Mike Pompeo has found himself barraged by enraged Turkish netizens after the US Secretary of State shared a gif which, for reasons that may forever remain a mystery, appears to include an erroneously bisected map of Turkey.
Like many internet outrages, this gaffe began with the most innocent of intentions: The State Department chief wanted to tweet out a thank you to all the countries that have followed Washington’s lead by recognizing self-declared interim president Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader. But this did not go as planned, as the map that the State Department media intern apparently selected divides NATO-ally Turkey into two separate territories.
The faux pas did not sit well with Turkish Twitter, which mercilessly grilled Pompeo for his lousy geography skills.
“There is a flaw in the map of the Republic of Turkey – do not make such mistakes!” one of the more reserved responses read.
One particularly outraged Turkish netizen reiterated his country’s unwavering support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, while making a not-so-politically-correct suggestion where Pompeo should shove his inaccurate map.
“Do you need a basic geography education mr pompeo? I believe you ve made a ridiculous mistake on Turkish Republic map. Poor US people. With such politicians they have no future!” wrote another incensed Twitter user.
Despite being a US military ally, Turkey has resisted calls by Washington to back Guaido, the little-known opposition figure who declared himself Venezuela’s acting president in late January. This is just the latest point of contention between the two allies, with Ankara striving to lead an independent regional policy at times clashing with US vision, as well as recently building up closer ties with Russia.
Geography has never been America’s strong suit. Fox News once famously confused Iraq with Egypt, and at least one study has shown that there’s a direct correlation between Americans not knowing where a country is, and wanting the US military to intervene in said country.
Another study found that those Americans who can find North Korea on the map are “more likely to prefer diplomacy” (but only 36 percent could).
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