TURKEY’S CHARM OFFENSIVE

Middle East Online
2009-10-12 10:06:05

If Sarkozy remains deaf to President Gul’s message, it is certainly
being heard in the Arab world, where Turkish influence is very much
on the rise, together with a certain nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire,
says Patrick Seale.

In a three-day visit to Paris this past week, Turkey’s charismatic
President Abdallah Gul managed to win over countless French people,
including many leading intellectuals — but not President Nicolas
Sarkozy, who remains adamantly opposed to Turkey’s entry into the
European Union.

Last Friday’s Gul-Sarkozy meeting has been described as courteous but
frosty. On leaving the Elysée Palace, Gul made no statement. Turkey
recognises Sarkozy as a major obstacle to its European ambitions.

To coincide with Gul’s visit, some 400 events have been staged
throughout France celebrating Turkey’s history, culture and
contemporary achievements, including a sumptuous exhibition of Ottoman
treasures at the Grand Palais, a vast glass structure just off the
Champs-Elysées, in the heart of Paris.

No visitor to this exhibition can fail to be impressed by the power
and sophistication of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over parts of
south-eastern Europe and the Arab world for over 400 years until its
defeat and dismemberment in the First World War. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
— the creator of the Republic of Turkey — carved the modern state
out of the ruins of the Empire.

In France, President Gul’s intention was evidently to overcome the
suspicion of Islam – and of Turkey seen as an Islamic power — shared
by many ordinary people. Large-scale immigration from North Africa,
scare-mongering about ‘Islamic terror’, and the import into France of
Middle East conflicts have all played their part in shaping negative
French attitudes.

To counter such prejudices, Gul’s message was simple and direct:
Turkey is a major country, with a global reach. Although Turkey’s
population is nd secular, built on the rule of law. It is a force for
security, stability and peace in the Middle East, the Balkans, the
Caucasus and Central Asia. It is actively seeking to adopt European
norms, and extend them to the region around it. Ataturk’s slogan of
‘Peace at home and peace abroad,’ remains the guiding principle of
Turkey’s foreign policy.

If Sarkozy remains deaf to this message, it is certainly being heard
in the Arab world, where Turkish influence is very much on the rise,
together with a certain nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire which,
with hindsight, is being compared favourably to the colonial rule of
Britain and France between the world wars.

The Arabs have been discovering that, economically and strategically,
Turkey is the region’s "big brother." Its armed forces are the
largest in the region, while its GDP, at over $1,000bn in 2008,
outstrips that of Iran ($840bn) and Saudi Arabia ($600bn) — without
the benefit of oil revenues — as well as that of Egypt ($450bn) and
Israel ($205bn). As the 17th largest economy in the world, Turkey is
a member of the G20, and played host earlier this month to the annual
meeting of the IMF and World Bank.

In addition, Turkey has emerged as a potential peace-broker of Middle
East conflicts, at a time when the European Union seems ineffective,
because of divisions between its members, and when even the United
States under President Barack Obama seems to be faltering.

In 2008, Turkey sponsored indirect talks between Israel and Syria
— a role it is prepared to resume when the parties indicate their
readiness. By all accounts, last year’s indirect talks made good
progress, and were about to advance to direct exchanges, until Israel’s
cruel war in Gaza caused Syria to withdraw. Like opinion in much of
the Arab world, Turkish opinion was greatly offended by Israel’s
senseless brutality against a captive and virtually defenceless
Palestinian population.

Meanwhile, the Syrian-Turkish relationship has flourished, with
frequent exchanges of high-le o integrate the two economies while
a visa agreement has facilitated movement of persons across their
common border.

Turkey has been at pains to spread peace and goodwill across the
region. It has been careful not to take sides in the Sunni-Shia
divide; it has established good relations with the Maliki government in
Baghdad, while pressing for the integration of the Sunni community in
a united Iraq; it has tried to mediate between Palestinian factions;
it has helped to bring about the recent Saudi-Syrian reconciliation;
it is seeking to devise a peaceful approach to the Kurds in Turkey;
and in Switzerland on 10 October, Turkey and Armenia signed a detailed
protocol, laying the groundwork for normal relations between these
ancient antagonists.

More acutely perhaps than most European countries, Turkey is aware
that the Arab-Israeli conflict, if left unresolved, could explode into
violence at any moment, with grave consequences for everyone. It is
lending its strong support to President Obama’s peace efforts.

In brief, President Gul’s message is that Europe needs Turkey to
help contain, and hopefully resolve, the many conflicts afflicting
a turbulent Middle East.

Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on the Middle East, and the
author of The Struggle for Syria; also, Asad of Syria: The Struggle
for the Middle East; and Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire.

Copyright © 2009 Patrick Seale – distributed by Agence Global