All parties should stand behind Lebanon decision

Semih İdiz for TDN Thursday, September 7, 2006

Following a period of acrimonious debate, the Turkish Parliament on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly (340 to 192) to give the government the authorization to send troops to Lebanon with a view to helping the efforts to stabilize the situation there.
For those following it closely the whole experience was a major point in favor of Turkish democracy, given that many European governments do not need such parliamentary authorization to partake in foreign military missions.
In the case of Turkey, however, no government can act on its own and send troops abroad or admit foreign troops on national territory without authorization from Parliament.
It was also interesting to note that there was not a repeat of the vote of a few years back, when the government failed to get the authorization from Parliament to allow U.S. forces into Turkey in order for them to stage an invasion of Iraq from the north.
Many deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) voted against their own government's bill then, much to the surprise of the public at large, which had considered it a foregone conclusion that the bill would pass despite a number of maverick AKP deputies.
This time only six AKP deputies voted against the government's bill. Prime Minister Erdoğan can also boast that his government's bill was accepted by most of his deputies, even though there was no binding party decision for everyone to vote in favor of it.
This is in stark contrast to the situation within the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which took a binding party decision that all its deputies should vote against the bill. In other words no one could vote for it even if they believed in its merits.
In fact most analysts agree that the CHP did not come out of this whole episode with enhanced prestige, since it made it clear from the way it was approaching the issue from the very start that its main objective was to hit out at the government in any way it could, and this topic was just another convenient device for doing so.
Otherwise there was not much talk among members of the party, who include retired ambassadors, about the crisis in the Middle East and what Turkey could do to help efforts to stabilize the situation. Most were engaged in crass demagoguery designed to sway the public by means of scare tactics with open suggestions that the government was callously throwing Turkish troops into the fire.
Many analysts are speculating that the CHP's popularity declined further as a result of the somewhat mercenary approach it displayed on this issue. Others, however, argue that the points by the party made should nevertheless have been made so that the public got the whole picture about what was involved in this mission.
In the meantime, Turkish military sources have been reported in the press as saying that in the estimation of the Turkish Armed Forces, the mission is not as dangerous as the opposition has been making it out to be. At least no more dangerous for Turkish troops than say their mission in Bosnia was, given that the Serbs were referring to the Bosnians they were massacring as Turks.
The crux of the problem is whether Turkish troops will be forced to try and disarm Hezbollah, as foreseen by U.N. resolutions, and in doing so engage in lethal firefights. However it is clear from the press that few of the countries that are sending forces to Lebanon are willing to fight, no doubt much to the chagrin of Israel and the United States.
Another issue centers on the question of whether Hezbollah would be so foolhardy as to provoke Israel to again visit disproportionate brutality on Lebanon, and in doing so kill U.N. forces, as it has already done with impunity.
The fact is that the whole world is watching Lebanon now, and so it would indeed be foolish for either side to be provocative, thus branding themselves as “enemies of peace.”
Especially given the fact that the reputation of both sides has been severely tarnished as a result of what they caused in an already turbulent part of the world. So while this negative expectation vis a vis Hezbollah and Israel is not an impossibility, it nevertheless does not appear probable at this point.
None of this does away with the continuing uncertainty surrounding Lebanon. It is incumbent on all parties in Turkey to respect the decision of Parliament and provide the moral support Turkish forces will need in carrying out this important and difficult mission.
As to whether it was good for Turkey to get involved in this mission or not, it is time that will tell, not a bunch of rabble-rousing politicians putting the horse before the cart and trying to arrive at premature conclusions in a bid to gain political points.