I was told to stay out of Turkey

I participated recently in a conference about the Eastern Mediterranean at the Begin-‎Sadat Center for Strategic Studies; and because Tel Aviv is the diplomatic ‎center of Israel, its events attract a good number of diplomats. This conference was no ‎exception, attracting a foreign minister and other diplomats from several Eastern ‎Mediterranean countries, including Albania, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey. ‎

My talk surveyed the role of Islamism in the region. In the question-and-answer ‎portion, Turkey's newly appointed ambassador Kemal Okem vigorously protested ‎points I had made about his country. I defended these, then challenged Okem (in a ‎video that can be viewedhere.

Pipes: "I started going to Turkey in 1972. I studied Turkish, not very ‎successfully, but I did study it. I've gone back many times. And at this point, I ‎dare not go back to Turkey because I am critical, as you may have heard, of the ‎government and, in particular, I supported the July 15th coup, [a position] which ‎is absolutely an outrage in Turkey. And so, I dare not go back to Turkey. And ‎so, let me ask you, Mr. Ambassador, would it be it safe for me to go to Turkey ‎and spend some time there or just go through the airport? You have a great ‎airline that I would love to use but I dare not use it. Would I be safe going to ‎Turkey-"

Okem: "If you say that you support the failed coup attempt that killed 250 ‎Turkish civilians and if you that say you support the kind of organization which ‎we call a terrorist organization, which is a religious cult by the way, and trying ‎to export something, if you say that, I would rather advise you not to go there ‎because you be an accomplice, considered an accomplice. [laughter]"‎

Pipes: "That's what I was expecting."

Okem: "It's an expected answer but it's a legitimate answer. I mean, I would ‎advise you to find good legal advice before you travel to Turkey."

The name of that "terrorist organization" was not spoken, but Okem was referring to ‎the so-called Fethullahci Teror Orgutu (Fethullah Terror Organization), or FETO. To ‎the rest of the world, it is known as the Hizmet movement, founded by Fethullah Gulen, a ‎former close and important ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's, before the two had a falling out. No one else ‎sees it as violent, much less terroristic. Erdogan's accusation that it organized the ‎July 2016 coup attempt is noxious and absurd. ‎

Okem's statement, however, has several interesting implications: ‎

• Left unspoken was what would happen to me, were I foolish enough to ‎venture to Turkey, so I'll make it explicit here: As someone deemed an ‎accomplice of FETO, I would be jailed without charges and held for who-‎knows-how-long. ‎

I have visited Turkey, one of my favorite destinations, 10 times over 45 years, with the final trip ‎in 2012. I shall miss the country. Like tens of millions of Turks, I look forward to celebrating the ‎early termination of the Erdogan regime.‎

Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum.