David's Daily Diversions

Being on this side of

Being on this side of the Atlantic, I sometimes find my finger off the pulse of American politics. However, I have been reliably informed that part of the reason lack of support was even registered for President Bush and the concluding conflict in Iraq was due to the inclusion of New Yorkers in opinion polls. Apparently, it is hard to find a good word about W in New York. I had previously thought that negative views in that city were confined to the editorial desks of Pravda-on-the-Hudson. No wonder I don’t like New Yorkers.

The only thing I like less than New Yorkers is pseudo-New Yorkers, like the classless, characterless junior Senatorial carpetbagger from Chicago via Little Rock.

Right up there with New Yorkers would have to be the Turks. The Turks were unhappy that the Coalition forces were working together with the Kurds. The only thing the Turks like to do with Kurds is mistreat them. Now the Turks are really upset that the Kurds have taken the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, because it is so oil rich that the Kurds might be economically strong enough to attempt the creation of an independent Kurdish state.

The last thing the Turks want is a Kurdish state. The only thing the Turks liked about Saddam was that he gassed Kurds. The Turks are afraid that if the Iraqi Kurds get self-government, then all the Kurds in Turkey will want the same. So even though the Kurds in question are across the border in Iraq, the Turkish government has declared that Kurdish independence or autonomy is unacceptable.

The only way the Turks can change something they find unacceptable is by force. We know from their history with the Greeks, most recently in Cyprus, that the Turks are certainly willing to invade and permanently occupy territory. I have no doubt that without US military presence in the northern Iraq, the Turks will do exactly the same there. Their philosophy is that if Saddam can’t keep them under, Turkey will have to go do it.

If you thought that Turkey is only good at making Christian martyrs and committing genocide on Christian nations like the Armenians, think again. They are just as happy to slaughter fellow Muslims.

Of course when I refer to the Turks, I do not mean every Turkish person. There are peaceful Turkish Muslims, a handful of Turkish Christians, and others who would not favour genocide. And this doesn’t mean everything Turkish is bad. The Turks did give us the doner kebab, after all.

And I’m not saying every New Yorker is bad, either. I haven’t met every New Yorker.