Obama Visits Turkey

Obama to Visit Turkey

Barak Obama is coming to Turkey. People here tell me this every day.

“Obama come here, Obama come here. Bush bad, Obama good.”

I can say 100% assured that Barak Obama is the most popular man on the planet. People love this guy.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Sanliurfa, Turkey- March 27, 2009
Travelogue —Travel Photos –Travel Guide
Click on map to view route of travel.

Advertising firms and political campaigns around the world have caught on to this Obama wave, and they are using his name and face to sell products and win elections. All over Istanbul and Ankara are posters of a black man’s face that looks remarkably like Barak Obama saying that Garanti Bank is good. There is even a TV commercial in which an Obama impostor is giving a mock state of the union address in which he says: “I wish we had Garanti Bank in America.”

I suppose this sells bank accounts.

Political campaigns are even getting on the kick, as any link that they can fasten to Barak Obama means votes.

“Obama comes to Turkey to meet with this man,” A Kurdish butcher told me in the street as he pointed to an advertisement for the AK political party. This is the ruling party in Turkey, and their popularity has grown many fold since it became known that Barak Obama will soon be meeting with their representatives.

The message is clear: “Barak Obama supports the AK Party.” Not surprisingly, the AK party is expected to sweep municipal elections across Turkey this Sunday.

Obama is a symbol, and symbols sell.

“Why is Obama coming to Turkey?” I ask people.

“I don’t know, they probably found petrol or something,” one realistically cynical Turkish friend told me.

Or perhaps Obama is coming to ensure that the final tally at the polls this weekend lean towards the West.

Turkey is a country at the very center of three massive pulls of geo-political power. Turkey may soon be the most pivotal political piece on the global chess board. Where Turkey goes – whether towards the of Russia and China, the Middle East, or the West may very well be where the next wave of global power also goes. So Obama will come here to show off the new emblematic face of the West.

Obama on a Garanti Bank Advertisement in Ankara.

The members of the AK party, the ruling political party in Turkey, who I am told that Obama will soon meet with.

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Obama to Visit Turkey