Rick Perry caused a bit of a stir with his reference during last night’s GOP debate to Turkey as “a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.” The remark was condemned by Turkey’s foreign ministry.
After the debate, a Perry foreign policy adviser explained the candidate’s remark and said that the Texas governor would still “welcome the opportunity to work with Turkey on regional issues like Syria or Iraq.
The ABC News blog The Note reports:
Victoria Coates, foreign policy advisor to Perry, further explained the governor’s remarks, saying that some view the leaders of Turkey as Islamic terrorists due to their support of Hamas and the flotilla against Israel.
“The governor was responding to the questioners references to violence against women and to association with Hamas, I think both of which are things that many people do associate as he said with Islamic terrorists,” Coates told reporters in the spin room. “He was referring to those things, and while he would welcome the opportunity to work with Turkey on regional issues like Syria or Iraq, this kind of behavior on the part of that country is disturbing and I think we should concerned about it.”
