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A Turkish-American NASA scientist who visited his family during the 2016 coup has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on terrorism charges:
Serkan Golge, a Turkish-American research scientist at NASA in Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 7.5 years in a Turkish prison Thursday on terrorism charges. The verdict, which has been condemned by the U.S. government, has put his career on hold and left his family and friends reeling. "I feel like this cannot be real," his wife Kubra Golge, who was inside the courtroom when her husband's verdict was read, tells Science.
At a press briefing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State said the United States is "deeply concerned" by Golge's conviction, which came "without credible evidence." The spokesperson said the U.S. government would continue to follow his case closely. A spokesperson for Turkey's foreign ministry dismissed the criticism in a statement posted to its website and said the court's decision must be respected.
Golge, a dual citizen who had been studying the effects of radiation on astronauts, was swept up in a crackdown that followed Turkey's 2016 failed military coup. While visiting family in southern Turkey weeks after the putsch attempt, police showed up to his parents' home and arrested him in front of his wife and children. According to Golge's wife, a distant relative who was angered over an inheritance dispute told police Golge was a spy and supporter of Fethullah Gülen, the Islamic cleric who Turkey accuses of masterminding the coup.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:24PM (4 children)
Ally with, obviously. You can't admit a region to NATO, only an actual country. Hopefully, allying with them would lead to them becoming an independent country before too long.
As for firebombing, then sure, we should declare war on Turkey if that happens. What's the problem with that? At least there, I can see an extremely justifiable reason for a war and regime change, unlike past conflicts we've been in. The Turks have long been a bunch of genocidal, oppressive assholes, as seen by their treatment of the Armenians and later the Kurds. Honestly, I think the region would have a lot more peace and stability if the Kurds had their own country and Turkey was conquered and broken up.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by janrinok on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:47PM (3 children)
Well, there are several actually. NATO is a defensive organisation - if any one member of NATO is attacked by a foreign power then it is viewed as an attack on all members. So if the US attacked Turkey, which side should the other NATO allies be on? As a defensive pact we should be duty bound to support Turkey as it would be the USA that is being the aggressor. This is why we have professional politicians and diplomats. They are meant to resolve our differences without resorting to violence.
Of course, any such suggestion of aggression on the part of the US is ridiculous. It would precipitate the collapse of NATO and leave Russia laughing all the way to its next annexation of the former soviet states. After all, who would come to their defence? Although Turkey might not seem to be the best of bedfellows, a significant amount of the US materiel that moves into the Middle East does so via air into Turkey and then by land convoy into Iraq. The USA would not want to lose its access to Turkish bases nor to its intelligence collection facilities within that country. Nor would it want to lose the ability to mount air missions from Turkey into Syria without having to cross any other country's territory.
I suspect that behind the scenes many of the NATO partners, including the USA, UK and most of the Western European nations, will be bringing whatever political, economic and diplomatic pressure they can to get Turkey to play ball properly. Turkey on the other hand will not want to be seen bending to anyone else's wishes so will always project an appearance of operating without any regard whatsoever for the views of its NATO partners. The truth will probably be somewhere in between.
Now, if your problem is with a perceived failure of the US politicians and diplomatic corp to achieve significant influence for the US people then you need to be looking more closely on that problem rather than encouraging pointless military action which will not serve any useful gain.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by budgenator on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:51PM (2 children)
I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to get Turkey provoked into attacking the US. They've already shot down a Russian fighter near their border.
Turkey's downing of Russian warplane - what we know [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 15 2018, @01:03AM
That's what NATO is for. To shoot down Russians.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday February 15 2018, @01:09PM
The Russian aircraft had entered Turkish airspace, at least according to Turkey which was backed up by NATO radio recordings and radar data. Every nation has the right to protect its airspace.
However, NATO aircraft are not seen as being an enemy and regularly enter Turkish airspace. If you cannot see the difference between the treatment of a NATO aircraft and a Russian aircraft operating within Turkish airspace then there is little to be discussed between us.
If Turkey, for some inconceivable reason, did shoot down a US aircraft then I would not expect a military response but a significant political and diplomatic attempt to resolve the situation. Aggression is NOT the answer to everything that upsets you.