo’ form of democracy. That is where they were gravely mistaken. (No offence to Arab people.) 

When Cent-Com left Turkish shores, they vowed Turkiye would pay for their humiliation. And they made good on their vow several times over. One of the most damaging was coming to the Turkish Special Forces domicile pretending to be a friendly ally, but instead ambushing them with a Rambo style attack and carrying them through the streets of Suleymania on the Fourth of July 2003. The meaning is double. 

As I write this, I truly and sincerely believe this will never, never be forgotten.