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St. Patty's Day Re-Post! »
March 17, 2005
TKS, Live From Turkey
He wants everyone to know he's alive, in Ankara, and blogging:
The big story in today’s papers, both Turkish language and English, is a diplomatic tempest in a teapot over Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s upcoming state visit to Damascus. (The visit was scheduled to occur in March, but as the English-language New Anatolian gently puts it, “the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri changed the circumstances in the Middle East.” Yes, yes it did.)
U.S. Ambassador Eric Edelman had said Monday that international consensus was building for the Syrians to get out of Lebanon, and that “we hope that Turkey will also join in that international consensus, by supporting a thorough and immediate withdrawal from Lebanon.” In Washington, that’s about as controversial as saying... well, that there are a lot of Starbucks around. But the Turkish press and some Turkish officials interpreted that as pressure for Sezer to cancel his visit.
I'll be doing some globe-trotting myself. I'm pleased to announce that for tomorrow only I will be live-blogging from the 33rd Street Jewish Youth Center Master-Level Canasta Tournament.