Today’s Zaman, Turkey
19 October 2008, Sunday

Turkey needs a Präsenz Schweiz

A recent Turkish media delegation visit to Switzerland organized by
the country’s official public diplomacy agency has revealed Turkey’s
urgent need for a similar agency. Präsenz Schweiz (Presence
Switzerland) invited a group of Turkish journalists for a three-day
visit to Zurich, Bern and Lausanne in order to introduce the Turkish
media to the Swiss democratic system and economy ahead of the first
ever Swiss presidential visit to Turkey.

Swiss President Pascal Couchepin will come to Turkey on the occasion
of the third meeting of the Turkish-Swiss Economic Forum.

The Swiss president met the Turkish media delegation during the
Präsenz Schweiz working trip and assured Turkish readers, through the
journalists, that Switzerland wants to look to the future — not to
the past — by means of Turkish-Swiss relations. Couchepin’s
future-oriented remarks came as a response to the Turkish journalists’
questions about the bad reputation of his country in Turkey, a
reputation nurtured by the fact that Switzerland refuses to name the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) a terrorist organization and rejects
extradition requests of Turkey for renowned terrorists residing in
this country. The Swiss president reminded the Turkish delegation that
his country does not label any organization, save the ones declared to
be so by the UN Security Council, as terrorists. "And that includes
only the Nazis and al-Qaeda," he said. Asked about how the Israelis
respond to the fact that Switzerland does not designate organizations
such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terrorists, he explained, "Israel
is not always happy with us, and we are not always happy with Israel,"
adding, "But this does not prevent us from loving that country."

A second issue that was voiced in the meeting between the Turkish
delegation and the Swiss president was the infamous anti-racism law in
Switzerland that penalizes denial of the alleged genocide against the
Armenians of Anatolia at the beginning of the 20th century. A citizen
of Turkey has already been convicted of this so-called crime and
another case is still pending. The Swiss president claimed that the
genocide law was a judicial issue and not a political one. Couchepin
said the law was originally passed in reference to the genocide
against the Jews during World War II. "But the judiciary has the
authority to interpret the laws, and judges decided that this law
should apply to the events of 1915, also," he explained. The Swiss
president noted that his country’s official position on the genocide
claim is that history belongs to the historians. "The historians have
to find a common interpretation for these tragic events," Couchepin
said.

Despite the tense question-and-answer session, the Swiss president’s
visit with the Turkish media delegation was able to impress the
Turks. The president was apparently well informed about how to appeal
to the hearts of the Turks, and he accordingly told the Turkish
delegation about his prior visits to various Turkish cities and how
impressed he was by Turkey’s natural environment and
history. Commenting on Switzerland’s position on the Ilısu Dam — a
controversial dam project that will leave one of the oldest human
settlements in the world submerged under water and will, if certain
obstacles are overcome by Turkey, be financed by Germany, Austria and
Switzerland — he said Turkey is a country that does not lack history
and archeology even in one inch of its lands, and thus it has to make
a decision about its priorities. The president thereby both explained
his country’s willingness to support the project and win the hearts of
the Turkish delegation.

The trip featured several other important meetings that aimed to
introduce the Turkish journalists to the seemingly complex and
difficult-to-grasp political system of Switzerland. The journalists
met with former Swiss Parliament Speaker Christine Egerszegi, who gave
a brief lecture on the working procedures of lawmaking in her
country. Ms. Egerszegi commented on a recent public initiative to pass
a law banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland. "If you are
able to collect 110,000 signatures to call for a referendum, you can
suggest any law you want. If you want that all the doors in
Switzerland should be painted blue and if you have enough signatories,
you can do that. That will be put to a referendum," she explained. The
Federal Council and the parliament are not altogether silent in the
face of public-initiated lawmaking processes, but their reports can
only play an advisory role to help the public decide how to vote. The
Federal Council decided that the public initiative was valid because
building minarets is not related to the freedom of conscience, but the
council warned that banning minarets could be a nullification of the
freedom of expression of a faith.

