The criticisms directed at the improvement of Turkey’s relations with the ‘East’ result from the lack of faith in Turkey’s transformative power. The new Turkish interest in the East and South has been the outcome of Turkey starting to ‘read’ its neighborhood through its own lenses, from where it firmly dwells.
The claims that Turkish foreign policy orientation has changed and Turkey left the ‘West’ to turn its face towards the ‘East’ have been insistently kept on the agenda recently. Such claims have been supported by the agreements Turkey signed with Middle Eastern countries and the increasing trade volume between these countries and Turkey. The most recent visit the Turkish Prime Minister paid to Iran and the problems in Turkish-Israeli relations that emerged in prior, have even led to claims that Turkish foreign policy is being Islamized. Is Turkey really turning its face towards the East in the light of foreign policy theory, solid evidence and the values Turkish foreign policy has come to rest upon for so long?
Foreign Policy Posture Based on Values
The most striking answer to this question has been given by the Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who held Turkish Foreign Minister post for years, during his speech entitled ‘Turkish Foreign Policy In a New Era’ at the opening of USAK/ISRO (International Strategic Research Organization) House recently:
“’Where is Turkey heading to?’;, ‘Is Turkey heading to the East?’;, ‘Which direction Turkey is heading to?’. As if Turkey is bewildered and can easily get dragged by any wave to any port. Let me be honest. Turkey is well aware what steps it has been taking and why. Of course, Turkey is moving in all directions, towards East, South, North, and West. The important point is this: In which direction have Turkey’s values been developing? Democratic values, the rule of law, respect for human rights, transparency, accountability, equality between men and women, free market economy; if in which direction Turkey is moving with respect to these values is taken into consideration, which direction Turkey has been heading towards can also be understood better.”
As an experienced politician, academician and head of the Turkish state, the Turkish President has set the best criteria to judge the direction in Turkish foreign policy: the values it stands for. According to Gul, those who want to know the direction Turkey is moving towards ought to consider not Turkey’s economic, diplomatic and daily relations but rather which values system Turkey has adopted and has been trying to advance. When one does that which values Turkey has embraced and stands for is undoubtedly clear.
Better economic, political and military relations developed between Turkey and Middle Eastern countries should not be taken as surprising. Similar to amicable relations developed between France, Germany, the U.S. and other countries, Turkey has to establish friendly relations with its neighbors. The fact that the trade volume between Turkey and Iran and Syria goes up and Turkey invests directly in those countries does not mean that Turkey approves of the types of regimes in these countries and that Turkey aspires to be one of them. In contrast, Turkey, as a model country, has been trying to inspire these countries along the lines of Western principles and values. In other words, Turkey is not heading towards the East but carrying Western values to the East while maintaining its ‘long march’ towards the West.
While contributing to Turkey’s material interests, tourism, trade and direct investment also help Turkey carry Western values such as liberal democracy and liberal economy to the East. The Iranian, Lebanese or Israeli tourists that visit Turkey for holiday do not only benefit from sea, sand and sun but freedoms and the taste of cooperation are also carried along with the taste of the warm ‘sands.’
Alas, the ‘zero-problem with neighbors’ mentality in Turkish foreign policy and spike in trade volume with neighbors are presented as evidence for ‘Easternization’ in Turkish foreign policy. Yet, what is more normal for a country’s desire to increase its trade volume with its neighbors? How do those who do not talk about ‘Easternization’ in French foreign policy when France preserves its interests in the Middle East and increases its trade with regional countries justify their accusations against Turkey of turning to the East? How can someone else’s ‘right’ be ‘forbidden’ for Turkey?
Reading the Neighborhood Through its Own Lenses
Turkey has been building the culture of cooperation in its neighborhood. Turkish President Abdullah Gul proclaimed in front of Turkey’s most distinguished diplomats, journalists and intellectuals that “Turkish foreign policy rests on the fundamental principle that does not see others’ losses as our gain, aims at advancing mutual interests and win-win situations.” In other words, the Turkish outlook is not based on “as long as I win, the rest does not matter.” Ankara is following an ethical foreign policy. The outcome of that stance has been the emergence of an appropriate ground for solving seemingly intractable and perennial problems around it. And this is what disturbs many, inside and outside alike.
It should be noted in the meantime that the proponents of the claim that Turkey has been turning its face towards the East have kept Turkish Premier’s visit to Iran in mind while they have totally ignored Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visits to Serbia and Slovakia. Likewise, the Turkish Prime Minister’s visit to Greece also shows that Turkey is not devoting its energy to one particular region and that Turkey has a wide foreign policy perspective. Turkey has kept its stance not in the Middle East but also in the Balkans, Africa, Afghanistan, and China.
