Rick Perry vs. Turkey: A rebuttal from Turkey
Rick Perry slammed Turkey, a US ally, as ruled by "Islamic terrorists." Turkey's ambassador to the US replies.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, speaks as Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney listen at the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday night. (
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool
Rick Perry lumped Turkey in with Iran and Syria during remarks at the most recent GOP debate, lambasting the country’s (democratically elected) government as “what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.”
Perry did get quite the loaded lead-in from moderator and Fox News host Brett Bair:
Governor Perry, 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 Cypress. Given Turkey’s turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?
Perry offered thus:
Well, 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 to be in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it.
