Turkeys

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After the 1967 war, full of youthful Zionist fervor and a sense that Jewish history was happening without me, I made my way to Israel to offer my assistance, such as it was. It wasn’t much. The country was still fully mobilized, the agricultural settlements were short of labor, and I was sent to a kibbutz in the north. I brought along all of my relevant skills: I could speak and write English and, having been raised as a Jew in Newark, New Jersey, I was a fast runner. After a quick evaluation and determination that I was essentially useless for all practical purposes, I was assigned an appropriate task–working with chickens.

That was over 55 years ago, and I still hate chickens, unless they are dead, or, as eggs, not yet born. You can not make friends with a chicken, as you might with a dog. If you feed a chicken on Monday, it will peck you bloody on Tuesday. Fully aware that you have ample food to distribute if they would just wait their turn, chickens will nevertheless attack you from all sides, frequently leaving food in the dirt to pursue the higher pleasure of drawing blood.

They had only one saving grace: they weren’t turkeys. At least chickens had a hierarchy (thus, pecking order) and  a level of intelligence hidden behind their naked misanthropy.

Turkeys lack even those positive attributes. Having been bred for size, they have almost no brain to speak of. They are clumsy and lack the most basic survival instincts. They won’t come out of the rain. There is a myth, unfortunately not true, that they will, open-mouthed, stare heavenwards during a rainstorm and drown themselves. That does not happen: but it would not be unfair to attribute any other dumb, irrational, venal, nasty habit to them.

Which brings us to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of the most aptly named country in the world. (Yes, that whole interminable introduction was devised just to make that weak joke. Sorry.) For those of you who don’t know Turkish, Recep Tayyip Erdogan means “hypocritical fascist megalomaniac.” Or it should. He makes turkeys look clever and chickens look like altruistic humanitarians. He is the farm fowl of heads of state, foul in every possible iteration.

He is a disgrace. That a country under his leadership is a member of NATO is an embarrassment. Every time it rains in the middle east, I pray for a picture of him, open-mouthed, staring heavenward.

This poseur, his nation’s currency plunging in value, its economy beset by high inflation, rising borrowing costs, and a wave of bankruptcies, has decided that his country will no longer do business with Israel. This brilliant economic decision appears to have been prompted by the Israeli destruction of war materiel Turkey had provided to Syria that Israel perceived as a threat. He also restricted Israeli aircraft from flying in Turkish air space.

He ostensibly did this to signal his disapproval of Israel’s unethical behavior. It’s like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shunning someone for seeking the spotlight.

In his book, The Genius of Judaism, Bernard-Henri Levy argues that antisemitism is a form of distorted mirror, in which the antisemite sees Jews committing all the vile things of which they themselves are guilty.

Erdogan faults Israel for pursuing genocide, maintaining an unjust society, occupying and colonizing land, and denying Palestinians a state of their own. Let’s hold up that mirror:

During World War I, approximately 1,500,000 Armenians were killed on the orders of the Turkish leaders of the Ottoman Empire. There was mass population transfer, rape, and kidnapping, in addition to the attempted annihilation of the entire Armenian population, whose community had inhabited their homes for 3,000 years.  Unlike the Germans, Erdogan neither acknowledges nor apologizes for the genocide. Indeed, he denies it and one risks incarceration for even mentioning it in Turkey, because insulting Turkey or its President is a crime. (No; I have no immediate travel plans.)

And yet, this hypocrite falsely and maliciously accuses Israel of genocide because it is fighting back against Erdogan’s genocidal friends in Hamas, while, at the same time, trying to feed the civilian population in the face of Hamas opposition and trying to minimize civilian casualties even if by doing so it endangers its own soldiers.

Turkey jails more journalists than any other NATO member, by a wide margin. Almost universally, these journalists have been jailed for political coverage, either for insulting the President, reporting on the plight of the Kurds, mentioning the Armenian genocide, or criticizing the government. There is limited freedom of the press and Erdogan controls and intimidates the judiciary. The Kurdish minority is discriminated against and marginalized. A number of UN resolutions have condemned Turkey, including one that accused it of “massive destruction, killings and numerous other serious human rights violations” against Kurds. Violence against women is widespread and peaceful assembly is frequently met with violence.

According to Freedom House, Turkey scores 33 out of 100 (“Not Free”) in its human rights rating. By contrast, Israel’s rating is 73 (“Free”).

And yet, this . . . turkey . . . has the unmitigated gall to virtue signal and criticize Israeli society? To suggest that his failing country is too pristine to be spoiled by commerce with Israel? Obtuse moron.

In July 1974, Turkey attacked North Cyprus, ostensibly to protect its Turkish minority. The occupation continues to this day, despite being considered unlawful by almost the entire global community. The UN has adopted two resolutions (Security Council 541 and 550) calling for Turkey’s withdrawal and respect for the sovereignty of Cyprus. The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus is recognized by . . . Turkey, and no other country. The occupation is a violation of the UN Charter.

And yet, Erdogan rails against Israeli presence in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria. Hypocrisy, anyone?

There are 40,000,000 Kurds, perhaps the largest ethnic group without a state, occupying mostly contiguous land in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. They have been there since time immemorial. In 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, an autonomous Kurdish region was proposed, not unlike the Balfour Resolution and the San Remo Conference with respect to Palestine (or, as it is now known, Israel).  In 1923, the Allies changed their minds and separated the Kurds, stateless, among the four states whose boundaries they then drew. The Kurds seeking autonomy since then have been labeled and treated as terrorists, including military campaigns and chemical attacks in Syria and Iraq.

Erdogan supports a two-state solution, but only for Palestinians. He has oppressed, murdered, and jailed any and all Kurdish opposition, including political leaders (in 2024, a Kurdish political leader was sentenced to 40 years in jail). The Kurds remain stateless and politically marginalized, with Erdogan their implacable enemy.  Autonomy for me, but not for thee.

Did I mention hypocrisy?

Turkey should be expelled from NATO. It does not share the requisite democratic values. It aspires to be a religious tyranny. It is a democracy in name only. There is no ideological basis for its inclusion with modern Western liberal countries.  Geopolitically, it has sided with Iran and Russia as much as it has sided with Ukraine and its European allies. It single-handedly delayed the expansion of NATO in order to extract concessions for itself.

It openly supports Hamas, a terrorist organization. It is an authoritarian state, strategically aligned with Russia and Iran (and helping them avoid sanctions), occupying Cyprus by force and constantly threatening Greece.

Granted, it has a large military and the US relies on a number of strategic bases in a highly volatile area, so jettisoning Turkey will be a difficult decision. But it is a decision that needs to be made. Erdogan’s presence in NATO soils it.

And as to Erdogan, the mini-fuhrer . . . here’s hoping that his day will come in the next rainstorm. Look up, Mr. President.