Turkey's charismatic pro-Islamic leader
Conviction
But his pro-Islamist sympathies earned him a conviction in 1998 for inciting religious hatred.
He had publicly read an Islamic poem including the lines: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers..."
He was sentenced to 10 months in jail, but was freed after four.
However, because of his criminal record, he was barred from standing in elections or holding political office.
Parliament last year changed the constitution to allow Mr Erdogan to stand for a parliamentary seat.
The US chooses the time and place to humiliate the Turks for recent past barbarity. The codemnation was obviously timed to bring pressure against Turkey in anticipation of their engaging in military action against the Kurds. Nothing happens by accident. Lantos gets one well placed call from State and it’s on.
No I am not. The dems gave him the excuse Erdogan needed to mouth off. Yes their congress did change the law to allow him to run but the government did try to silence him before.
Remember how important honor is among those people and the dims gave them the excuse to say we were not honorable allies and did not care about their interests.
He has been a thorn but he was relatively powerless. The dems gave him the soap box and the reason to incite the islamic elements against us.