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March 28, 2007
Bullying from Turkey
Thomas Lifson
We are now quite used to being told by Muslim countries how we should conduct ourselves at home. Don't even think about running cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, though depictions of Jews as apes and pigs are commonplace in Islamic countries, for instance. Now comes news that Turkey thinks it has a right to tell the heads of France and Germany what gifts they should exchange. UPI reports via Ummah News Links:
An antique beer mug given to French President Jacques Chirac has strained Turkey's ties with the European Union.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has been irritated by Chirac's retirement present, a German beer mug allegedly depicting an 18th-century victory of the French over forces from the Ottoman Empire.
"If the EU has a future vision, it should look to the future," Gul said, according to Deutsche Welle Online. "Harping on the past does not befit the EU vision."
Gull should understand that we are free to celebrate our victories. Americans celebrate our Revolutionary War from Britain with nary a peep from our Brit cousins. The French celebrate their victory at Austerlitz with a railway station, and Germany doesn't object. I have to wonder if Turkey might not celebrate a victory or two.
There is plenty about the way life is lived in Muslim countries that bothers many of us in the west. Two can play this game.
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