Turkish columnist calls Perry an ‘idiot’ for Monday debate comments | The Envoy - Yahoo! News

Turkey's envoy to the United States expressed disappointment and concern over comments made by Texas governor Rick Perry in Monday's GOP debate. The candidate described Turkey's moderate Islamic leadership as "Islamic terrorists." A Turkish American group called on the candidate to apologize for his "appalling" and "uneducated" comments, which have been greeted with disbelief, ridicule and anger by Turkey's press corps.

Turkey is "a country that is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists," Perry said, in response to a question about whether Turkey, a top American ally, should remain a member of the NATO alliance.

The NATO ally had moved "far away" from the strict secular tenets that governed it when he served there in the 1970s as a U.S. Air Force pilot.