http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=103197
‘Europe cannot reject Turkey if it wants to contain terrorism’
Since the end of the Cold War, the biggest threat to European welfare is
terrorism from the Middle East, said Rainer Hermann, the Middle East and
Turkey correspondent for the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Based in İstanbul for 15 years, Hermann said Europe does not have the
choice of rejecting Turkey if it wants to contain the terrorism threat
because Turkey produces security. “If Turkey were excluded, it would act
outside the mechanisms of the EU, and the EU would lose any kind of
influence beyond NATO.”
As for the discussion of whether or not Turkey should choose
between the EU or the Middle East, Hermann said, Europe and the Middle
East were no alternatives but rather complemented each other. “Turkey
won back the Arabs' faith because they now perceive the government of AK
Party as well-functioning Muslim democrats.”
Hermann said the perception of Arabs about Turkey has changed when
the Turkish parliament refused on March 2003 to allow the deployment of
US troops in Turkey for war with Iraq. “The authoritarian Arab
governments said yes to the American invasion of Iraq. Arabs realized
that Turkey is lead by Muslim democrats.” Arabs and Turks today have a
mutual interest in each other, according to Hermann: “Turkey understands
if it wants to have leverage in Europe and in the West, it must present
a strategic asset: to have a positive role in the Middle East.”
Was it your preference to be based in İstanbul as a journalist?
Definitely. During the summer of 1982, when I was a student, I came to
İstanbul for an internship. Even back then I said I would like to live
in this town with its unique history, its magnificent skyline, its
friendly people. It came true.
What did you think about Turkey before first coming here 15 years ago?
In those days, in Germany, Turkey was not as controversial as today.
Today the EU accession process of Turkey has polarized (German) views.
Turkey missed a chance in the late 1970's when the EU asked Greece and
Turkey to start membership negotiations on the same day. Greece
accepted, and then Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit declined. If Turkey
would have accepted, it would be much stronger today. In the past 15
years İstanbul has lost some of its "oriental" charm and has become much
more modern, also much greener.
How do you see Turkey today?
Over the past few years, Turkey has made a big leap forward. The big
changes always occurred not with center-left parties, but with
center-right parties. In the '80s the economic reforms of the late
Turgut Özal opened Turkey. These reforms are being continued on a
political level by the government of Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey became a
member of the globalized world. That opened the way to ideological
conflicts inside Turkey. On one hand, there are those who are against
privatization and foreign direct investment, against Turkey being
integrated into the world. On the other, there are those who want to
have an open, tolerant Turkey with a strong civil society.
When Turkey has any problems with the European Union, Turkish people
start discussing how Turkey should approach the Middle East. When Turkey
experiences problems with the Middle East, then there is discussion
about how Turkey should approach Europe instead. Does it have to be one
way or the other?
Both complement each other and should not be separated. A Turkey that
is rejected by Europe because of its bad human rights record and the
deficiencies in its democracy will not be accepted by the countries of
the Middle East. To them, Turkey only makes a difference when Turkey can
show that it is ahead of them in a variety of issues. For the EU, the
more important Turkey is, the more its influence can be felt in the
Middle East. Therefore, the EU and the Middle East are not alternatives,
they complement each other.
How do you think the EU would benefit from Turkey's entry to the union?
One benefit is an increase in security with the role Turkey plays in
the Middle East. Turkey is not necessarily a model to be copied, but an
example for the authoritarian Middle Eastern countries with Muslim
populations which shows them what is possible for Muslims. If states are
democratic and give fair chances to every citizen, then the youth is
less inclined to engage in terrorism. Turkey produces security, also on
the level of the military. Therefore Turkey should sit as a member at
the table of the EU. If Turkey were excluded, it would act outside the
mechanisms of the EU. Left outside Europe, Turkey could become an ally
with Russia, or with this and that Arab country, or even with a moderate
Iran, or even get closer with Israel. The EU would lose any kind of
influence beyond NATO. Security also means security for energy. This
became a topic in Europe when Russia cut off gas to some consuming
countries. Today, Europe is interested in diversifying its energy
supplies and securing the transit routes. Many important energy routes
pass through Turkey to Europe. This shows that Europe is interested in a
stable Turkey that is not torn apart by domestic conflicts and that does
not become part of regional conflicts, but that is a stable part of the EU.
