QUEST FOR REGIONAL POWER TAKES TURKEY EAST
Sibel Utku Bila

Agence France Presse
Dec 20 2009

Unprecedented activism in the Middle East has raised Turkey’s regional
profile and boosted trade links, but some in the West are concerned
that a long-time Muslim ally may be drifting away.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan heads to Syria Tuesday for the
second time in six months, several days after his foreign minister
visited Damascus and the president hosted Egypt’s leader following
a trip to Jordan.

Such a flurry of visits has become commonplace recently as Erdogan’s
Islamist-rooted government pushes ahead with a quest for "soft power"
in a region its Ottoman forebears ruled for centuries.

It has mended fences notably with Syria and Iran after decades
of enmity.

The drive towards the East gathered steam amid growing frustration
with European opposition to Turkey’s EU bid.

But some observers in the West — and inside Turkey itself — were
dismayed to see the leaders of a NATO country in warm embraces with
the heads of Iran or Sudan.

Ankara says it remains committed to EU membership, arguing that
increased regional influence will raise Turkey’s strategic value in
European eyes.

It rejects charges that the new vision focuses on Islamic nations,
pointing to its historic bridge-building deal with Armenia and efforts
at better ties with Greece and Serbia.

"Turkey is expanding its foreign policy, not shifting it," Sedat
Laciner from Ankara’s USAK think-tank wrote in a recent article.

"Maybe Turkey should improve its ties with ‘better countries’… but
the problem is that Turkey’s neighbours are Syria and Iran, not
Germany and France," he said.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the architect of the "zero problem
with neighbours" policy, detests the "Neo-Ottoman" label some use to
describe Turkey’s comeback in the Middle East.

Turkey, he argues, aims not at dominance but at building mutual trust
and boosting economic ties to stabilise a conflict-plagued region.

"This is the EU spirit. Turkey is following the EU not the Ottoman
experience," Laciner said.

Trade figures show the drive has already opened up new venues
for Turkish enterpreneurs: the share of exports to Muslim nations
increased from 24 percent of the total in 2006 to more than 28 percent
in 2008. Sales to Egypt, for instance, doubled.

Ankara has signed a series of trade pacts and visa-free travel deals
with regional countries and revamped rail links to eastern neighbours.

It has mediated in Syria’s disputes with Iraq and Saudi Arabia,
sought to help the West in nuclear tensions with Iran and organised
four rounds of indirect talks between Syria and Israel.

Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year
not only shattered the talks, but marked a sharp downturn in relations
with Ankara, a long-time ally.

Turkey excluded Israel from joint military drills in October, dealing
a fresh blow to ties already bruised by its hosting of Hamas leaders
in 2006.

Erdogan stirred more controversy when he played down concerns Iran may
be developing an atomic bomb and fingered Israel, widely considered
the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear power.

And in November, he defended Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir,
indicted for war crimes in Darfur, saying "no Muslim could perpetrate
a genocide."

Erdogan’s rhetoric fed criticism that religious allegiances guide
the policies of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), the moderate
offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement.

"The drift away from the West is the most important paradigm change
in Turkish foreign policy since the Cold War," Soner Cagaptay from
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in a recent article.

"Were the AKP’s foreign policy simply to reflect empathy for Muslims,
that would be quite normal. But instead, the move seems to be toward
alignment with regimes holding expressly Islamist and anti-Western
worldviews," he said.

Others agree Erdogan’s outbursts were damaging, blaming the premier
for catering to Islamic grassroots, but insist Ankara’s expanding
vision is on the right track.

"The policy is essentially successful… Unfortunately Erdogan has
provided ground for those who are irked by Turkey’s growing regional
influence to criticise the AKP," international relations expert Mensur
Akgun said.