MGJR Volume 1 2013 | Page 16

the nine people who lost their lives in 2010 when Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish aid ship that was headed to the Gaza Strip to break Israel’s blockade.

A portion of the article read: “Netanyahu’s words restored an alliance of the two most stable democracies in the Middle East and the superpower that needs them on the same side – and handed Erdogan a huge boost in prestige.”

The article also praised Turkey for accepting the apology and its desire to work with Israel on resolving the bloody uprising in Syria – both countries want to see Syrian President Bashar Assad gone – and a cease fire ordered by the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party. I also found few articles – aside from academic papers – that dealt with environmentalism in Turkey, or preservation movements or concerns that would lead one to believe that the Turkish people cared more about saving a park than building a shopping mall.

Yet the problem with a predominance of U.S. interests coverage, and the lack of temperature-taking coverage, is that it can leave journalists vulnerable to being blindsided by events such as the Taksim Square uprising.

That’s not good.

Just as Turkey’s relationship with Israel and its role in trying to resolve the Syrian rebellion is important to U.S. interests in that region, the riots in Turkey can also affect U.S. interests if the government is plunged into instability by its own people, or if Erdogan is overthrown.

Yildirim Sivar, my Turkish friend who guided us on our trip, said he believes the media missed the signs because the people who are the most opposed to Erdogan are the people who didn’t vote for him, and, like the prime minister, they also didn’t take his opposition – who believe he is trying to use his office to undermine the secular government by imposing Islamic inspired laws – seriously.

Yet while it’s tempting to do that, it also isn’t smart, he said.

“This all happened because the initial response to the protests were mishandled by the prime minister,” Sivar said.

“It [the protests] reflects the fact that 50 percent of the population did not vote for him, but in a democracy, the opposition is very important, and we all need him to understand that.

“Everyone comes to the conclusion that he’s a good prime minister and he should govern, but he should not get involved with our personal lives.”

More than that, though, the Taksim Square uprising and the ones that erupted throughout Turkey should show U.S. journalists that while pursuing their mission to show how useful a country can be to this nation and its interests, it’s still important to get at the ground level and find out how the people, and not their government, feel about the direction of their country.

Before scores of them amass in a park to let the world know –and embarrass the gatekeepers in the process. g

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