Ertan Aydin, a top adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, doesn't think much of foreign criticism of his government.

In a recent Al Jazeera op-ed article, Aydin cited a recent post of mine and a New York Times article by Tim Arango and Ceylan Yeginsu to make the argument that the Western news media are misrepresenting Turkey because of our "orientalism," a prejudice of West against East that has a long historical pedigree.

I don't challenge the fact of orientalism, but it is hardly the case here.