We don’t deserve our bad reputation.

last updated 8 January 2015

Turkey

Semih Idiz

Turkey has gotten a bad rap, said Semih Idiz in Istanbul’s Milliyet. In an international survey of attitudes toward 35 countries, Turkey was viewed the least favorably. Even Ukraine, until recently a grim Soviet backwater, ranked higher than we did. Evidently “the world sees Turks as ignorant, lazy, poor, radical Islamist, crazy, barbaric, and dangerous.” Of course, this is completely unfair. Turkey is the only secular Muslim democracy on the planet and a NATO member in good standing. We’ve been rapidly reforming our judicial system and our prisons to meet European Union standards. Yet it’s not hard to see why foreigners would so misunderstand us. “Such developments as the police beating women demonstrators” just a few months ago certainly look bad. The sight of Turkish mobs brawling at November’s World Cup qualifier against Switzerland didn’t help, either. And practically everyone condemned the charges “of insulting Turkish identity” levied against internationally famous author Orhan Pamuk. We need to work harder at selling ourselves. Turkey has its flaws, but surely “we don’t deserve to come in last.”