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The story "Turkish Delight" (Aug. 29) provides quite a positive picture of Turkish society as it continues to try to move into the ever-expanding European Union. However, the story neglects to mention with any real fervor that some minority groups in Turkey continue to suffer. In fact, the Syriac Christian community in Turkey is still not recognized as a minority group with any real rights, including the right to speak or teach its rich Aramaic language, reclaim its stolen lands or build its churches and monasteries. Last March, Amnesty International wrote of its concern over the new Penal Code, which would effectively criminalize any public mention that the Armenians suffered a genocide after the First World War. EU nations must force Turkey to recognize the genocide prior to permitting it full membership, and the media must publicize the horrific historical truth that your article seems to downplay.
Daniel Gabriel
Human Rights and Immigration Director
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Syriac Universal Alliance
via internet
I read with great interest, and at one point anger and sadness, the article entitled "Turkish Delight." The Greeks did not abandon their homes in Istanbul, but rather they were forced out by the Turkish government. Beginning on Sept. 6, 1955, the Turks destroyed thousands of businesses that Greeks had established. They burned schools and churches and forced many Greeks to sign papers stating that they were spies. By 1964, the Greek community no longer existed in Constantinople. We were forced to leave with only the shirts on our backs and one suitcase. My family fled to Greece, where my father died of a heart attack, most likely brought on by the tragedy that broke his heart.
Stavros Veletsis
via internet
It was a nice surprise to see my lovely city in the magazine this week ("Cool Istanbul," Aug. 29). Though I was a little annoyed with the sexy cover picture, the article put a smile on my face. I wanted to write to you because the article misses the point that Istanbul is a Muslim city, and because of that it has an atmosphere distinct from many European metropolises. Muslim Turkish traditions of more than 550 years are still alive. To name a few: giving away free dinners during Ramadan to everyone who wants to eat at iftar time, tents in the biggest squares of Istanbul and weekend exhibits that include many Islamic and Turkish fine arts.
Mustafa Dogru
Istanbul, Turkey
Your article "Cool Istanbul" was a breath of fresh air for Turks living abroad: finally, an article written about the other side of Istanbul, the side a lot of us relate to. There is, however, a quote by Fatih Akin that is quite misleading. Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, never forbade anything from our own culture. In fact, he was photographed listening to Turkish classical music. It was religious fundamentalism he was against, not Turkish culture.
Esra Yagiz
Geneva, Switzerland
Your story "Failed Plan" (Aug. 29) contends that Plan Colombia, the U.S.-supported counternarcotics program in Latin America, is a failure. I take strong issue with the conclusion you have reached. Over the past two years, political violence across the board--kidnappings, assaults, murders--has dropped by half. Since 2001, the U.S.-supported aerial- spray program has reduced the coca crop by 33 percent and the opium-poppy crop by 68 percent, removing billions of dollars' worth of drugs from the world market. Colombia, a disaster zone in the late 1990s, was recently identified by the World Bank as one of the world's 10 most attractive investment climates--an astonishing reversal by any measure. Narcoterrorist groups still pose a major threat to Americans and to our friends and allies there and around the world. But with our help, the government and people of Colombia are steadily reclaiming control of their country and building a prosperous democratic society.
Nancy J. Powell
Acting Assistant Secretary
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
Readers of the article "Failed Plan" may be left with the impression that progress on various fronts in Colombia is faltering. Fortunately, this is not the case. Improvement in Colombia's security situation--whether it is the 71 percent drop in incidents of terrorism since 2002 or the fact that all rural municipalities now have police presence--is directly linked to U.S. and Colombian counternarcotics efforts. With more than 148 tons of cocaine seized in 2004 and more than 4,500 pounds of heroin confiscated since 2002, seizures of drugs in Colombia have increased significantly. The pace at which cultivated hectares of illicit crops are destroyed is now higher than that at which they are sown to thwart the different steps of the business--cultivation, harvesting, processing and trading. Plan Colombia has reduced narcotics production and allowed the scope and delivery of key government services, such as health and education, to be extended, and encouraged the government to negotiate with terrorist organizations to move toward demobilization.
Bernardo Ortiz Bravo
Charge d'Affaires
Embassy of Colombia Washington, D.C.
Your article "Failed Plan," reflects an unwillingness to see that what the Colombian people fight is the lawlessness that is associated with ungoverned space (as most of Colombia was before 1990). The change from a narrow focus on counterdrug activities to a more comprehensive effort to establish sovereignty, law and justice has been amazing in its effect on drug production and, more important, an example of how international cooperation is needed to combat illegal activities that respect no geopolitical boundaries. I personally have spent time with Colombian security forces who recounted stories of having to stop to determine whether their attackers were drug traffickers (allowing them to use their U.S.-supplied ammunition) or terrorists (limiting them only to Colombian-supplied ammunition). Therefore, in consultation with President Uribe and the U.S. Congress, President Bush asked for authority to expand the scope of U.S. support and remove a distinction that may make sense at dinner parties but not in the jungles of Colombia.
Andre Hollis
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics
Washington, D.C.
