Ostrich policies and rhetoric

Yusuf KANLI for TDN

Saturday, September 2, 2006

According to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey doesn't have the luxury of not contributing troops to the U.N. stabilization force for Lebanon because "backing away from our responsibilities would be a betrayal to our history, our future and the high aspirations of our nation."
That is, according to Erdogan, if parliamentarians convening on the government request to approve a decree authorizing it to dispatch an unspecified number of troops (mostly logistics units) to Lebanon for a one-year period (naturally renewable at the end of that period) decide to "betray" Turkish history and say "No, we do not want to send our sons to a war that is not ours" or instead say "It's none of our business to question the wisdom of our leader. If he says we should not betray our history and send troops to Lebanon, he must know something, we have to fulfill his expectation and say yes to the decree."
What kind of logic is that? How can we say that Parliament has decided on the issue of its own free will if the prime minister has already qualified any "no" vote as a betrayal to Turkish history? This "those who don't share my point are traitors" attitude can bring no benefit to anyone. Erdogan must realize that.
Whereas the prime minister was right in the rest of his assessments in his address to the nation on Thursday night. Most certainly we cannot act like an ostrich and believe that since we have buried our heads in the sand and cannot see around us, people around us won't see us as well. Turkey is not a lone island in the wilderness. We cannot act with an understanding that if we shut our doors to all the evils in our region we will not be affected by them. On the contrary, Turkey is a major player of the region, its former ruler. It shares an immense cultural and historical heritage with the peoples of the Middle East and the Caucasus as well as the Balkans. It's nothing but normal for Turkey to have interest in what's going on in the former Turkish territories. Unlike the Americans, we have an awareness of the sensitivities, cultural peculiarities and behavioral patterns of the peoples of these lands and indeed, we may contribute much to the resolution of the existing problems all through this geography.
How? Can Turkey contribute to a resolution of problems merely by dispatching troops under the U.N. beret? Of course, if there is a need, Turkey should not back away from sending its troops and contributing to the consolidation of peace. However, can Turkey indulge in a more active and "reasonable" foreign policy based on the "interests of Turkey" rather than "loyalty to the United States" or "Islamic solidarity" or "neo-Ottoman" designs?
As a regional power, Turkey must perhaps contribute troops to a U.N. peacekeeping force to be deployed in Lebanon. Perhaps, tomorrow Turkey may feel compelled to contribute troops to a stabilization force to be deployed in some other part of the area. No one is saying that Turkey should ignore its obligations or act in isolationist fashion.
But isolationism should be avoided not only when we are asked to contribute troops to an international force. This country must remember that isolationism -- particularly in the area of democratic understanding --along with rising nationalism and Islamist rhetoric may create more problems than military isolationism. Europe has been complaining for some time "Where is Ali Babacan?" Many people have forgotten that we have a young economy minister who was also assigned by the government as the chief EU negotiator. They forget Babacan not because they have amnesia but because Babacan is not doing anything that would merit remembering him.
Turkey is losing the EU train. A possible crisis with Europe over the Cyprus ports and airports issue on the one hand and a failure to legislate and implement promised reforms on the other are poisoning the climate. Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and other articles written with the same primitive mentality have become a pain in the neck for everyone who would like to see the expansion of freedoms and liberties in this country.
Can we expect that Erdogan will one day remember the need for this country to start acting like a member of the European family of nations?
This country needs a mental reform, and that, unfortunately, cannot be legislated overnight with the parliamentary majority of the ruling party. For that we need to have a concerted national effort