I knew before I started traveling through Turkey that American foreign policy was extremely unpopular here. But that’s not unique to Turkey, and I’ve long ago accepted this as part of travel, especially in this part of the world. But after discussing anti-Americanism with the Turks we’ve met, I realized I under-appreciated how weighty the issue of terrorism is in Turkey.
How is that possible? As we all know, terrorism has driven a huge part of American foreign policy since September 11th. Somehow I’ve over looked the fact that something like 30,000 Turks have been killed by the PKK in the last 20 years. The fact that America hasn’t attempted to destroy the PKK in Iraq, as we are destroying Al Qaida there, is perhaps the greatest source of resentment in Turkey about America.
After speaking for two evenings with Sez, our couch surfing host, I have been enlightened.
This is another rich subject I’ll have to return to.