Well, more than a week has past since my rant about a front page article in the New York Times about Turkey's election, and the paper hasn't responded to the letter I sent in. So, since nothing came of it and the rights return to me, I'd like to share it with you right here:
American news organizations rarely report on Turkey – studies indicate that Americans know very little about Turkey. Therefore, on the rare occasion that Turkey is in the news, it should not be misrepresented as it was in Wednesday’s article praising Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan often capitalizes on the Western media’s ambivalence towards Turkey, most notably when he jailed many leftist journalists at the same time China was famously arresting foreign reporters. News organizations didn't even notice amid their fervor about China. This sort of under-the-radar politics is only possible because the world’s attention is elsewhere.
Wednesday’s article also neglects religion’s vital role in Turkish politics. Erdoğan’s opponents believe that he uses religious sentiments to manipulate people into voting for him and his party. Many Turks fear the country is headed towards becoming another Iran, ruled by theocracy.
Erdoğan is indeed a visionary, but not in the way we think.
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