Turks shower U.S. soldiers with eggs, stones

alertnet.org ^ | 29 Mar 2003 12:28:16 GMT | Reuters

[Destro]

29 Mar 2003 12:28:16 GMT

Turks shower U.S. soldiers with eggs, stones

SILOPI, Turkey, March 29 (Reuters) - Turkish villagers showered U.S. soldiers with eggs and stones on Saturday when they arrived to recover pieces of a Tomahawk cruise missile which came down in eastern Turkey on Friday.

Scores of people in Urfa province set upon four jeeps carrying some 10 American soldiers, breaking windows and shouting slogans against the U.S.-led war in neighbouring Iraq, Anatolian news agency reported.

Turkish gendarmes later intervened to break up the demonstration. There were no initial reports of injuries.

Sukru Kocatepe, governor of Urfa province, told Reuters on Friday a Tomahawk cruise missile, launched from U.S. navy ships in the Mediterranean, had fallen in the sparsely populated area gouging a deep hole but without exploding.

It was believed to be the third U.S. missile to land in Turkey since the Iraq war began. Two Tomahawks misfired and landed in Turkey last Sunday, a U.S. defence official said.

Some 90 percent of Turks are against the war and the people of the impoverished east, fearing further falls in living standards, say they have much to lose from the conflict.

Turkey opened its air space to U.S. military aircraft and missiles after parliament rejected Washington's request to station up to 62,000 troops along its southern border with Iraq to open a second front against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Anatolian said the U.S. soldiers handed about $3,600 in cash to five villagers to meet the damage the missile had caused to their crops. U.S. officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.

"This amount of money does not cover the damage we have suffered but we accepted it to close the episode," local government official Mehmet Yilmaz told the agency.

Turkey's National Security Council, a powerful body of military and civilian leaders, on Friday called on the United States to end its war on Iraq quickly and to prevent further civilian casualties there.

[a_Turk]

I dunno man..

How's a diplomatic corps, that can't maintain the hearts and minds of her allies, win the hearts and minds of folks the armed forces are bombing..

And like Allan says, these villagers are 90% Kurdish..

You're going to need luck. I'll wish you lots of luck...

[willgetsome]

F&CK THE TURKS

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

Spray em' all with .50!!!!!!!!!!!

oragoodoldfashined!

[Travis McGee]

I agree! We can use all the luck we can get.

[epow]

"This amount of money does not cover the damage we have suffered but we accepted it to close the episode," local government official Mehmet Yilmaz told the agency.

Yeah right. I bet Mehmet has never seen that much money in one place in his entire miserable life. $3600 American would probably buy his entire one-goat village with the next mudhole town thrown in the bargain.

I hope we never send another dollar to these TURDkey ingrates. But of course we will, Uncle Sucker didn't get that name for nothing.

[EternalVigilance]

Those villagers could have been throwing grenades, and you would have found a way to make it our fault.

As far as I'm concerned, you're the same as the rest of the blame-America crowd.

You have the gall to criticize our efforts to influence people and make friends? Well, Turkey needs better PR alot worse than we do. They, through their obstruction and greed, have managed to turn a great alliance into enmity. The American people's opinion of the Turkish nation is lower than it has ever been. If I were you, or your countrymen, I would worry alot more about what the American people think than what the propagandized Iraqi populace thinks.

[LaGrone]

I figure our relationship with the Turkish government is over except for a few minor points of agreement.

Their economy did suffer after the Gulf War, which we should feel bad about. However, twenty six billion in loan guarantees is a tidy some for letting the 4th ID go through their country. And it did seriously affect our tactical plan. Now what, they are mad they didn't take the money. TOUGH!

[servantoftheservant]

...the people of the impoverished east, fearing further falls in living standards, say they have much to lose from the conflict.

There's a reason these people are impoverished. They are stupid as hell.

If they can't see that having a relatively free people with a US supported government and economy next door is better than having and a-hole dictator with a sanction crippled economy next door....well, I already said it. They are stupid.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Actually its no great loss, they were never allies to begin with. Kind of like the exorcist, their head was spinning so fast, we never knew which face they were going to show us from one day to the next. Guess that's what happens when you keep going back and forth from one group to another, trying to see who you can extort the most. Sometimes you get burnt.

[TopQuark]

Judging by the prices for processed and served food in Istanbul, the portion of a crop in a circle with a 10-yard radius, located in eastern Anatolia, cannot possibly be worth $700-800. I am sure that, in private, after the soldiers left, the recepients were exchanging a Turkish version of a high-five.

[Walkingfeather]

exactly.if you think about it we paid them 3600 bucks and they turned down 26 billion...bbooo ha ha ha

[dighton]

I'll bet $3,600 US would buy the damn farm outright, lock, stock and barrel.

Apparently that's about six billion Turkish lira.

[Travis McGee]

I'll bet these farmers did better this way than hoping for a cut of the 26 billion.

[EternalVigilance]

I'll bet these farmers did better this way than hoping for a cut of the 26 billion.

I don't know, I'm betting that local 'official' the article quotes got the lion's share of the payment.

The farmer probably got a kick in the pants and a shovel to fill the hole.

[Walkingfeather]

Yea I bet the local govt. guy took his cut.

[Jorge]

"This amount of money does not cover the damage we have suffered but we accepted it to close the episode," local government official Mehmet Yilmaz told the agency.

Please. The best thing that ever happened to them was having a Tomahawk fall on their farm so they could grab a few thousand $$ and get their primitive toothless faces on TV.

[Travis McGee]

LOL! So true!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Only thing I could think of is that perhaps the explosive residue would poison that patch of ground, so it wouldn't be just one crop affected. Why can't a Tomahawk tell if it is irretrievably going astray and just disarm itself and land in such a case?

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

All of these whacko Muslim nations apparently SUPPORT ruthless dictators...I guess they know they need that harsh hand to keep themselves in line.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Oh I missed it. It didn't explode (though did it scatter its charge?)