Turkey embraces role as Arab 'big brother'
By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - After the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in
Ankara, many in the West referred to a new Turkish foreign policy called
"neo-Ottomanism", suggesting a revival of the intellectual, political and
social influence of the Ottoman Empire, which departed the scene 92 years ago.
That policy was attributed to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his
advisor, now foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Quickly, however, the term
"Ottomanism" began to fade, given that it was difficult to market in countries
formerly controlled by
the Ottoman Empire due to continued indoctrination against Ottomanism by the
Arabs over nine decades.
Some, however, continued to stand by the term, including Cuneyt Zapsu, an
advisor to the Turkish prime minister, who said: "A new, positive role for
Turkey in the world requires a reconciliation with its own past, the overcoming
of societal taboos, and a positive new concept of Turkish identity. We are the
Ottomans' successors and should not be ashamed of this."
Decision-makers in Turkey had once tried to hide their Ottoman past, ashamed of
it during the heyday of Kemal Ataturk because it looked backward and was too
Islamic for the secular state that was being carefully erected in Turkey. That
is now a thing of the past thanks to the steady policy of the AKP, which has
been opening up to countries such as Syria and, more recently, Lebanon.
Many wrongly interpreted Erdogan's policy towards the Arab world, now entering
its seventh year, as purely a Syrian-Turkish alliance. By nature of his new
orientation, Erdogan is striving to restore Turkey to its rightful place
amongst Arab and Muslim nations, and that by no means stops at the gates of
Damascus. It is a policy that embraces Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon
and Iraq.
During the past few years, Turkey has sponsored indirect talks between Syria
and Israel, tried to hammer out solutions between Fatah and Hamas in Palestine,
and worked on mending broken fences between Damascus and Baghdad after
relations soured last August.
Turkey has permanently stood as a mediator between Iran and the Arab world and
has worked hard to help embrace non-state players like Hezbollah in Lebanon and
Hamas, whose leadership it received in Ankara in 2004, despite public outcry
from the United States.
Additionally, it has tried to flex its muscle within the complex world of Iraqi
politics, calling on Sunni leaders to take part in the political process that
was started after the 2003 downfall of Saddam Hussein. Big brother Turkey,
after all, had mediated in similar waters at the turn of the 20th century and
apparently still knows the region, its people and their plight only too well,
and still feels best suited to solve existing conflict within it.
This week, Erdogan received Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in a
groundbreaking visit to Turkey, adding yet another link to the long chain of
alliances that Erdogan is carefully creating for the Turkish republic.
Among other things, the two countries agreed to increase technical and
scientific cooperation in military affairs and lift visa requirements between
Lebanon and Turkey. At first glance, this will boost tourism and
people-to-people contact between Beirut and Ankara.
According to official numbers, 50,794 Lebanese tourists went to Turkey in 2008
- an increase of 18,000 from 2007 and large when compared with the number, not
more than a few hundred, of Turkish tourists who streamed into Beirut.
It will certainly affect bilateral trade, which stood at US$225 million in 2002
and now stands at $900 million. It also means that Turkey has now lifted visa
requirements with six Arab countries, the others being Libya, Morocco, Tunis,
Jordan and Syria.
Erdogan best explained it by saying that a "regional Schengen" system, similar
to the agreement signed between European countries in Luxemburg in 1985, has
now gone into effect in the region, removing systematic border control between
these countries - making them closer to how they had been under the Ottoman
Empire. When Iraq normalizes, he added, it, too, could join the regional
"Schengen" system.
Clearly from all the optimism shown by Erdogan for the Hariri visit,
cooperation between Turkey and Lebanon will not end there. The Turkish premier,
after all, has visited Beirut twice, in 2007 and in 2008, and was the most
senior foreign guest attending the inauguration of Lebanese President Michel
Suleiman.
During the Israeli war of 2006, he firmly stood by the Lebanese, and in its
immediate aftermath, sent 600 Turkish troops to take part in peacekeeping on
the Lebanese-Israeli border by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Erdogan saw to it that $50 million worth of aid was given to reconstruct
southern Lebanon, along with building 41 schools, five parks and a
rehabilitation center worth $20 million.
Politically, Lebanon and Turkey are now colleagues in rotating positions at the
UN Security Council, and this is where real political cooperation will
materialize in the months to come. Turkey's heavyweight influence will come in
handy as Lebanon tries to waiver Security Council resolution 1559, which called
on the Syrians to withdraw from Lebanon and stipulates the disarmament of
non-state players, including Hezbollah.
