There is a big Jewish population in Izmir and Istabul and they are very fearful of their future.

Their new president wants to turn the country into a Sharia country. A move to NYC or Haifa is in order according to my friend.

Edward on November 13, 2014 at 3:27 pm

ISIS? What ISIS? (Bad SUpertramp pun.)

Let’s deal with a theory about “moderate” Turkey.

After the First World War, Turkey was virtually bankrupt. Ataturk’s “westernization” efforts mainly placed it in the black, making its Arabic neighbours a little bit jealous.

Methinks that what Ataturk did was create one ambitious taqqiyah to transform a backward Islamic state (the Ottoman Empire) to a modern Islamic state.

The cherry on the top: making Turkey an Islamic member of the EU and NATO.

Feel free to add comments about backdoor procedures. I do enjoy their loukoum, though.

The Reverend Jacques on November 13, 2014 at 3:34 pm

Debbie hit a bull’s eye,
Debbie hit a bull’s eye,
The bull’s eye hi-it Debbie,
The bull’s eye hi-it Debbie,
The rabbit kicked the bucket,
The bucket kicked the rabbit, etc.

Uh, yes, as usual, Debbie hit the bull’s eye, and anyone . . .

who didn’t already realize every word that Debbie said about the culture of modern Turkey, . . .

hasn’t been paying attention. More and more American brains, sleeping the beautiful Caribbean sleep, listening to the song of the world famous Coqui, . . .

sleep well, America, for tomorrow, . . .

you are gone.

Alfredo from Puerto Rico on November 13, 2014 at 3:36 pm

Given the direction of Western foreign policy, Turkey should probably remain in NATO. The West no longer defends liberty and freedom. They support ‘moderate’ Muslims, and treat the Chinese as their allies — all the claptrap about the global warming (or is it climate change now) treaty, and yes, I was being sarcastic a couple of days ago. So NATO’s aims are consistent with Western appeasement (soon to be similar thought, and not just appeasement.)

Amazing how many people believe the Turks are moderate because someone was nice to them when they were touring. But travelers are notoriously gullible in the face of totalitarian or fascist countries. Remember the travelers to Cuba, China, the Soviet Union (sic), and earlier to Germany and Italy?

These people think Turkey has been moving towards Islamic extremism mainly because they haven’t yet been admitted into the European Economic Union. This is what liberals are told when they visit Turkey.

Little Al on November 13, 2014 at 3:58 pm

We’ve heard the same tired argument ad nauseam: “Don’t judge a group of people by a few bad apples.”

Debbie presents the obvious case against that fraudulent argument as follows:

To the relatives traveling to Istanbul: “You don’t have a problem spending money in an anti-Semitic, anti-American, Muslim country that’s become more and more extremist?” The relatives argued with me, saying “Well, the Turks are nice people, and we don’t judge a whole group of people by the actions of a few.””

My response to this is that anyone making the “few bad apples” argument could just as well make the argument that when the Nazis took over Germany that “not all Nazis were bad people” and they were generally “nice people” and that “we shouldn’t judge all Nazis by the actions of a few.”

The irony is that people WERE actually making that argument back in those dark days, and they foolishly concluded that “it can’t happen here.”

I’m sure that there were even Nazis who privately disagreed with the treatment of Jews, but in they end they all went along with the program and many said “we were only following orders,” as though personal responsibility was absolved a la the Stanley Milgram experiments (Yale U., 1961).

I hate to invoke what others sometimes dismiss as Godwin’s Law, but the Islam-Nazi paradigm seems obvious enough and the public ignores it at its own peril.

Ralph Adamo on November 13, 2014 at 4:12 pm

Great recruiting video… for ISIS.

DS_ROCKS on November 13, 2014 at 4:48 pm

They should go while they still can I guess.

japple on November 13, 2014 at 5:07 pm

Nothing like having allies, eh?

Jack on November 13, 2014 at 5:19 pm

Turkey has walked away from secularism for over a decade. It is a country that has only grown more anti-Western over the years, as shown by its dealings with Iran. NATO is not a place for Turkey at this point, and it should be expelled from the organization.

Worry on November 13, 2014 at 5:22 pm

Since the Cold War ended, it made no sense whatsoever to keep classifying Muslim countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait as allies. But try telling that to any leading politician.

As for NATO, what is it really, today? During the Cold War, I could understand: there was an understanding that if the Soviets attacked any member – be it West Germany, Norway, Turkey, it would trigger WWIII. In 1991, once the Warsaw Pact was disbanded and the Soviet Union itself came apart, the rationale for NATO’s existence was over.

