U.S. defends Turkey after Perry ‘terrorist’ label

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration on Tuesday rejected White House hopeful Rick Perry’s description of Turkey as run by “terrorists” and hailed the NATO member as a close ally. Turkey strongly protested the remarks by the Texas governor made during a Republican campaign debate Monday, leading the State Department to take the unusual step of publicly distancing itself from remarks of a presidential candidate. “We absolutely and fundamentally disagree with that assertion,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters when asked about Perry’s description of Turkey. “Turkey is one of the oldest members of NATO and it’s been a stalwart member of NATO and a strong ally to the United States,” Toner said. “We stand by our relationship.” In the debate in South Carolina, Perry said that Turkey should be kicked out of NATO in response to a question by a Fox News moderator who alleged that Ankara has militarily threatened Israel and Cyprus. “Obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes,” Perry said. “Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it,” Perry said. Successive U.S. administrations have considered Turkey to be a key pro-Western bridge between Europe and the Middle East. Turkey has some 1,800 troops on patrol in Afghanistan and chaired a major conference on the country last year. Turkey has been staunchly secular for nearly a century and is one of the few Muslim-majority countries to recognize Israel, although Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes from an Islamist background and has had uneasy relations with the Jewish state. Turkey condemned Perry’s remarks as “unfounded and inappropriate .” “We strongly condemn the unfounded and inappropriate allegations expressed yesterday evening about our country during a debate held in South Carolina by Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is running for Republican Nomination for the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said in Ankara. He noted that Perry trails in the race for the Republican nomination to oppose Obama’s re-election next year and said, “This reflects the commonsense of the U.S. electorate.”