Trump holds uncomfortable lovefest for Turkish president in defiance of Congress
Showing that not even opposition from his own party could stop him from licking the boots of a murderous dictator, President Trump welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House today. Despite the fact that the Turkish army and their jihadist proxies are currently committing war crimes and other atrocities against the Kurdish people of Northern Syria as you read this, Trump showered him with praise and made it clear that his perceived personal connection with other world leaders far outweighs all other considerations.
On Monday, 17 bipartisan members of the House sent a letter to President Trump demanding that he cancel the White House invitation to Erdogan, which he ignored.
“President Erdogan’s calamitous actions in Syria follow a long list of disconcerting steps under his leadership. Domestically, President Erdogan has overseen a systematic rollback of democratic institutions in Turkey, concentrating all political power in his person, persecuting political opponents and peaceful protesters, and imprisoning journalists in shocking numbers,” read the letter.
In addition to persuading the astonishingly malleable Trump into greenlighting his naked land-grab in northern Syria, Erdogan has thrown thousands upon thousands of people in jail in the wake of the 2016 coup, where they are held in appalling conditions on vague charges of supporting the “Gulenist” movement ostensibly responsible for the coup. Many are in solitary confinement, leading to a huge spike in suicides.
Turkey leads the world in imprisoned journalists and free speech is under constant attack from an increasingly authoritarian government. That is likely music to the ears of Donald Trump, who only wishes he could silence the media and their incessant questions with as much ease.
Turkey’s invasion of Syria has resulted in the escape of hundreds of ISIS fighters from their prisons, the murder of a woman Kurdish politician and dozens of civilians killed under an indiscriminate bombardment. Ethnic cleansing is suspected to be on the agenda for northern Syria.
On top of that, the last time President Erdogan visited Washington D.C., he personally sent his goons to beat up and assault Kurdish protestors who were exercising their constitutional right to protest — and never saw any consequences for it.
Erdogan is visiting the White House tomorrow.
Last time, his bodyguards savagely beat protesters including American citizens who were exercising 1st Amendment rights.
Turkey got away with this. Why? Where is the outrage and accountability? What happened to justice?
VIDEO: pic.twitter.com/EfLSOIv0Rg
— Siamak Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) November 13, 2019
None of this is behavior the United States should condone or celebrate, but none of that matters to Donald Trump, for whom the only real thing that exists in this world is his ego and the attention that feeds it.
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.