ON THE ROAD TO BETTER LEBANESE-TURKISH RELATIONS
By Mohammad Noureddine

Global Arab Network
01002244933/Lebanon-Politics/on-the-road-to-better -lebanese-turkish-relations.html
Feb 24 2010

For the first time, Hariri and a Lebanese delegation of eight ministers
met with Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish
President Abdullah Gul, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan
and many other Turkish business leaders and investors. More important
than this unprecedented meeting were the meeting’s outcomes, which
included eliminating entry visas between the two countries for the
first time since the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after the First
World War when Lebanon came under French control.

For decades, many Lebanese – both Christian and Muslim – harboured
negativity toward the Turkish state. The Christian Lebanese community
felt that during the Ottoman Empire the Turks treated Christians
as second-class citizens. Christian religious leaders, part of the
then Christian majority in Lebanon, were instrumental in attempts
to achieve Lebanese independence from the Turkish Sultanate. Add to
this the influx of tens of thousands of Ottoman citizens of Christian
Armenian origin to Lebanon during the First World War, especially
after the mass killings in 1915 when they were perceived as a threat
to the Ottoman state.

Muslim sentiment in Lebanon is no less important. The end to the
Ottoman caliphate and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey
in 1923 generated anger among Muslims in Lebanon and the region
who wanted Turkey to remain a leader of the Muslim world. Hence,
secular trends within the Turkish government, instituted by Turkish
President Kemal Ataturk, negatively influenced the outlook of many
Muslim Lebanese toward Turkey.

A third factor limiting positive Lebanese relations with Turkey was
the latter’s recognition of Israel in 1950, a country not recognised
by Lebanon.

Aside from a brief period in the 1950s when Lebanon and Turkey shared
similar interests against Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s
pan-Arab movement and a common political affiliation with the United
States, there has been very little positive interaction between the
two countries at the government level.

In this context, the Hariri trip could not have taken place at the
level at which it did, and with the resultant outcomes, without certain
factors in place. First, the new government in Turkey – the Justice
and Development Party – has prioritised building better relations
with countries in the Middle East. Second, amiable developments
between Turkey and Syria have played an important role in Turkey’s
relationship with Lebanon with Syria has using its influence with
the pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon to encourage the country to soften
its position toward Turkey.

Regardless of how Turkey practices its secularism, its implementation
represents a model in a society formerly divided between the majority
Sunnis – numbering 45 million – and the country’s 20 million Alawites,
who comprise a sect within Shia Islam.

Lebanon still grapples with public calls to modify its confessional
political system, where political and institutional power is
distributed proportionally among religious communities. And secularism
represents one possible solution for societies comprised of diverse
cultures and faiths. As such, multi-religious, multi-cultural Lebanon
may have something to learn from the secular Turkish experience,
and closer ties with Turkey could prove beneficial in this regard.

However, the Turkish example is not perfect. Turkey still grapples
with the existence of laws that when practically interpreted have
been considered discriminatory against its religious minority –
limiting the personal and religious freedoms of the Alawites. And
there is still an ongoing debate on the right to wear the hijab,
or headscarf, in public buildings and institutions like universities.

Therefore, the Turkish experience may represent a model for Lebanon
in principle, if not always in practice. And in this sense, perhaps
Lebanon – with the religious and political freedoms it affords its
citizens – could also serve as an example to Turkey, introducing
mutual benefits for both countries through a closer relationship
based on political, as well as social and cultural interests.

Global Arab Network

* Dr. Mohammad Noureddine is a professor at the Lebanese University,
Director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Beirut, and
Editor-in-Chief of Choo’un al Awssat magazine in Lebanon. This article
was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).