US Sailors Attacked in Turkey

Three US sailors on shore leave in Turkey were attacked today by a group of about 20 nationalist youths. Fortunately, the intent was to only rough them up and not actually kidnap or murder them. The three sailors were able to escape the attack. Fox News has a video of the incident.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/12/video-shows-turkish-mob-attacking-us-navy-sailors/?intcmp=latestnews

I am not going to argue that this incident should cause us to take all of our military presence out of Turkey. When I was an MP in Germany in the 1960s, physical encounters between Germans and GIs were not uncommon. (Usually, the Germans came out on the short end, but I digress.)

When I visited Turkey twice in the 1980s along with Italian police colleagues on official business, I experienced nothing like this. Indeed, I developed a liking for the Turks-to say nothing of their food and beer.

Unfortunately, however, Turkey is changing under its Islamist leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The country is drifting away from the West and away from the secular policies of its national hero, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan is virulently hostile to Israel and not all that friendly to the West (Barack Obama excepted). The country's actions in the Syrian crisis on its border are also troubling. This all calls into question just how trustworthy Turkey is as a NATO ally and whether the country should be admitted into the EU.

The above incident alone may mean nothing, but combined with everything else going on may be an indicator of something far more troubling.