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Daily Sabah, Turkey
Aug 26 2014
DID DAVUTOÄ?LU'S FOREIGN POLICY FAIL?
Hilal Kaplan 27 August 2014, Wednesday
After Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu was presented as the candidate
for prime minister and new chairman of the Justice and Development
Party (AK Party), articles that speak about "Turkey's failed foreign
policy" have gained currency once again. Let's have a general look at
what has happened in our region over the past decade to see whether
this argument is right or wrong.
Saddam Hussein was hung and his administration was toppled. He was
succeeded by another authoritarian regime that inflicted sectarian
discrimination against the Sunnis and Kurds, alienating both groups.
Turkey, for a long while, has stressed that this regime was
unsustainable and it would inflame serious outrage among the Sunni
majority; and this came true in a much shorter time than expected. The
barbarous Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which emerged and
grew in Syria, made progress by benefiting from the Sunnis' reactions
against Nouri al-Maliki. They occupied a number of cities in Iraq
including Mosul. This resulted in the deposition of al-Maliki, whose
leadership was proven to be incompetent. Turkey's thesis, which
suggested that Western countries should come to the table with Iran
and that this was necessary for the normalization of the Iranian
regime, was later approved by the West. But this time, the West had to
consent to more severe conditions than Turkey offered, and came to
terms with Iran, despite its overt support for the Assad regime.
Syria has become the bloodiest country among the Arab countries, which
were inspired by the Arab Spring ethos of attaining freedom and
democracy. Initially, Western countries promised that they would
support the Syrian opposition; however, they left it too late before
it disintegrated. ISIS filled this authority gap with the help of Iraq
and the Assad regime. For the last three years, Turkey has suggested
that unless moderate opposition groups are supported in Syria, the
extremist groups will fill the authority gap in the region. The region
we live in is undergoing a strategic fragmentation. This is an
insurrection against colonialism, which has been continuing for more
than a century, and against the artificial borders that were imposed
on these countries. The people of this geography have suffered too
much and, sadly, this will continue. Turkey did not step back and
watch by adopting realpolitik like other countries.
Turkey is making a quick return to its sphere of influence, which was
marginalized by the Kemalist regime. Its predictions about Syria and
Iraq have proven to be true. Had it supported al-Assad and al-Maliki,
this would have cost Turkey another century to rebuild its sphere of
influence in the region.
When the masses, which dethroned Hosni Mubarak in just three weeks,
are convinced that the military came into power to maintain colonial
order rather than preventing quarrel between brothers, they will
confront the masterminds of the military coup just as we faced the
1980 coup d'état. The day they achieve this, Turkey will stand out as
the only country which defends democratic legitimacy in Egypt.
Again during DavutoÄ?lu's tenure, Turkey has established friendly
relations with Greece and Armenia as well as consolidating its ties
with Georgia. Despite differences of opinion, Turkey initiated
high-level strategic cooperation with Russia. It developed relations
in a number of fields, including natural gas imported from Iran and
missile purchases from China. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
whose existence was a regarded as a redline in the past, has become
one of the greatest allies of Turkey. I cannot mention our
strengthened relations with Bosnia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and
Kyrgyzstan due to space restrictions.
Then why did Turkey's foreign policy fail? Is it because it did not
choose to reconcile with mass murderer Assad, authoritarian al-Maliki
and dictator Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi? Leaving this oft-told argument
aside, DavutoÄ?lu's political adventure, which began with the foreign
ministry and followed by his premiership, indicates that Turkey goes
far beyond its borders. Turkey's current policy is not a
neo-Ottomanist one as it proves that Turkey is not an unfounded and
amnesiac country.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/hilal_kaplan/2014/08/27/did-davutoglus-foreign-policy-fail
Aug 26 2014
DID DAVUTOÄ?LU'S FOREIGN POLICY FAIL?
Hilal Kaplan 27 August 2014, Wednesday
After Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu was presented as the candidate
for prime minister and new chairman of the Justice and Development
Party (AK Party), articles that speak about "Turkey's failed foreign
policy" have gained currency once again. Let's have a general look at
what has happened in our region over the past decade to see whether
this argument is right or wrong.
Saddam Hussein was hung and his administration was toppled. He was
succeeded by another authoritarian regime that inflicted sectarian
discrimination against the Sunnis and Kurds, alienating both groups.
Turkey, for a long while, has stressed that this regime was
unsustainable and it would inflame serious outrage among the Sunni
majority; and this came true in a much shorter time than expected. The
barbarous Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which emerged and
grew in Syria, made progress by benefiting from the Sunnis' reactions
against Nouri al-Maliki. They occupied a number of cities in Iraq
including Mosul. This resulted in the deposition of al-Maliki, whose
leadership was proven to be incompetent. Turkey's thesis, which
suggested that Western countries should come to the table with Iran
and that this was necessary for the normalization of the Iranian
regime, was later approved by the West. But this time, the West had to
consent to more severe conditions than Turkey offered, and came to
terms with Iran, despite its overt support for the Assad regime.
Syria has become the bloodiest country among the Arab countries, which
were inspired by the Arab Spring ethos of attaining freedom and
democracy. Initially, Western countries promised that they would
support the Syrian opposition; however, they left it too late before
it disintegrated. ISIS filled this authority gap with the help of Iraq
and the Assad regime. For the last three years, Turkey has suggested
that unless moderate opposition groups are supported in Syria, the
extremist groups will fill the authority gap in the region. The region
we live in is undergoing a strategic fragmentation. This is an
insurrection against colonialism, which has been continuing for more
than a century, and against the artificial borders that were imposed
on these countries. The people of this geography have suffered too
much and, sadly, this will continue. Turkey did not step back and
watch by adopting realpolitik like other countries.
Turkey is making a quick return to its sphere of influence, which was
marginalized by the Kemalist regime. Its predictions about Syria and
Iraq have proven to be true. Had it supported al-Assad and al-Maliki,
this would have cost Turkey another century to rebuild its sphere of
influence in the region.
When the masses, which dethroned Hosni Mubarak in just three weeks,
are convinced that the military came into power to maintain colonial
order rather than preventing quarrel between brothers, they will
confront the masterminds of the military coup just as we faced the
1980 coup d'état. The day they achieve this, Turkey will stand out as
the only country which defends democratic legitimacy in Egypt.
Again during DavutoÄ?lu's tenure, Turkey has established friendly
relations with Greece and Armenia as well as consolidating its ties
with Georgia. Despite differences of opinion, Turkey initiated
high-level strategic cooperation with Russia. It developed relations
in a number of fields, including natural gas imported from Iran and
missile purchases from China. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
whose existence was a regarded as a redline in the past, has become
one of the greatest allies of Turkey. I cannot mention our
strengthened relations with Bosnia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and
Kyrgyzstan due to space restrictions.
Then why did Turkey's foreign policy fail? Is it because it did not
choose to reconcile with mass murderer Assad, authoritarian al-Maliki
and dictator Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi? Leaving this oft-told argument
aside, DavutoÄ?lu's political adventure, which began with the foreign
ministry and followed by his premiership, indicates that Turkey goes
far beyond its borders. Turkey's current policy is not a
neo-Ottomanist one as it proves that Turkey is not an unfounded and
amnesiac country.
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/hilal_kaplan/2014/08/27/did-davutoglus-foreign-policy-fail