Mark Carney Insists Bringing Canada Closer to Islamist, Anti-LGBTQA2+ Turkey Fits ‘Values-Based Realism’
by Frances Martel
Leftist Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney insisted during a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday that expanding economic and defense ties with the Islamist state was not a violation of his progressive values, declaring, “Engagement is not approval.”
He told reporters that “values-based realism,” which is what he calls his foreign policy, means that Canada can do business with nations whose behavior it doesn’t approve of.
Carney traveled to Turkey, a fellow NATO ally nation, on Wednesday to discuss expanding trade volume and other bilateral cooperation. His visit is unprecedented in the history of the two countries and raised eyebrows at home given strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s repression of a variety of communities in his country, including the LGBTQ2A+ community, non-Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and anti-Islamists in general. Erdogan is arguably the most vocal head of state supporting the genocidal jihadist terrorist organization Hamas and has used state repression to suppress the opposition and stay in power during the past three rounds of national elections.
Carney insisted when challenged by reporters on Friday that doing business with a government with such a poor human rights track record did not undermine Canada’s own values or legitimize Erdogan.
“There are very few countries in this world that have the standards of Canada, the rights of Canada, the conviction of Canada, the constant reinforcement of those rights, so that all Canadians can live their lives as they choose,” he asserted, according to the Globe and Mail.
“Our first and foremost job is protecting, not just protecting LGBTQI rights and two-spirited rights in Canada, but promoting those rights and ensuring that all Canadians can live their full selves in Canada. So first and foremost, that’s our responsibility,” he said. “Two-spirit” is a uniquely Native American/First Nation concept in which someone identifies as both male and female simultaneously, or a third “gender.” There is no significant documentation of the presence of two-spirit people in Turkey.
In addition to insisting that he was not legitimizing Erdogan and did not approve of his government, Carney insisted that it was necessary to engage Turkey to become a “truly sovereign nation,” hinting at Carney’s campaign to distance Canada from the United States. Carney’s term as prime minister has been defined by antagonism towards America and the declaration that the “old relationship” with Canada’s closest ally was “over.”
“Part of the way we discharge that is to be a truly sovereign nation. Part of the way we become a truly sovereign nation and reinforce our sovereignty is to have a broad range of partnerships around the world,” he reportedly said.