"Turkey primed to greet Obama with pride, hope" by Laura King, Los Angeles Times | April 5, 2009
ISTANBUL - It seems Barack Obama's face is everywhere these days, smiling from posters on practically every street corner.
But that's because one of Turkey's largest banks has appropriated his image for an advertising campaign that cheekily plays off the crisis enveloping US financial institutions. In the TV ads, an actor playing the president says ruefully, "If only our banks were like this one." Obama's planned visit to Turkey beginning tonight, which will be his first as president to a predominantly Muslim country, is being greeted with eagerness and excitement here - but also with a trademark dose of prickly nationalism.
The stopover is viewed with pride as an affirmation of Turkey's importance as a bridge between East and West, a moderate and strategically positioned NATO ally with the ability to mediate with hard-line Muslim governments. For a partnership bruised by the perceived highhandedness of the Bush administration, particularly during the run-up to the Iraq war, the visit is also seen as a needed balm.
"Maybe Turkey needs the US, but no one should forget for a moment that the US definitely needs us, too," said Emrah Goksu, a 24-year-old student watching the crowds go by in Istanbul's Taksim Square.
During the visit, hot-button issues such as Kurdish aspirations, human rights, and Turkey's denial that ethnic Armenians were the victims of genocide early in the last century probably will stay well in the background. But even veiled references to such controversial matters will present plenty of opportunities for outbursts of indignation, especially from right-wing politicians and their supporters.
When Was the Last Time You Heard About.... Armenia?
Human rights groups and other activists, in contrast, fret that diplomacy will prevent the new president from raising issues they believe need public airing but are branded taboo.
"What I want to know is whether Obama thinks of Kurds as terrorists, as we are always being called here," said Serhat Baglas, a trucker from the mainly Kurdish town of Kars. "I want to know whether he sees us as equals, as people."
I do. Nothing about the 70,000 DEAD KURDS, huh, MSM?!!!!
Always covering up government genocides while screaming 'terrorists," aren't ya?
Draconian security measures, together with a traditional willingness by Turkish police to rough up demonstrators, probably will prevent antigovernment protesters from airing their views anywhere within the president's sight and hearing....
Why is OBAMA being TREATED LIKE BUSH and WHY is the MSM covering up the fact!!?
Despite a sense of longtime grievance directed at the West in general and the United States in particular, ordinary Turks tend to see the new American president as a fresh, young, and energetic figure. Many note with approval his well-traveled background and his ethnic heritage, including, of course, his Muslim father.....
In a country where public opinion polls in recent years have indicated an overwhelming degree of anti-American sentiment, many commentators described the visit as an opportunity for the United States to turn a new page not only with Turkey, but with the Muslim world.
I think ENDING the OCCUPATIONS and the cessation of murder might help.
Otherwise, it is just hot fart mist!
--more--"
What, it would spoil the agenda-pushing charade the papers have been pushing?
"Leftists protest Obama visit
ISTANBUL | Several thousand leftists staged anti-U.S. and anti-NATO protests in Turkey on Saturday, shouting "Yankee go home!" the day before President Obama's scheduled visit.
"Obama, don't come! We don't want you!" protesters shouted in the Turkish capital of Ankara as riot police blocked the streets to contain the crowds. Mr. Obama was scheduled to arrive in Ankara on Sunday. Thousands of protesters also took to the streets in Istanbul's Kadikoy district, chanting "Yankee go home!" A banner read: "Obama, go back home."
*************
Mr. Obama is admired in Turkey. One Kurdish village sacrificed 44 sheep when he was elected, and a major bank used his image in a successful ad campaign on billboards and television in recent weeks.... Any tension over hard issues such as Turkey's denial of an Armenian genocide in the Ottoman era is likely to stay private during Mr. Obama's journey.
Translation: the MSM will censor it for you, reader.
Update: Your censored version, readers.
"Obama reaches out to Muslim world in Turkey; Says US is not, and won't be, at war with Islam" by Christi Parsons and Laura King, Los Angeles Times | April 7, 2009
ANKARA, Turkey - When President Obama declared yesterday that the United States "is not, and will never be, at war with Islam," he was talking to Turkey's parliament. But his audience was the wider Muslim world.
Ya coulda fooled me!
The president's ringing affirmation of partnership with Turkey, which he described as a vital bridge between East and West, was interwoven with a highly personal appeal for a change in the tone of discourse between the United States and the world's Muslims.
The speech, the centerpiece of the president's first official visit to a Muslim-majority nation, was widely watched outside Turkey's borders and covered live on the largest Arabic-language satellite television channels, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya.
In a 26-minute address punctuated several times by applause, Obama reiterated US support for Turkey's efforts to join the European Union - although only a day earlier, key European partners France and Germany had renewed their own reservations about it.