As the visit of the Swiss president coincided with the 80th
anniversary of the opening of the Swiss Embassy in Ankara, the Turkish
delegation also received a lecture by Ambassador Christian Meuwly
about the past 80 years of diplomatic relations between Switzerland
and Turkey. Ambassador Meuwly is head of the Europe and Central Asia
Division of the Political Directorate of the Swiss Foreign Ministry,
and his division covers Turkey. During his presentation Ambassador
Meuwly reminded the Turkish journalists of a statement by Swiss
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey: "The relations between
Switzerland and Turkey are good and solid and based on a long and rich
tradition." Ambassador Meuwly also read the first article of the
first-ever treaty of friendship between Switzerland and Turkey, signed
in Geneva in September 1925: "There shall be established inviolable
peace and sincere and perpetual friendship between the Swiss
Confederation and the Turkish Republic, as also between the nationals
of the two states." The Turkish-Swiss friendship treaty was second
only to the Turkish-Polish friendship treaty that was signed in
Lausanne during the Lausanne Treaty negotiations in 1924. Asked about
the extradition of PKK terrorists to Turkey, Ambassador Meuwly said
that the extradition process is working fully and that several PKK
terrorists arrested in Switzerland had been extradited to
Turkey. Meuwly didn’t give any numbers or particular names, but
assured the Turkish journalists that the two countries’ ministries of
justice are cooperating fully on the issue and that the Turkish side
is satisfied with the results.

Präsenz Schweiz had cleverly booked the Château d’Ouchy for the
Turkish media delegation to stay in Lausanne. Château d’Ouchy is the
place where the negotiations for the Lausanne Treaty took
place. During their stay in Lausanne the Turkish delegation received
lectures on the new Constitution of the Swiss Confederation and the
country’s supreme court. Professor Luzius Mader told the Turkish
journalists about the process through which the new constitution had
been prepared. The process took some 30 years and the public was fully
enabled to contribute. Mader was himself an influential figure in the
preparation of the final draft of the constitution. He explained how
the committees working on the new constitution adapted certain
principles along the way about the use of an understandable
language. The fact that terms "secular" and "secularism" never appear
in the constitution attracted the attention of the Turkish
delegation. Asked whether the Swiss Constitution has any "untouchable
articles" Professor Mader replied in the negative and added, "You have
to trust the people."

Another principle adapted by the constitution-preparation committees
was that of "adequate normative density." This meant giving the
appropriate amount of place and emphasis to issues in the
constitution. According to the information provided by Mader, the
former Swiss Constitution had five pages of articles on alcoholic
beverages, their preparation, marketing and even consumption. "The new
constitution has only two articles about alcohol, and they say that
the confederation is responsible for making the legal regulations
about alcohol production and that while doing so the confederation
shall in particular take into account the harmful effects of alcohol
consumption," Mader said.

During their stay in Switzerland, the Turkish media delegation visited
Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Turkish Ambassador to Switzerland Alev
Kılıç, the headquarters of Nestlé and the Paul Scherrer Institute
(PSI), where Swiss researchers are applying the state-of-art
technology of proton therapy for treatment of cancer tissues.

The overall message of the trip organized by Präsenz Schweiz was
summarized in the very personality of the guide for the trip,
Dr. Sibylle Ambühl. Dr. Ambühl is the wife of the state secretary of
the Swiss Confederation and guides foreign delegations to
Switzerland. With her humble manners and punctual programming, Ambühl
managed to give the Turkish delegation the sense of "European-ness"
and the vision of establishing a similar agency for Turkey.

Präsenz Schweiz is the organization that coordinates the Swiss
presence all over the world. It links Swiss organizations from the
fields of business, politics, culture, tourism, sports and youth in a
single network in order to promote the image of Switzerland
worldwide. The organization was first established to break the
negative image created in the 1990s when historical documents proved
that Switzerland had been unable to maintain its neutrality during
World War II and had a certain amount of responsibility in the
atrocities perpetuated against the Jews during the war. A diplomat
from Präsenz Schweiz told Sunday’s Zaman that his organization
supplies the missions of the Swiss Confederation all over the world
with know-how and financing for cultural activities that will promote
Switzerland’s image.

Präsenz Schweiz publishes booklets about Switzerland in several
languages, including Turkish, and runs a Web site at swissworld.org, a
gateway to Switzerland. There is no turkishworld.org or .com yet.

19 October 2008, Sunday
KERÄ°M BALCI ANKARA