In general, Turkish people think this can be achieved only through full
membership in the EU, and the Turks are very emotional about it. Yet
there are different levels of relationships discussed in Europe
regarding Turkey.
Europe is changing its identity every decade, and every change has been
caused by external factors. By this, Europe has grown from a union of
six countries to a union of 27. This is not the end. Of course, the EU
of 27 can never be like the EU of six or an EU 15. An EU of 15 was, to
my understanding, the utmost level where the members could have achieved
a deeply integrated common state. The bigger Europe is, the less it
works as a state and a nation state as we understand it today, and the
more it shows features of "empires." Look at the Roman Empire, the
Austrian Empire of the Habsburg dynasty, or the Ottoman Empire. An
empire is not governed as a nation state with all laws and decrees
applied at every corner in the same way, but with a big degree of
flexibility. I see the EU developing in this direction. This should not
create the impression that a country should choose this ingredient and
reject another one. There still should be a strong cohesion. But the EU
has already institutions in which some members are participating and
some are not, like with the Euro or with the Schengen visa. This process
will continue.
What does that mean for Turkey?
his means Europe will grow from a concept of "state" into a concept of
"empire" -- not an empire in the negative historical sense. Rather in
the sense what we have seen in the vast Ottoman Empire and the Roman
Empire. Also in the understanding of a big Europe as a region for peace
and prosperity, in contrast to a culturally homogeneous, but small
Europe. As this process continues, the quality of membership changes.
Membership today is different from membership in the early phase of
European integration. The common legal corpus of the Acquis
Communautaire grows every year, and with the growing number of members
the need for compromises grows, too.
What should the EU do?
Europe is facing a new external threat originating in the Middle East.
From there the oil comes, but also terrorism, illegal migration and
drugs. Following the end of the Cold War, this is the greatest external
threat to Europe's peace and welfare. To keep this threat from Europe,
you have to do something: take Turkey in! Europe does not have the
choice to reject Turkey if it really wants to contain the Middle East
threat.
Turkey also wants to be a leader or a role model in the Middle East. How
do the Middle Eastern countries see Turkey in this regard?
There had been several eras of relations between Turks and Arabs. First,
the colonial or Ottoman era. Arabs were part of the Ottoman Empire, but
Arabs perceived the Empire as a colonial power. I have an anecdote: When
Turkish Airlines started its regularflights to Sanaa, the capital of
Yemen, there was a story in the on-board magazine of THY on Yemen,
written by a Yemeni intellectual. In the text there was a reference to
the "colonial Ottoman time." This word went unnoticed into the magazine.
Too late, the editors discovered it. Then they put a sticker on the word
"colonial" in every copy. This anecdote illustrates the disdain of the
Arabs against their Turkish rulers. The second era was the 20th century.
Both sides established their nation states and an epoch of mutual
disinterest started. The Turks turned their back to the common culture
and history with the Arabs; they abolished the caliphate and the Arabic
alphabet. Turkey became a member of NATO and had relations with Israel.
Just the opposite of the Arab world. A famous Tunisian intellectual went
through the libraries of the Arab world and counted how many Ph.D.
dissertations had been written in 20th century modern Turkey on the
Kemalist Turkey. He found only a handful. His count showed the
disinterest of the Arabs in what was going on in Turkey.
How is the situation now?
Today we have a new era of mutual interest. Turkey understands if it
wants to have leverage in Europe and in the West, it must present a
strategic asset: to have a positive role in the Middle East, the most
problematic area for Europe. On the other hand, Arabs discovered that
the Turks have changed. It started in the '90s, and later the AK Party
government came to power. Till then the Arab media hardly took notice of
what happened in Turkey. They only reported when there was a military
deal between Turkey and Israel, which means a negative story for the
Arabs. But from 2002 on, they started to report on a daily basis and
positive aspects -- political reforms and the economic boom for example.
