Turkey experienced an amazing episode last week when Yilmaz Ozdil, the favorite writer of Turkey’s neo-nationalists who support the military against the ruling AKP, reacted to an interview of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad aired by a pro-main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) TV channel, and was instantly branded a "traitor" by the neo-nationalists who adored him.

Ozdil, a columnist for the mainstream daily Hurriyet whose motto is "Turkey is for Turks," was a guest speaker on a program hosted by neo-nationalist Ugur Dundar, a big, veteran name in Turkish television. A part of the program discussing current issues was a 20-minute segment of an interview Assad had given to the pro-CHP Halk TV. Among other things, Assad said:

"How can someone support terrorists who have killed tens of thousands of people? This shows that Erdogan is not decent man. The Turkish people must know what a fanatical man Erdogan is. When someone adheres to an introverted ideology and bigotry he becomes a man with personal problems. He doesn’t even have minimal ethical values. Erdogan has a blend of problems arising from his personal problems and Ikhwan ideology."

Yilmaz Ozdil responded indignantly to Assad’s remarks: "A leader of a country can’t speak like this. As an individual I might have gripes against my government. But no Hacivat [a comical figure of traditional shadow play who never gets anything right] has the right to get up and insult the prime minister of the Turkish Republic. The butcher of the Middle East must be made to eat these words. Are we going to learn democracy from this immoral killer? Nobody knows how many terror organizations this man and his father had nourished."