NATO agreed to appoint Anders Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, as secretary general, replacing the outgoing, splendidly named Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Here’s the AP’s story.
You might remember Mr. Rasmussen as being Denmark’s PM who refused to apologize on behalf of media outlets that published the infamous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
I’m still at a loss as to why the Danish PM was asked to apologize to begin with, since he has no jurisdiction over the press as far as I can tell.
The vote was initially held up as a result of Turkish reservations to his appointment. Turkey’s stance forced concessions including appointing a Turkish aide to Rasmussen, investigating a Kurdish TV station in Denmark, and promotions for Turkish generals.
While Rasmussen was quick to point out that he didn’t make extraordinary concessions, Turkish reactions were more exuberant. Take a look at this from Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News:
It looks like Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan got the better part of the deal: No. 2 job in NATO for a Turk, final say in Afghanistan, applause for the Organization of the Islamic Conference, closure of the hated Roj TV in Denmark and the promise that Rasmussen will today in Istanbul bow in fealty. He must have really wanted to be NATO secretary general to accept such humiliation.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)
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