They started to show interest in the governments of Gül and Erdoğan.
This kind of interest never existed under the governments of Çiller and
Yılmaz, Demirel and Ecevit.
Why was that?
Today the Arabs say, "Look, there are pious Muslims and successful
democrats in the government." This led the Arab people to reconsider
their concept of Turkey. The main episode which changed the Arab
perception of Turkey was the decision of the Turkish Parliament in March
2003 not to allow the US army to transit to Iraq. The authoritarian Arab
governments, however, said yes to the American invasion of Iraq. Turkey
said no. The Arabs recognized that a democratic Turkey was able to
reject the American request, and they realized that Turkey is lead by
Muslim democrats. So they asked themselves: "What's gone wrong with us,
and what are they doing right?"
Do you think they are ready to accept Turkey as a role model?
The weight of history is still too heavy to hold Turkey as a model
which could be copied by another. But the Arabs realize that Turkey is
an example of what is possible: To keep faith and the Muslim creed, but
at the same time being a true democrat.
Have you seen that expressed?
When I talk to members of the Muslim Brotherhood, they always ask me
what is going on in Turkey and what could be relevant to them. They are
interested in questions such as: "How do they succeed in being elected
democratically, how do they stay in power, how do they get along with a
strong army, how do they get the majority of the population's support,
etc." The secular director of a leading think-tank in Cairo argued that
the AK Party government does not, contrary to the Muslim Brotherhood,
say that "Islam is the solution." He attributes the success of AK Party
to a new pragmatic and creative approach. A Kuwaiti leftist liberal
intellectual told me: "We, the secular intellectuals of the Arab world,
are afraid that the EU could refuse Turkey as a member on the basis of
cultural and religious differences; that would give a boost to our
radical Islamists, and they would argue that moderation is not paying
off as the case of Turkey shows." So both sides, the secular
intellectuals and the Islamists, have an interest in what is going on in
Turkey.
Do you think AK Party members are perceived as good enough Muslims as
compared to other Middle Eastern leaders in the region?
Indeed, they are. For example, to put it in the light of Turkey's
relations with Israel: The AK Party government wants to have a role in
the region. You only can mediate between the conflicting parties when
you have the trust of all parties. Erdoğan and his government succeeded
in keeping the trust of Israel, at the same time they won back the trust
of the Arabs. They won back the trust of the Arabs because the Arabs
perceived this government as one of Muslim democrats.
Do you think Turkey can manage to be a mediator in the region?
The world has become so interactive that it became credible to act on
both sides: to be part of the European family and to have a say in what
is going on in the Middle East. Turkey brings creative ideas into a
region which is missing these or unable to produce them itself. Erdoğan
managed to bring together in İstanbul the foreign ministers of Pakistan
and Israel. Turkey needs to continue on this path. Egypt is not willing
to do any kind of mediation for Israel, Jordan is too small. Within the
Muslim world, only Turkey can fulfill this mission. It took the Arabs
painfully long to realize that the state of Israel has a right to exist,
and that peaceful coexistence is the way, not violence. Of course, there
had been some cold years with Israel in the first years of AK Party
government. One reason was that Sharon refused to accept Erdoğan's offer
to mediate. Later Sharon realized that Israel could only win if Erdoğan
managed to build bridges to the Muslim world. In the early years of the
Erdoğan government, Erdoğan criticized Israel as a terrorist state. He
was not the only one to do so. Ecevit had said the same, many in Europe,
too. You can't therefore say this criticism might be a legacy of an
"Islamic" party. Of course, as a Muslim, Erdoğan most probably has more
sympathy for the Palestinians than for the Israeli government. But he is
wise enough to be an honest mediator. If you are a friend you can
criticize, and you can have a positive role. That is the case.
19.02.2007
YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN İSTANBUL
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