‘Get Tough With Turkey’
Wright’s article hits the problem Wright on the head.
The overblown and unqualified U.S. support for Turkey makes U.S. democratic ideals a laughingstock before the rest of the world.
In this time of financial restraints in domestic programs in the United States, the Reagan Administration proposes a 14% increase in military grants to Turkey. When was the last time our government advocated such an increase for student support, child welfare or Social Security?
In addition, this unwarranted aid goes to a government that persists in denying that the Ottoman Turks wiped out two-thirds of its Armenian citizens in 1915.
How can we continue to trust a government that is willing to distort its own history for the sake of its own artificial image?
Can the United States rely on an ally that is willing to take aid from countries it is supposed to defend us from in case of aggression?
It is time for U.S. officials to understand that Turkey needs the United States far more than the United States needs Turkey. They should act accordingly.
After all, how can the United States soar like an eagle if it is tied down to a Turkey?
SERGE L. SAMONIANTZ
Whittier
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