Turning the Turk
UPPORTERS of the we-mustn't-interfere-in- other-countries'-internal-affairs theory may claim they have been lent some justification by the fate of the Turkish editors who have been pub- lishing outside criticisms of their government. Four of them tried to print the International Press Institute's appeal for a world-wide protest against the persecution of the press in Turkey; the only result was four blank columns in their papers, with, in all probability, reprisals to folloWi Yet the IPI's appeal will do good in the 'Ong tell*. The greater the international solidarity tliat can be attained in the press—the greater its vhity in fighting injustice everywhere, in NATO or Com- monwealth countries as much as in the Soviet satellites—the smaller becomes the chance that the uncommitted nations will be tempted to accept the Soviet thesis that the West's humanitarian boasts are a sham. And, in any case, for the West to try to shore up the present gerrymandered and jerry-built Turkish Government would be an even more obviously stupid policy than the current wooing of Franco; for at least the Opposition in Turkey is ready at a moment's notice to take up the office it would now hold had the last general elections been less successfully rigged against it.
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