The President was in Istanbul (that is, Constantinople before a long-ago and long-forgotten jihad*), where he said:
The Turkish people have grieved, but your nation is also showing how terrorist violence will be overcome – with courage, and with a firm resolve to defend your just and tolerant society. This land has always been important for its geography – here at the meeting place of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Now Turkey has assumed even greater historical importance, because of your character as a nation. Turkey is a strong, secular democracy, a majority Muslim society, and a close ally of free nations. Your country, with 150 years of democratic and social reform, stands as a model to others, and as Europes bridge to the wider world. Your success is vital to a future of progress and peace in Europe and in the broader Middle East – and the Republic of Turkey can depend on the support and friendship of the United States.
Just and tolerant society? 150 years of democratic and social reform? I respect Turkey’s position as the only secular democracy in the Islamic world, but let’s not go overboard here. If I thought he would actually receive them, I would send the President a set of Bat Ye’or’s books. In them, he would find numerous primary texts establishing large-scale oppression of the dhimmis practiced far more recently than 150 years ago. And the dhimmi system was abolished not by internal forces, but as a result of external pressure exerted by the British upon the decaying Ottoman leadership.
And, once Ottoman rule had crumbled entirely, Ataturk and his merry young Turks proceeded to adopt a nationalist model which, combined with cultural hangovers of dhimmitude, resulted in the genocide of millions of Armenians and the exile of millions of Greeks. Since then, this marvelous secular state has maintained its character only by simultaneously making concessions to radical Muslims and keeping them at bay through military force. Meanwhile, the remaining (and resurgent) Christians there still face discrimination and persecution, as I have documented here on several occasions.
Pardon me, Mr. President, but if that is “150 years of democratic and social reform,” and if that is what you envision for the next 150 years in Iraq, the Iraqis (particularly Christians) better prepare themselves for tough times ahead.
*Yes, the name change came much later, but the transformation was actually accomplished after the jihad which achieved success on May 29, 1453.