INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey does not back Denmark's prime minister becoming NATO's next secretary-general, a senior Turkish lawmaker said Tuesday.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen is seen as the front-runner to replace Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as NATO secretary-general when his term ends at the end of July.
Turkey, a NATO member, objects to Fogh Rasmussen because of the 2006 prophet cartoon crisis, his reported opposition to Turkey's EU membership and his stance on Kurdish rebels, said Suat Kiniklioglu, top foreign policy official in the prime minister's party.
"It is unacceptable that NATO be headed by an individual who has in the past rudely disrespected our values and religious beliefs," Kiniklioglu said in reference to Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked Muslim protests.
Fogh Rasmussen defended freedom of speech amid the protests. >>> The Associated Press | Tuesday, March 24, 2009
