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Comment by 13b9f227ecf0 | Hacker News Reader

Why the heck do these people want to advertise to Americans? This is a Turkish issue among Turks. What does Uncle Sam have to do with this? Inviting foreign involvement and commentary seems like an obviously horrible idea to me.

Reminds me of the "color revolutions" and the Iranian protests a while ago. You knew it was all BS when they kept trotting out so many slick people speaking flawless English.

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Because they can't advertise in a mainstream Turkish newspaper. The whole blowup happened because the government has been increasingly turning into a dictatorship. Newspapers and TV stations are heavily censored.

I think they may guess, not without reason, that the US would be involved anyway, and want more of the American opinion on their side. Makes sense?

Sadly, it makes sense.

I only hope American's don't get too generous and try to bring democracy to Türkiye. You know, American flavored democracy with marines and smart bombs.

Given Turkey's status as a NATO member, that's exceedingly unlikely.

I think a lot depends on Turkey here. Quite a lot, indeed.

Furthermore, it has two more consequences.

1. Americans will read the news and think "Oh wow, I'm not going to Turkey anytime soon" then move on. (Much like when they read an article about violence in Mexico, etc.)

2. Americans will read the news and think "What a hell hole out there. I'm so happy America is the best. We have it so good here". This will further re-enforce their (incorrect) views about America.

I have to wonder, who stands to gain the most if these full-page ads actually run in American media?

Most of the threads on this post and some other recent ones on HN provide a counterpoint: Many people in the West (note that NYT is widely read all over the world) don't know what's happening in Turkey and are curious. At best they are getting the government's version of events. Now, at least they'l have a single page of information from the other side.

I agree that a compaign to advertise to Americans (or any international public) is suspicious. They must reach for their own people, and this is the only right long term strategy. However, I'm afraid that most of Turks can be just too apathetic.

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