Today there truly are three geographical and three political Turkeys. The "European" Turkey has the greatest potential to integrate with Europe, together with the prospect of becoming a part of the EU. Had all of Turkey comprised Istanbul, Eastern Thrace and Izmir, with a population of 25-30 million, there would have been fewer problems in terms of its integration with Europe. Western Turkey however, is unique, when compared with its"burdensome" central and eastern parts.
The "political" Turkey too, is divided into three parts. The Islamists, who dominate modern-day Turkish society, have taken advantage of the opportunity endowed by democracy and they are gradually "conquering" the secular nationalists, who were in power until 2002. The latter are the second major power in the political domain. The followers of Kemal Ataturk still have an overwhelming influence on the army and the other "deep state" that exists within the state. Second, are the liberals and the Kurds who, though having different objectives, are nonetheless united against the clerical-nationalist political elite that rules the country. Those who think that the creation of an independent Kurdistan in southeast Turkey can resolve this country's main political and ethnic problems need to consider the fact that if this happens, Turkey's progressive society could lose an ally in the Kurds.
So, which of these Turkeys will the West support? What kind of a Turkey does the United States and the European Union want to encourage? That of Orhan Pamuk and Hrant Dink, Ibrahim Baylan and Yilmaz Kerimo, or that of Talat and Erdogan?
After the eight-year governance by the Islamists, it became clear that their mindset does not differ all that much from that of the nationalists. The only difference, however, is perhaps the fact that the modern-day Turkish republic returned to its nationalist foundation, and the clerical foundation, which existed since the Ottoman times, became even stronger. It is not a coincidence that Turkey's pro-Western circles are raising an alarm for the threat of neo-Nazism. Turkey is already expressing the desire to become the leader of the Islamic world and, to that end, it is not even hesitating to take steps that run counter to the interests of the democratic world. The Turkish diplomats continue to "urinate"--in the literal and figurative sense of the word--on the walls of Western embassies.
In reality, today's Turkey still remains a smaller version of its former powerful empire, and its working mechanisms are virtually similar to those of the former USSR. Turkey has to go the path of social democratization and rid itself of ideological rhetoric, which the USSR went through by way honoring and defending the rights of national, religious and other minorities. Therefore the former Western Sovietologists and those new Turkologues who have received political and academic schooling from these Sovietologists can more efficiently deal with Turkey's problems.
The fact that until 2009, when the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were signed, relations between the two countries and peoples were much better than today proves to Turkey's neighbors that the country is willing to face its history and change its way of thinking. Unfortunately, the country becoming more fundamental, both in terms of Islam and nationalism.
Hovsep Khurshudyan is an analyst at the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
Related Material from Atlantic Community:
- Memo 21: Seizing Opportunities from Turkey's Growing Influence
- Brian Katulis: The US Needs Turkey for its Middle East Agenda
- Alex Jackson: Turkey and Iran: The Risks of Failure
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May 23, 2010
Hans Reuther-Fix
" Five Year Business Plan" for a better Turkey, is like asking for a pair of jeans, size forty eight, as a fit for all.
One cannot suggest that the (now) West with its self-serving capacity in economic governance and political acumen should be promoted into consulting a country, which for centuries was the gateway between East and West------ The Osmanic Empire, also known
by its contemporaries as the the Turkish Empire or Turkey.
An Empire that lastet from 1299 to November 1, 1922 ( as an Imperial Monarchy) or July 24, 1923 ( de jure, as a state). It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923.
At the height of its power (16th -17th century) it spanned three continents, controlling much of Southern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Empire was at the center of interactions between East and West for six centuries, during which time many problems
with regard to the State, Economy, Religion, Culture, Terrorism were encountered,which we so desparately are trying to solve today.
The Ottoman ( Osmanic) Empire was in many respects a Islamic Successor to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.
After several tumultuous years during the life of the Republic, for Turkey trying to re-establish its identity as a country and nation, Nationalism and national pride is just recognizing its heritage and reconnecting to its roots.
In 1492, when Muslims and Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II sent his fleet under Kamel Reis to save them and granted the refugees the right to settle in the Ottoman Empire.
To then introduce " Noeo-Nazism" into the Trurkish equation can only be seen as
pay-back to Mr. Erdogan's expression of open disapproval towards the State of Israel for the treatment of the Palestinian People, during an interview in Davos, Switzerland
on the occasion of the " World Forum".
To add , when a political body ( legislative) of a foreign government, which is not signature
to the International Court of Justice, takes it upon itself to be the judge of Turkish history and try to pass on a binding judgement, Turkey should be reminded of Osman I, who was admired as a strong and dynamic ruler long after his death, and remember the century-oold Turkish phrase:.." May he be as good as Osman"...
Osman I, from one of the Gazi Emirates around Eskisehir in Western Anatolia, extended the frontiers of the Ottoman settlements to the edge of the Byzantine Empire. moved the capital to Bursa and shaped the entire ploitical development of the nation.
Osman I, the name from which Ottoman derived, layed the foundation for a functional
Empire, which objectively judged will remain the foundation of a great country and nation to be.
HRF