Brutal honesty or Freudian slip?
On July 24, Turkish warplanes entered Iraqi airspace and attacked targets suspected to be affiliated with the Partiya KarkerĂȘn Kurdistan (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group. Two days later, Istanbul was hit by two bomb attacks that killed 17 people.
At the funeral for the Istanbul victims, Prime Minister Erdogan spoke thusly:
Amuses me to think of what the narrative of some important events would have been if Erdogan's candidness was a norm. Imagine George Bush saying to fellow Americans after 9/11: "This is the cost of our lust for oil and our fondness for keeping military basis on foreign lands". Or Modi assuring Ahmedabadis in simple terms after the July blasts: "This is the cost of the 2002 riots".
Or a televangelist saying that Hurricane Katrina was the cost of America allowing abortions. Oh, wait, you don't have to imagine that.
At the funeral for the Istanbul victims, Prime Minister Erdogan spoke thusly:
"Unfortunately, the cost of this (military action) is heavy. The incident last night was one such example."I can't be sure if Erdogan's comments were well-thought of or if he received a quick sharp jab to his side from his aides the moment he said it, but they come across as very, very unusual. The universal reaction from leaders to a seemingly terroristic act like this is to condemn it as a senseless, irrational, indefensible act of violence. By assigning a motive for the act, Erdogan seems to elevate the "terrorist" to the level of a sensitive, thinking individual who reacts to events rather than being a inhuman brute.
Amuses me to think of what the narrative of some important events would have been if Erdogan's candidness was a norm. Imagine George Bush saying to fellow Americans after 9/11: "This is the cost of our lust for oil and our fondness for keeping military basis on foreign lands". Or Modi assuring Ahmedabadis in simple terms after the July blasts: "This is the cost of the 2002 riots".
Or a televangelist saying that Hurricane Katrina was the cost of America allowing abortions. Oh, wait, you don't have to imagine that.
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