If NATO was gonna continue, it would have made sense for it to revised itself to the new ground realities. Why are there US troops still in Germany, Iceland or other places, when the Cold War is over? And by including countries like Poland, Hungary, the Baltic republics, et al and expanding NATO eastwards while the US itself has been reducing the army, it’s just asking for trouble. The day Russia decides to march troops into any NATO member, the organization would be exposed as feckless as the UN. As it is, by engaging in stupid wars, like the one against Serbia, NATO has proven that it’s past being a force for good.

But back to Turkey, that country today is trying to regain its Ottoman/Seljuk era glory. Kemalism, which ruled for a good while, is dead. The Turks see a castrated Europe on one hand, and on the other, the opportunity to lead the Muzzie world again, since Iran is Shiite and the Saudis are feckless. That’s why they’ve been even more Islamic than even a lot of the Arabs while dealing with the ISIS issue.

Also, why are we at all involved in curbing ISIS? This is just an Islamic civil war that’s going on. You have ISIS claiming leadership of all Muslims viz their caliphate, al Qaeda challenging it since they don’t wanna cede that claim, the Saudis, Qataris & others too joining in. The sort of society that ISIS would like is there now in Saudi Arabia. It’s not like any party in the region, outside Israel, is interested in democratic pluralism: it’s just a case of who can wipe out the others.

So the West should not be involved at all in what goes on in Iraq or Syria. Let Hizbullah, al Qaeda, the Baathists, Iraq’s Shiite regime all handle it. Only thing – if there’s anything needed to be done, keep fueling that conflict and prevent any side from winning.

Oh, and finally, stop preventing Muzzies who want to go to Syria to join ISIS from leaving. Let them go: just prevent them from returning! Let Turkey have a civil war on its borders, and let’s stop pretending that their problem is ours.

Infidel on November 13, 2014 at 5:36 pm

Debbie, Debbie, Debbie, you and I have discussed this before—one cannot argue with people who have been lobotomized.

Multi-Culti blows chunks.

Occam's Tool on November 13, 2014 at 5:48 pm

Members of NATO share technology and intelligence…..Do we want to give or share any of this with an Islamist state?

Duck on November 13, 2014 at 6:43 pm

Only 18% of Turks have a favorable view of the USA. Erdogan is leading his country back into the stone age. They must be kicked out of NATO before they start a war with Israel and claim they were attacked.

Bikerrich on November 14, 2014 at 9:54 am

Extremism moves like a pendulum. The people will have had enough in the Middle East and the people will revolt to this too. There are enough capitalists as well who will try to put a stop to this extreme aggression.

Sidney Schleesel on November 14, 2014 at 12:27 pm

Not shocking in the least. When me and a few airmen took a night out in London in 90-91, we had a pretty decent time. Some algirians tried flexing up on a fellow airman, so a few more of us grouped up to where it was even. Even except we were bigger and I was least intoxicated and most involved, most skilled. Their alpha versus me and they were street scum complete with hateful dirty faces. The pub close by was an open basement, perfect for tossing a algerian into, on top of diners. They walked unhappily away. England is toast, like the restaurant off Ford rd and Harrison in Garden City. Dearborn, the same.

samurai on November 14, 2014 at 2:23 pm

Any place military persons go, they should expect something to happen and be ready for the situation. Yes, take some responsibility for yourself and your own safety. World is a dangerous place, some more than others. Turkey used to be a place women would shop for gold jewelry and have fun, not anymore. Realize and adjust. Those three guys should have been able to beat back the crowd and even pull expandable batons out of their backpacks to very easily break some noses and maybe shins.

samurai on November 14, 2014 at 5:17 pm

Not even this outrageous and disgusting behavior from our NATO ally results in Obama or his totally useless State Dept.taking any meaningful action. We have a huge military base there that Turkey continues to refuse to allow us to use while bombing IS & Khorasan sites in Syria. Why doesn’t our very weak and Islam loving president just close the f***ing base and quit wasting more money in Turkey. The Turks were responsible for aggressively and almost daily inciting antisemitism during Operation Protective Edge and even though they consider Iran an enemy they are nearly as bad as Iran. They too, actively provide significant money and support for Hamas. I can’t remember ever having a president that was so overtly antisemitic and anti American in my lifetime. There may have been one, but I can’t remember one. Turkey is more of an enemy and it’s a sick joke that they remain a NATO ally – in name only.

Also, Debbie, yesterday’s article on the Israeli NBA bound player being blocked was just excellent. NO one else has covered that. Good job!

NancyB on November 14, 2014 at 7:29 pm

There are turks in the home directly behind ours. Something fishy has been going on for years, since 9/11, actually. Family members and random turks are always coming and going, for months at a time, never the same people living there, but the home is still in the same ownership it always has been. The place is lit up all night long and any time they are on the phone outside, they are speaking turkish. They avoid contact with everyone and have never been pleasant to us or any of the other neighbors. Different cars always in the drive. Very odd goings-on. Thank G-d we’re heavily armed.

Holly on November 21, 2014 at 2:15 pm