CAN TURKEY HELP BRIDGE EAST AND WEST?
Middle East Online
March 19 2009
Turkey’s proximity to Europe in the West and Russia, Iran, Iraq,
and Syria in the East, makes it an important bridge for peace and
understanding, notes Dallas Darling.
In the early 20th Century when Mustafa Kemal-who was given the grand
title Ghazi or Fighter of the Islamic Faith, led an uprising and
Turkish national army against the Western Powers and Russia’s attempt
to dismember the Anatolia Peninsula, he probably never envisioned that
someday Turkey would help bridge East and West. Nor did he realize
that in creating the nation of Turkey, he was subverting an empire. (1)
Therefore, it was no surprise when Turkey’s Prime Minister (PM)
Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Islamist Justice and Development Party
played a pivotal role with negotiations between Israel and Syria over
Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights. Neither was the disclosure
of Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s statement that Turkey would
like to bridge the differences between the United States and Iran
a major revelation. (Note: Syrian’s president just announced that
Israel will return the Golan Heights.)
When Turkey’s PM Erdogan recently walked off the stage at the World
Economic Forum in Switzerland, he did so to protest and admonish those
who applauded Israel’s justification of its invasion of Gaza which
killed 1,300 civilians. He said he was very saddened so many people had
been killed and thought it was wrong and "not very humanitarian." In a
follow-up interview, PM Erdogan condemned the brutal Israeli invasion
and Israel’s punitive economic blockade against Gaza.
While challenging Israel to listen more intently to surrounding
Arab nations, he is also working to bring Palestinian’s Hamas’
conditions for a permanent ceasefire to the United Nations. Can Turkey
intervene and help free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and hundreds of
Palestinians wrongly imprisoned-who have no name? A plan for Turkish
peace keeping forces in and along Gaza and the Israeli border is
also being considered. Mr. Erdogan too has called on the US and the
world to initiate a new round of Middle East peace talks on behalf
of Palestinian Statehood.
When President Barack Obama telephoned Turkish President Abdullah Gul
and PM Erdogan, both agreed to strengthen US support for Turkish-Iraqi
relations and address the Kurdish Question. At the same time, they
encouraged the newly elected president to review America’s military
policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Western Powers, especially
the US, can learn from the Turkish-Ottoman Empire and how armies
and massive rearmament programs unfortunately create empires by
subverting nations.
While visiting the US, Turkish PM Erdogan cautioned that "All
countries are passengers on the same ship" and "if we sink, we will
all go down together." PM Erdogan then challenged US and European
leaders to turn their attentions to other "ticking time bombs" like
the unsettled border disputes between Turkey’s neighbors Russia and
Georgia and Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the hypocrisy of America’s
nuclear policies in relation to Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
Turkey’s PM Erdogan warned that "Nuclear weapons are being harbored
in many countries" and "Taking a stand against one country and
forcing them to disarm is not an honest approach." He challenged
all nations, including the US, to eradicate nuclear weapons once
and for all. Back at home, PM Erdogan has called for lifting a ban
on Muslim women wearing head scarves in universities. He also plans
a future meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to discuss
the Armenian Diaspora.
It appears the "sick man of Europe" (as Britain and Czar Nicholaus
I referred to the declining Turkish-Ottoman Empire) is today the
"strong man of Eurasia" and is becoming a vital bridge between East
and West. Due to disastrous wars in the Middle East and a tarnished
human rights record, the US has currently forfeited its bridge in
the 21st Century. Russia, Turkey’s powerful neighbor to the north,
also too experienced trouble.
This power vacuum has left Turkey as being a vital link between East
and West. NATO’s predominantly secularist and Christian forces could
improve its peace keeping operations by using more Turkish Muslim
soldiers. Since the European Union (EU) has accepted Turkey as a
potential candidate and if admitted, Islamic economic values could
help improve wasteful and fledgling Western capitalist societies.
Turkey’s proximity to Europe in the West and Russia, Iran, Iraq,
and Syria in the East, makes it an important bridge for peace and
understanding. As Turkey revaluates the impact of secular institutions
on religion, extreme individualism on the ummah, globalization on
economic stability, and modernization on Islam, it would be well to
remember the words of Ataturk Mustafa Kemal: "Surviving in the world
of modern civilization depends upon changing ourselves." (2)
This also goes for citizens in other countries around the world
and what type of bridges they are encouraging their governments and
leaders to build.
Dallas Darling is the author of The Other Side Of Christianity:
Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace, and
is a writer for You can read more of his articles
at
Notes:
(1) Archer, Christon I., John R. Feris, Holger H. Herwig, and Timothy
H.E. Travers. World History Of Warfare. Lincoln, Nebraska: University
of Nebraska Press, 2002. p. 475.
(2) Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor and Anthony Esler. World History
Connections To Today. Needham, Massachusetts: Prentice Hall,
1999. p. 745.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
