We are a strange nation

However, what happened in Fallujah was something different.
According to some in Turkey, the clashes in Fallujah are between the innocent and heroic Iraqi resistance fighters and the cruel Americans. The fighters have rebelled against the American monster against all odds, while the Americans committed genocide (!).
This is exactly the wrong way to interpret what’s happening in Fallujah. Particularly if such statements are made by important members of the governing party, they have the potential of damaging Turkey’s foreign relations.
The resistance fighters in Fallujah are not innocent independence fighters. These are the people who murdered 70 Turkish truck drivers and decapitated innocent civilians in order to get money, ignoring the fact that such acts blacken the name of the religion of Islam.

Most of these groups and the people associated with them are mercenaries who claim they act in the name of religion. They participated in similar activities in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Kosovo. Their tactic is to say they are fighting in the name of religion, to cause a war of religions, to incite other Sunni countries and establish a Sunni republic in a part of Iraq. They are trying very hard to counter the numerical superiority of the Shiites. That’s why mosques become ammunition dumps.
However, if you have noticed, not a single Sunni Arab country has issued an important statement about the fights in Fallujah. The Sunnis in the region are not up in arms. There wasn’t even a small protest rally.
Even Iraq did not react to what was happening.
Some of the U.S. actions in Iraq may be criticized as human rights violations. Their policies may be condemned. However, no one can defend the people who decapitated civilians in Fallujah. In particular, no one can open the Pandora’s box of genocide, like Mehmet Elkatmis did.

People making strange statements just for cheap populism should also think about the opposite side of the argument.

We sold banks to people who would be refused credit cards

Turkish Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) President Ahmet Ertürk explained how the banking crisis that cost billions of dollars of people’s money came about.
He is a polite person, so he chose his words very carefully. We can translate what he said in these words: “Some people you wouldn’t even make a janitor or issue a credit card to were sold banks. The state institutions that were charged with inspecting these banks did not do their jobs. Instead of letting them go under, by promising to cover their losses the state almost supported their misconduct.”
Ertürk’s assessment is pretty accurate.
The state ignores its responsibilities and then starts looking for someone to blame.
Isn’t that the strangest thing of all?

I wonder what Tüzmen meant there?

Just like many other columnists said, I fail to understand what State Minister Kürsad Tüzmen wanted to say about Europeans.
Tüzmen is a serious person.

The statement he made does not suit a statesman or a politician.
From time to time, our politicians say things just to appear cute to a section of society.
They seem to be deaf to what they are saying.
One gets angry and calls the female parliamentarians from Europe who criticized some of our practices prostitutes. Another comes out and says words that may be construed to mean that all Europeans are sons of prostitutes.
They seem unaware that such statements only result in us being perceived as weak.
What else can you call such a strange attitude?