In as much as the Hariri team once called for implementing 1559 in 2005-2009,
they would now prefer that it disappears, given that, far from being an
adversary, Hezbollah is now a Hariri ally, strongly represented in both
parliament and the Hariri cabinet.
The Lebanese government recently claimed that the resolution should be
canceled, saying that all of its clauses had been fulfilled, noting that
Hezbollah was a part of the Lebanese state and defense system and not merely a
non-state player or a militia, as many in the West claim it to be.
That argument, which saves both Hezbollah and Hariri the burden of having to
deal with 1559, was put forth last December by Hariri's new Foreign Minister
Ali al-Shami, an appointee of the Hezbollah-led team in the Hariri cabinet.
When speaking at a press conference with Erdogan, Hariri noted that not a
single day passed where the Israeli Defense Forces did not infringe on Lebanese
waters or airspace, claiming that this was a legal breach of UN resolution
1701, which was passed after the war of 2006.
Erdogan nodded, saying that Israel had breached "no less than 100" resolutions
in recent years, adding: "This requires serious reforms at the United Nations.
We do not support Israel's position and will not remain silent."
Having Turkey on Lebanon's side will be a great boost for Hezbollah, which is
preparing for a possible new round of confrontation with Israel in summer this
year. From Ankara, Hariri came to Hezbollah's defense, telling reporters,
"Terrorism is not when one defends one's land - the opposite is correct," thus
supporting Hezbollah's war against Israel until the Sheba Farms are liberated
from Israeli occupation.
This fits in nicely with the barrage of criticism that Erdogan has been firing
against Israel for the past year, started in January 2009 when, speaking at
Davos right after the Gaza war, he told Israeli President Shimon Peres:
"President Peres, you are old, and your voice is loud out of a guilty
conscience. When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know
well how you hit and kill children on beaches."
Erdogan, in the weeks to come, will help further normalize Syrian-Lebanese
relations, saying that he advised his "friend" President Bashar al-Assad to
reciprocate Hariri's visit by paying a visit of his own to Beirut. He will
further work with Syria and Lebanon to see to it that Hezbollah is sheltered
from another Israeli war, and try to pressure Israel to return to the
negotiating table to lift the siege on Gaza and restore the occupied Golan
Heights to Syria.
Best mirroring Erdogan's new policy is that, despite the new and firm
relationship with the Arabs, he has not wasted his country's historical
relationship with Israel. Although critical, his embassy remains open in Tel
Aviv, and he is preparing to receive Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in
Ankara in late January.
Only by being able to talk to all parties will the Turks achieve the security
and normalcy they aspire to in the Middle East. While Israel is not pleased
with Erdogan's new policy, claiming that he has clearly taken sides in the
Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arabs are thrilled that the Turkish giant has
emerged and, unlike the case since 1918, is now clearly on their side in the
battlefront.
He has reminded the Arabs that despite a very rough period in bilateral
relations during World War I, the Ottoman legacy in the Arab world was not all
bad, and not all autocratic. Why? Because by defending Syria, Lebanon and
Palestine, Erdogan feels that he is also defending Turkey, seeing all four
countries as one, given their geographic, historical, social, religious and
cultural proximity.
Many of the finest buildings in Damascus and Beirut, after all, were
constructed during the Ottoman era. So were many of the codes, laws of commerce
and aspects of civil administration, which lasted well into the 20th century.
The Ottoman influence on Arab language, heritage, music, heritage and cuisine,
cannot be ignored, despite years of trying to write off anything Ottoman as
being destructive to Arab culture.
Although the Ottomans struck with an iron fist at the Arabs working with Great
Britain against them during the Great War, they also - very symbolically -
refused to sell land in Ottoman Palestine to the Zionists during the reign of
Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II. It is that part of Ottoman history that Erdogan
wants the Arabs to remember, not the hangman's noose that was erected by the
Ottoman governor of Syria, Jamal Pasha, in the central squares in Beirut and
Damascus in 1915-1916.
When the republics were young in Lebanon, Turkey and Syria, Turkish and Arab
nationalism stood in the way of a clear appreciation of history, leading to
nothing but bad blood between Arabs and Turks. That era is now hopefully gone -
never to return - thanks to the efforts of Erdogan, referred to, very
symbolically, by Hariri as "Big Brother" during his Ankara visit.
Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine in Syria.
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