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APPLAUSE FOR DAVUTOGLU...
Hurriyet
July 9 2012
Turkey
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu must be congratulated for being
courageous enough to confess that Turkey has failed in its policies
regarding Syria. It is not at all easy for a politician to admit
failure of any sort. Davutoglu has been often accused by opponents of
mixing up academia and politics and trying to bend political realities
to fit his "strategic depth" theory. His brave declaration of failure,
anyhow, showed that he must still possess some degree of academic
ethical values.
The confession came in an interview with France 24 channel. Unaware
of the preparations in Paris by the new Socialist Francois Hollande
presidency of France to rehash the Armenian genocide legislation, the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is so happy with the
political demise of Nikolas Sarkozy that it has started talking of a
"new era" in Turkish French ties. The France 24 interview was probably
arranged to further accelerate the warming up in Turkish-French ties.
The minister, of course, was talking in a totally different context.
He accepted "failure" in bringing an end to the Bashar al-Assad regime
in Syria. Is it Turkey's duty, or is it compatible with international
law, for neighboring or brotherly countries to dictate to each other
what kind of government they should have? Has the world, for the sake
of the "right to protect," brushed aside completely the terms of the
Westphalian code of conduct?
Anyhow, it was good to see the foreign minister conceding, albeit
insufficiently, that his approaches on Syria have failed.
Unfortunately, under Davutoglu Turkey has engaged in a hasty foreign
policy adventure without making any sort of cost analysis, without
basing strategies on the reality on the ground or the potential course
of developments.
Turkey started with a "zero problems" with neighbors strategy, but
ended up having no friends around. Trying to find excuses in the
"but conditions have changed" cliché is unfortunately not enough. If
conditions have changed, what are your alternate strategies to take our
nose away from the mess? Obviously, the strategic depth doctrine was
an academic work that failed in the field application. Forcing results
obtained in the field to conform the doctrine can best be summed up
with two words: Academic obsession. This is a very serious condition.
Unfortunately, Turkey made a very serious mistake in Syria. It
thought that, as in Libya the regime would collapse quickly and would
be replaced with the AKP's "brothers" the Muslim Brotherhood. The
"Sunni brotherhood" was instrumental in embracing Sudan's bloodthirsty
dictator Omar al-Bashir, but Bashar al-Assad was only an "Alawite
brother."
The end result: Yesterday Turkey was the "leading power" of the region
aspiring to become a "regional big brother," but today it has become
a country whose reconnaissance plane can be downed. The rising power
of yesterday is today a fragile and unpredictable country...
Sparing words regarding the failure in ties with Israel, and without
forgetting his major share in the mess Turkey is landed in, Davutoglu
definitely deserves a standing ovation for at least confessing that
the Syria policies of the AKP government have failed.
From: A. Papazian
Hurriyet
July 9 2012
Turkey
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu must be congratulated for being
courageous enough to confess that Turkey has failed in its policies
regarding Syria. It is not at all easy for a politician to admit
failure of any sort. Davutoglu has been often accused by opponents of
mixing up academia and politics and trying to bend political realities
to fit his "strategic depth" theory. His brave declaration of failure,
anyhow, showed that he must still possess some degree of academic
ethical values.
The confession came in an interview with France 24 channel. Unaware
of the preparations in Paris by the new Socialist Francois Hollande
presidency of France to rehash the Armenian genocide legislation, the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is so happy with the
political demise of Nikolas Sarkozy that it has started talking of a
"new era" in Turkish French ties. The France 24 interview was probably
arranged to further accelerate the warming up in Turkish-French ties.
The minister, of course, was talking in a totally different context.
He accepted "failure" in bringing an end to the Bashar al-Assad regime
in Syria. Is it Turkey's duty, or is it compatible with international
law, for neighboring or brotherly countries to dictate to each other
what kind of government they should have? Has the world, for the sake
of the "right to protect," brushed aside completely the terms of the
Westphalian code of conduct?
Anyhow, it was good to see the foreign minister conceding, albeit
insufficiently, that his approaches on Syria have failed.
Unfortunately, under Davutoglu Turkey has engaged in a hasty foreign
policy adventure without making any sort of cost analysis, without
basing strategies on the reality on the ground or the potential course
of developments.
Turkey started with a "zero problems" with neighbors strategy, but
ended up having no friends around. Trying to find excuses in the
"but conditions have changed" cliché is unfortunately not enough. If
conditions have changed, what are your alternate strategies to take our
nose away from the mess? Obviously, the strategic depth doctrine was
an academic work that failed in the field application. Forcing results
obtained in the field to conform the doctrine can best be summed up
with two words: Academic obsession. This is a very serious condition.
Unfortunately, Turkey made a very serious mistake in Syria. It
thought that, as in Libya the regime would collapse quickly and would
be replaced with the AKP's "brothers" the Muslim Brotherhood. The
"Sunni brotherhood" was instrumental in embracing Sudan's bloodthirsty
dictator Omar al-Bashir, but Bashar al-Assad was only an "Alawite
brother."
The end result: Yesterday Turkey was the "leading power" of the region
aspiring to become a "regional big brother," but today it has become
a country whose reconnaissance plane can be downed. The rising power
of yesterday is today a fragile and unpredictable country...
Sparing words regarding the failure in ties with Israel, and without
forgetting his major share in the mess Turkey is landed in, Davutoglu
definitely deserves a standing ovation for at least confessing that
the Syria policies of the AKP government have failed.
From: A. Papazian