Ankara condemns Rick Perry’s ‘Islamic terrorism’ remarks

“We strongly condemn the baseless and inappropriate allegations,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Tuesday, saying that it was expected of people who hope for posts with big responsibilities, such as the US presidency, to be “more knowledgeable about the world and more careful in the statements they make.”

The words that drew the harsh criticism from Ankara came from Perry, the governor of Texas, who said in a debate with other Republican contenders in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Monday that Turkey was a US ally in the past, but not anymore.

Perry made the remarks when he was asked by the moderator of the program whether Turkey should still belong in NATO, given that “since the Islamist-oriented party took over in Turkey the murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent there, press freedom has declined to the level of Russia, the prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas and Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cyprus.”

Ankara harshly noted that “Turkey became a NATO member when Perry was two years old,” and it is one of the countries that has contributed profoundly to the organization, recalling that the country is the co-chair of the Global Counterterrorism Forum along with the US.

In any case, the foreign ministry stated, it was apparent from public opinion polls and the weak support he received in the primaries that Perry’s “unfortunate remarks” are not supported by the grassroots of the Republican Party, which “shows the common sense of the US electorate.”

“The US does not have time to lose with figures who do not even recognize the allies of the US,” the ministry stated.

“Obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then, yes, not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it,” Perry boldly claimed.

“And you go to zero with foreign aid for all of those countries. It does not make any difference who they are. You go to zero with foreign aid, and you have the conversation about do they have America’s best interests in mind. When you have countries that are moving far away from the country that I lived in back in the 1970s as a pilot of the US Air Force that was our ally, they worked with us. But today, we don’t see that,” Perry said.

His campaign team later offered an explanation to the media about Perry’s remarks.

Victoria Coates, his foreign policy advisor, said that some view the leaders of Turkey as Islamic terrorists due to their support of Hamas and the flotilla against Israel, according to ABC News.

“The governor was responding to the questioner’s references to violence against women and to association with Hamas, I think both of which are things that many people do associate, as he said, with Islamic terrorists,” Coates was quoted as telling reporters for ABC News.

“He was referring to those things, and while he would welcome the opportunity to work with Turkey on regional issues like Syria or Iraq, this kind of behavior on the part of that country is disturbing, and I think we should [be] concerned about it.

”Asked if the leaders of Turkey have performed any actions that place them in the category of Islamic terrorists, Coates responded: “What he said was that many people associate that kind of behavior with that of Islamic terrorists. I think also their support for the flotilla against Israel this fall. It’s deeply concerning, and I think it’s something any future American president needs to be aware of.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Obama administration fundamentally disagrees with the assertion that Turkey is run by Islamic terrorists.