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Thanks for the post. As I am not up on the Ocalan issue, I cannot say much. I agree that the Turks have exacerbated their Kurdish problem, but it is also true that they have been fighting with Kurdish separatists for a long time. No one is prepared to give the Kurds their own state, and the creation of a rump Kurdistan would likely plunge the region into war. Since I have not followed the twists and turns of the hostilities between separatists and the government in Ankara, I do not feel qualified to judge how blameworthy the Turks are. I will say that the Turks are our allies, for sound strategic reasons, and that I have never personally claimed that our interest in the Balkans was purely humanitarian. In fact, I hope it was not, since I do not think that we can afford a humanitarian crusade that encompasses the world. Nor have I accepted the argument that our behavior in one situation need determine our behavior in another. Therefore, I do not think that the difference in our actions constitutes hypocrisy, and do not know enough to say whether or not we should take a different position on the execution itself.... |