In your article "Goodbye Gaza" (Aug. 29), there was one very misleading comment. In writing about the compensation being paid out to the Jewish settlers who were forced by the Israeli government to evacuate their homes in Gaza (the Katif bloc), your reporter wrote the following: "By comparison, Israel has demolished the homes of at least 2,000 Palestinians since the start of the intifada to expand buffer zones around settlements and border areas, offering almost no compensation in return." He should have also noted that, in contrast with the forced evacuation of the Israelis, most if not all of the Palestinian houses were demolished for security reasons--i.e., the houses of suicide bombers who had murdered innocent Israelis and the houses of those who had collaborated and given aid to the various terrorist groups. Either directly, or indirectly, the Palestinians' houses were demolished as part of the Israeli fight against, and in reaction to, Palestinian terrorism.
Prof. Michael J. Cohen,
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat-gan, Israel
I was appalled at the photo that accompanied your article "Goodbye Gaza," which depicted a family leaving their home in one of the settlements. I hope your readers realize that their stance of leaving with their arms raised and wearing the yellow star was this family's idea. My mother, my 5-year-old brother, my father's older brother and I were forced to wear this Star of David, defining us as Jews, in our home country of France. My mother and brother were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz. These settlers and their friends have been given the opportunity to build new homes, with their families and friends intact. They have been given large sums of money for this purpose, and until these new homes have been completed, are being given alternative housing. Six million Jews did not have this choice, and wore those stars to their deaths. How dare those people wear similar stars and compare themselves with those millions. Any sympathy I might have had for them has disappeared, along with the 6 million.
Ozi van Straten
Beersheba, Israel
Many readers will come away from Fareed Zakaria's column "How to Escape the Oil Trap" (Aug. 29) thinking that Saudi Arabia officially funded terrorists. In fact, as Zakaria must know, Saudi Arabia has suffered as much from terrorism as the United States has. I agree with him that managing financial transactions will become more difficult as oil prices increase, but I think that Saudis have done a great job so far in making sure the money doesn't reach terrorists. I should also mention that Saudi citizens are now wary of giving to "charities" which might be funding terrorist groups, and are helping their government fight any misuse of financial donations intended for the poor.
Rakan Mohammed
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
In your article "Tribute to a Life of Clay" (Aug. 29), Daphne Corregan, an American ceramic artist, is quoted as saying that in France, "there isn't even a national museum of ceramics." It's an astonishing assertion. The Musee National de la Ceramique (established at the beginning of the 19th century) is said to be the oldest of its kind. It is generally ranked as one of the richest and most comprehensive in the world.
Robert Blum
Paris, France
As an American living in Paris, I appreciated Emily Flynn's "tip" (Aug. 29) about a salon that not only promises, but delivers, a natural and holistic approach to skin care. But when I let my fingers do the walking, I found no additional (and practical) information about the Beautiful Body Co. either in London or Paris. Esther Fieldgrass may be a genie who can grant "my greatest skin wish," but if I can't locate the salon, she might as well be a figment of the writer's imagination.
Tammy Poe
Paris, France
"The Lost Generation" (Aug. 15) accurately described what is, without explaining why. I live in the Arab Muslim heartland, surrounded by peaceful, warm people who would never fight unless attacked. They are understandably angry about U.S. and Israeli policies, but as an American I find personal hostility rare. This masks another truth. I can ask any-one "What is the duty of every Muslim toward a backslider [ murtadd, someone who leaves Islam]?" With a sheepish look, he or she will answer, "To kill him." Only two groups of people exist in this world: those in the House of Islam and those in the House of War.
Randall Cameron
Sana, Yemen
In "Can Merkel Make It?" (Aug. 29) you write that she's "against capitalism." That doesn't say much. And neither does being "for" a social market economy. So far nobody has explained what the latter is and how it could or should work. Merkel has a marketless upbringing. Whether she can deliver a market economy is really the question.
Edeleny Ivan
Budapest, Hungary
This is in reference to "Help Wanted" (Aug. 29) by Sarah Schafer. I agree that China, one of the world's largest economies, is facing a managerial-skills problem brought on by its closed-off culture. Although this is not affecting the economy yet, it will very soon. The best solution is to give young students scholarships for management classes abroad and, more important, to introduce English in schools.
Irfan Salam
Lahore, Pakistan
I would like to draw your attention to a report that appeared in your publication on Aug. 29, entitled "Denying a Dilemma," in which it was suggested that the coalition partners of the present government of Bangladesh support Islamic extremists. Leaders of the two Islamic groups in the prime minister's coalition strongly condemned the terrorist acts. Also, these two parties, namely Jamat-e-Islami and the Islami Oikya Jote, which won only 17 and three parliamentary seats respectively in the last general election, are no match for the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which has 220 seats to its credit. It would be ridiculous to assume that they would pose any threat to the government.
M. M. Rezaul Karim
Ambassador
Embassy of Bangladesh
Cairo, Egypt
The recent incident in which more than 300 bombs went off simultaneously might be the world's most organized attack. Many experts are saying the blasts could be rehearsal for a bigger plan. It doesn't matter whether Prime Minister Khaleda Zia can afford to ignore it or not. We the peace-loving people cannot afford to ignore it.
Ashoke Roy
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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