Obama hailed what he described as warming ties between Turkey and its neighbor, Armenia, which have long been shadowed by Turkey's denial that the mass killing of ethnic Armenians in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide. Sidestepping the question of how the Armenian deaths should be labeled, Obama instead urged a full normalization of relations and stressed that he did not want to make any remarks that would prejudice ongoing talks between the two countries.
In apparent deference to Turkey's status as a secular republic, Obama's aides refrained from characterizing his speech in the capital, Ankara, as a fulfillment of the pledge he made to address the Muslim world in his first 100 days in office.
But commentators in Turkey interpreted his remarks before the Grand National Assembly as a determined effort to shake off the deep-seated mistrust that characterized President George W. Bush's administration's dealings with the governments of many predominantly Muslim nations. Obama is highly popular in the Islamic world, but expectations come with that popularity.
His stop in Turkey generated scattered protests, but also an air of excitement.
To go along with the scattered news coverage.
His speech played on television in many cafes and shops, and Turks appeared as star-struck as citizens of other countries on his current tour. One baker created a "borek," a Turkish pastry treat, with Obama's image on it. In advance of the visit, Turks pointedly had warned Obama he had fences to mend.
"You come to a country that is a friend of the US," the nationally circulated Hurriyet newspaper wrote in a front-page commentary yesterday. "However, our hearts have been broken in the last eight years. Now is the time to make repairs."
Related: You Can Mend a Broken Heart
Sorry, Turkish killers. I keep thinking of Kurds and how that situation is so hushed up by the Zionist MSM. Typical. Spend time on a long ago holocaust when we got 'em going on right now.
Of course, the whole thing is convoluted because you have Mossad commandos and spy teams up there carrying out false-flag attacks in Iraq. That's another reason the Zionist MSM wants to hush up that part of the world.
As if in reply, Obama made a simple but striking overture.
"Let me say this as clearly as I can," Obama told lawmakers, assembled officials, and dignitaries. "The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical."
Provided you "ELECT" the RIGHT LEADERS and BOW in DEFERENCE to you-know-who!!!!
Drawing on his own background and heritage, the US leader noted that many Americans had ties with Islam through family connections or by living in Muslim countries. "I know, because I am one of them," he said to warm applause.
If that is true, WHY the MISSILE STRIKES and ESCALATIONS when YOU GOTTA KNOW 9/11 is an INSIDE JOB?!!!!
BUILDINGS DON'T FALL DOWN THAT WAY because of JET FUEL or ANYTHING ELSE!!! CONTROLLED DEMOLITIONS!!
And PLEASE don't try a LIMITED HANGOUT of how "Al-CIA-Duh" got into the towers and planted explosives.
Just COME CLEAN ON IT ALL and YOU WOULD BE the GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!!!
Obama's father was a Muslim from Kenya, and he lived for a time as a child in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
I love the Zionist MSM giving Obama props when it suits their prism presentations and I reminisce over the campaign and Jeremiah Wright (who was a Christian; see how they always swirl up the smoothies for you?)
Gazing around the ornate chamber, the president said the relationship with the Muslim world must be based on mutual respect and must encompass more than the fight against terrorism. "America's relationship with the Muslim world cannot, and will not, be based on opposition to Al Qaeda," he said. "We seek broad engagement based on mutual interests and mutual respect."
And the TRUTH -- so GET off the "Al-CIA-Duh" kick, will ya?
Nope: Obama's Offensive Quotes
Obama's foreign-policy focus in the first months of his presidency largely has been on the Islamic world.
Translation; He serves his Jewish masters well and will be rewarded.
While announcing plans to withdraw combat forces from Iraq, he has ordered more troops to Afghanistan and pressed Pakistan to do more to subdue an Islamic insurgency. He also is pursuing an opening to Iran.
Sigh: Obama resumes Iran threat rhetoric
In Turkey, many felt the US had taken for granted that NATO ally Turkey would provide logistical and other support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, despite strong popular sentiment against the war among Turks....
In his speech and at his earlier news conference, Obama stressed the importance of Turkey's contribution to the NATO force confronting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and he said Turkey's views on conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq would receive close attention.--more--"
Related: The Boston Globe Finally Sees the Protests
Of course, the Globe never followed up on the "man.... reported to have collapsed near one of the protest camps. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. It was unclear if the man was a protester, and the cause of death was under investigation.
So we have AT LEAST ONE DEATH, and WHO KNOWS how he died," I wrote at the time.
Well, an ON-the-GROUND BLOGGER has been ALL OVER the WHOLE WEEK and FILED THIS REPORT: G20 protests - reflections - and wrongful death
Please go to the site and look at the recent blog posts on the right or scroll down for the week's festivities that the MSM IGNORED, CENSORED, HID, OMITTED, choose any verb you like.
WHAT ELSE are they NOT TELLING US, folks?
Also see: NATO's Made-for-TV Movie
