TURKEY SUFFERS FROM LOSS OF MEMORY WHILE CALLING FOR FAIR MEMORY
Hurriyet Daily News
Oct 19 2009
Turkey
We have to congratulate those who have come up with the concept of
"fair memory."
These two words were meant to be uttered by Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu at a speech he was going to deliver at the historic signing
of protocols that will pave the way for the normalization of relations
between Armenian and Turkey. He could not deliver his speech because
the contents of both his and that of his Armenian colleague created
a crisis that risked delaying the signing ceremony. The crisis was
overcome by canceling the speeches. But according to the text made
available to the press, Davutoglu was going to call for the two
nations to set aside their conflict of memories and reach a fair
memory in order to find true historic facts. In other words, he was
going to call for an exercise for an objective reality of the past,
not an exaggerated or distorted one.
Whether he was the one to come up with the concept of "fair memory" or
whether it was the Foreign Ministry’s bureaucracy is not known to me.
Yet, as the head of the Turkish diplomacy, the ownership of the
concept belongs to him and to his government. Which means that the
concept of fair memory should not only be valid for the Armenian
question but for all foreign policy issues.
Fair memory on history of relations with Syria
In this respect, if we should make recourse to our memory, we should
remember that Syria, with which we enjoy "excellent relations,"
used to be one of our main enemies. That was barely 10 years ago,
not a long time span to forget about the realities. We can remember
the realities if, of course, we have "fair memory"!
Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, used
to live in Syria. We can obviously remember that, only if we do not
suffer from amnesia! PKK militants used to find safe haven in Syria.
No one is suggesting that Turkey should remain stuck in the past and
refrain from improving its relations with an old foe. On the contrary,
positive engagement – even with foes – is one of the main pillars of
Turkish foreign policy. Yet as Syria had not changed its policy of
providing a safe haven to the PKK despite Turkey’s positive engagement
policy, it was only the threat of using military force that finally led
the regime in Damascus to send Ocalan away. It was the right decision,
and the reward was increased cooperation with a NATO ally at a time
Syria when suffered isolation from Western powers.
>From the days where Turkish soldiers went to the Syrian border in
preparation for an armed conflict to the days where half a dozen
Turkish ministers crossed the Syrian border with their colleagues to
sign an agreement to abolish the visa regulation is an endeavor not
to be underestimated.
Suffering from amnesia on Israel
Yet let’s not forget how Turkey came to this point and those who have
directly or indirectly contributed to this process.
Turkey was able to threaten Syria that it would use military force
only after it gained political and economic confidence and became
self-sustaining in military and intelligence issues. One of the key
tools in the fight against terrorism is intelligence sharing. One of
Turkey’s main allies in this respect used to be (it is questionable
if it still is) Israel. It is a known secret that after Ocalan left
Syria under pressure from Ankara, Turkey was able to track him down
also thanks to the cooperation of Israeli intelligence. How else can
you explain the attacks by the PKK against Israeli diplomatic missions
in Europe after Ocalan was captured and brought back to Turkey? We
can only remember this if, of course, we are not suffering from a
loss of memory!
Turkish-Israeli cooperation on military fields have also contributed
to Turkey’s increasing military strength. This is not to say that
Israel has done all this without getting anything in return. Yet
when I recalled the contributions of Israel as far as intelligence
sharing is concerned to a member of the ruling Justice and Development
Party, or AKP, he told me that the PKK terrorism will soon end and
as Turkish intelligence is getting better and better Turkey will not
need Israel’s contribution anyway. I hope the shortsighted view of
this person who is dealing actually with foreign diplomacy is not
endorsed by the government.
No one can condone Israel’s policies. But perhaps it is the traditional
policy of positive engagement rather than contention that will convince
the Israeli government of changing its policies, which have reached
a point of committing crimes against humanity.