The Turkish President’s visit to Serbia illustrates the last point well: Turkish-Serbian relations that had been problematic and even hostile for a long time have drastically changed after the Turkish President’s 25-27 October ‘operation.’ We have all seen how a former ‘foe’ has been transformed into a close friend. Serbian people that do not wave American flags have decorated their streets with Turkish flags; they treated their Turkish guests with great hospitality. Several agreements were signed during the visit. Breaking prejudices between the nations, Turkey has obtained the status of ‘privileged country’ in its relations with Serbia, which, apart from Turkey, only Russia enjoys. Both sides have agreed on the aim to make Turkey the number one touristic destination. Serbian President Tadic repeatedly said during the visit that “stability in the Balkans is not possible without Turkey.”
In short, Turkish foreign policy should not be viewed through a narrow perspective. Selectively picked pictures and sentences do not give the whole new picture in Turkish foreign policy. They do not explain why Turkey, which is claimed to be on its way to Islamize its foreign policy, has been establishing ever closer relations with Georgia, a predominantly Christian majority country, and why it has been signing agreements amounting almost to strategic cooperation agreements with Serbia, which except groups that have ethnic or religious ties to it, even the NATO had punished severely before. Such accounts with limited perspectives do not also explain why Turkey has been trying to solve its long-standing and entrenched problems with Armenia, signing ambitious agreements with Russia and concurring with the Obama Administration on major issues in the regions around Turkey.
“The conscience of its region”
What is being missed amidst the controversies about an alleged shift in Turkish foreign policy axis is the fact that Turkey has stopped its former habit of reading ‘the East through the lenses of the West.’ Therefore, the controversy surrounding Turkish foreign policy is the consequence of the bewilderment of those who had gotten accustomed to reading Beirut, Damascus, and Baghdad over London, Washington and Paris. As the virtual boundaries between Turkey and the East have been removed Turkey is facing the East directly. Those who define Turkey’s will to be part of the solution to the problems of the East with its self-formulated prescriptions as a ‘shift of axis in foreign policy’ are falling into the grave mistake of trying to read Turkey based on its erstwhile habits.
Admittedly, Turkey is more active and visible in the Middle East, Caucasus, the Balkans, and Africa; however, this does not exhibit a move away from the West but rather remembering the East.
Turkey is close enough to its friends and has the courage and wisdom to warn them over their wrongdoings. Turkey is “the conscience of its region” in that sense. On the contrary, in the words of the President Gul, Turkey has been pursuing an “ethical foreign policy.” Turkey’s attitude towards telling its friends in the region their vices as much as it praises their virtues is significant in treating the double-faced approaches that underlie the long-standing problems in its neighborhood. Turkey has already scored success in the Middle East streets thanks to its principled foreign policy.
Even though the Israeli government and some Western journalists aligned with it prefer blaming Turkey, Turkish warning to Israel over its vices in treating the Palestinians has not only been praised by the Palestinians and Arabs but also by sensitive Israelis. After all, Turkey is not blocking the water flow to or enforcing an arms embargo on Israel; on the contrary, Turkey has been putting intensive effort in the fields of economy and trade to improve the lives of Israeli people. It has gone to great lengths in ensuring that Israel corrects human rights violations and the disproportionate use of force in its war against terrorism. Turkey has even invested in Palestine by building factories, admitting Palestinian students to Turkey to help the Palestinian police be trained according to universal values and warning Palestinians to take into account Israel’s security concerns, to contribute to Israel’s security.
Transformative Power
The critical and vital nature of the role Turkey has assumed by being the ‘conscience of its region’ can be seen in these examples. New Turkish involvement, therefore, should be explained not as a ‘shift of axis in Turkish foreign policy’ but with the principles underlying it.
The criticisms against close relations developed between Turkey and countries in the ‘East’ have resulted from the lack of faith in Turkey’s transformative power. At this point, President Gul has stressed that “plurality of opinions expressed and freedom to discuss such matters have amplified Turkey’s strength day by day and the variety of viewpoints has been the pushing factor behind a stronger Turkey.” By asserting that “Turkey’s ‘arteries’ are strong, its fundamental beliefs and values are irreversibly internalized” the President pointed out that Turkey is not a country of tergiversation and that activism in the East does not mean turning its back on the West and being present in the South is not leaving the North.
The new directions and openings in Turkish foreign policy are the results of Turkey’s deliberate choice to be the ‘conscience of its region’ instead of eschewing the Middle East and to read its immediate neighborhood directly through its own lenses, from where it stands historically, geographically, and culturally. They also denote Turkey’s accumulated economic value, entrepreneurship, determination to spread its plural democracy, of which standards it has been raising day by day and the powerful middle class, intellectual experience and societal support that stand behind it all. The western-centered evaluations, perspectives devoid of self-confidence, superficial analyses and easy categorizations of those who cannot read the new developments in Turkish foreign policy are far away from accounting for today’s Turkey and laying down the true wider picture in that regard.
Prof. Dr. Ihsan Bal. Director, Center for Security, Terrorism and Ethnic Conflict Studies, USAK/ISRO
*A version of this article in Turkish was first published in Star newspaper on November 09, 2009. It can be reached at the following address: http://www.stargazete.com/acikgorus/turkiye-eksen-degistirmiyor-eksenini-genisletiyor-haber-224122.htm
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