Istanbul (dpa) – Turkey's Foreign Ministry offered a scathing response Tuesday to comments by a candidate for the US republican presidential nomination, Rick Perry, that the country is run by “Islamic terrorists” and should be expelled from NATO. Perry made his comments during a televised debate in the South Carolina primary. In a written statement the ministry criticized what it described as “ugly” “mud-slinging” by Perry, and noted that it had expected candidates for such high office to be both better informed about world affairs and more careful in the statements they make. The statement pointed out that Turkey is, along with the United States, the joint chair of the Global Anti-Terrorism Forum. It also pointed out that Turkey has been a member of NATO since Perry was only two years old. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Turkey's NATO membership, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu will visit Brussels on January 18th the statement added. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/VI1hp Tags: Mud Slinging, Rick Perry, Turkey Section: Europe, North America
