US ambassador responds to Ankara Mayor Gökçek: ‘We are all blonde’
ISTANBUL
U.S. Ambassador to Ankara John Bass has waded into the dispute between Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek and U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf, by posting a photo-shopped blonde haired picture of himself on Instagram.Ambassador Bass posted the photo with the caption, “American Diplomats: We Are All Blonde,” referring to Gökçek’s targeting of Harf in his tweets when criticizing the disproportionate use of police force in the Baltimore riots.
“Come on blonde, answer now,” Gökçek said in English in a tweet posted early April 29, including an image from the recent riots in Baltimore, as well as the photo of Marie Harf with a caption reading: “Where are you stupid blonde, who accused Turkish police of using disproportionate force?” The image was originally published on a pro-government online news website.
Harf declined to comment on Gökçek’s remarks in the State Department’s Daily Briefing on April 29.
“I really don’t think I’m going to dignify them with a response,” she said.
Many national and international organizations had criticized Turkish police officers for using disproportionate force during the massive Gezi Park protests in 2013.
Gökçek, a veteran politician from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), also slammed CNN International and the Economist for the same reason in separate tweets.
