THE TURKISH PROBLEM
By George Gregoriou
Greek News, New York
Dec 11 2006
Turkey is not the problem. Turkish leaders and most Turks say
so. If there is a problem, it is the EU and the neighbors. This
was made clear in the streets of Istanbul, when the Pope visited
this historic city. The voices: "The European Union is a Christian
Club…The Europeans do not want a Muslim Turkey in the EU….The
Turkish people are so misunderstood on Cyprus…We are what we are,
a Muslim country, and the EU has to accept Turkey as is. We are not
going to change." It is that simple. The fault lies with the EU and
the neighbors. But, the Turks are the neighbors!
The EU is part of the problem. So is the USA, which is forcing Turkey
onto the EU, for its own geopolitical needs to control the future of
the EU and the Eurasian Corridor where the oil reserves are located.
It is unimaginable to think of Turkey outside the imperialist
loop, Islamic, anti-EU and anti-American. Big trouble for corporate
capitalism. Like it or not, there is a Turkish problem, a EU problem,
and an American problem. There is a big problem in the neighborhood,
where the policies of the US and Turkey converge, thereby creating
serious obstacles to Turkey¹s trajectory into the EU.
Turkey is a big power, a staunch ally of the biggest superpower. To
Washington, Turkey can do no wrong. If it did (not cooperating with
the US invasion of Iraq), Ankara is forgiven the day after, with
Ankara getting its economic and military aid without a hitch. It
is understood that US militarism will be aided and abetted by
Ankara no matter what. Washington will do what it has to do, as an
imperial power. And Turkey will do what it has to do. There is honor
between the two bullies (one global, one regional). They have mutual
interests. London is only a step behind Washington, with Bush telling
Blair which foot to put forward. Blair also wants Turkey in the EU.
This symbiotic relationship between the US and Turkey is not
difficult to understand. The flow of guns and dollars towards Turkey,
in billions, tells the story. Turkey is strategically located in
the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East. What a
location! Turkey outside the imperialist loop, I stated earlier,
would be as if the continental plates between Europe and Asia were
separated, in geopolitical terms. This separation seems inevitable,
thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the anti-Americanism
in the Muslim world. For now, Ankara wants to play this geopolitical
game, harvest its benefits, even be inside the EU Christian Club,
at its own terms. An Ankara-EU-US confrontation is in the making.
Do the European masses want 70 million Turks in their midst? Not now.
Maybe never. The charge by Turks that this "Christian Club" will
not change, and Turkey, a Muslim nation, will not change either, is
the root of the problem. So, the much-lauded claims of a civilized
Europe and a secular, modern democratic Turkey are both a sham. The
Kemalist legacy seems to be limited to Istanbul, where obscene
wealth, poverty, decadence, and prostitution coexist. Not in the
"other" Turkey, from Ankara to Eastern Anatolia, where poverty and
underdevelopment dominate. If this is the Turkish reality why would
the EU ³Christian Club² stop being a Christian Club and to admit 70
million Muslims? Who is knocking at the door? Neither the Turks nor
the EU Christian Club will change in the near future. Turkey in the
EU will turn out to be a bad relationship, with a bad break-up?
The Christian/Muslim dilemma is only part of the problem. Turks should
look in the mirror. The entire world knows. It has been documented
by eyewitness reports, government officials, and historical research
for over 100 years, that the Ottoman Empire, in the years marking the
end of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Turkish Republic,
committed genocide. About 3.5 million Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians
(those ethnics who could not be Turkified) were killed. Turkish
intellectuals and historians acknowledge this genocide. They are
being persecuted (Article 301) for "insulting" Turkishness. The
Germans acknowledged their crime.
Not the Turks. In a "secular, modern, and democratic" society, those
who defend lies are subject to prosecution (as the French law did on
Jews and is doing on the Armenians), not those who tell the truth. In
Turkey, state declared "truths" are defended by "state declared laws,"
while those critical of state "untruths" are prosecuted.
Now, truth can be controversial. It can be settled, not with "I said,
you said!" Would I trust an Islamic (or any) fundamentalist to tell
the truth? Or a person who spends years researching the archives,
documents, and eye-witness reports to prove or disprove historical
claims? In the USA, 50% of the people believe that the universe is
6,000 years old. 70% believe in angels. Muslim martyrs will have 72
virgins. How can a dead person handle 72 virgins when a live person
cannot even handle one. Not when the dead welcome the dead! One can
hardly rely on a mullah or a priest to tell the truth about historical
reality. When "clerics" behave as "politicians" and "politicians" as
"clerics," it is worse. When an entire nation subscribes to "official
lies" it is a crime.
Where is it stated that nation which lies deserves to be in the
European Union? The Europeans are not devoid of hypocrisy and lying.
But Ankara is not telling the Europeans: "Hey, we are "lying" about our
history. You are also "lying" about your history. We are all guilty of
"genocide" and "barbarism". We Turks admit it. Get over it." I am not
"unsympathetic" to this "dishonesty" being up front!
Cyprus is also a problem. It can derail the Turkish trajectory into
the EU. Why? Cyprus can veto Turkeyʼs accession into the EU.
Technically, all of Cyprus is in the EU, though the EU law does not
apply to the occupied 37% of Cyprus under occupation by Turkey since
1974, until the problem is solved. The possibility of a settlement
on Turkish terms is next to zero, the root being that the Turkish
Cypriot minority of 18%, supported by Turkey, Britain, and the US,
insist on sharing political power with the 82% majority on the basis
of equality (50-50). To change the demographics, 140,000 Muslims from
Turkey were settled in Cyprus. And Washington and London are doing all
they can to "legitimize" the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus
with investments, tourism, and real estate development-all illegal
according to the UN resolutions and international legalities.
In essence, the Turkish minority wants to continue the British colonial
practice of "divide and rule," which is rooted in the Ottoman legacy
where the Muslim minority ruled and the rest of the people were
subjects whose only choice was to pay taxes, convert to Islam to
avoid paying taxes, or death. All the proposals put on the table are
"apartheid" solutions, not in line with EU legalities.
So, when we read in the NYTimes during the Popeʼ s visit that
"The Turks are so misunderstood on Cyprus," this is true. The official
position of Ankara on Cyprus, the political solutions offered, its
refusal to recognize Cyprus as member state of the EU and to open its
ports to all EU members, including Cyprus, is so incomprehensible to
anyone with common sense. The often-stated claim that the small island
of Cyprus (less than a million Greeks and Turkish Cypriots combined),
inside the EU, is a threat to the most militarized country of 70
millions, 40 miles away, that Cyprus is a "life and death" issue for
Ankara, and its posturing that "it is either a Turkish solution or no
solution"–these can be easily misunderstood. They make little sense,
except to an "Ottomanistic" mindset.
Turkish membership in the EU? Turkey is the problem, and the
solution. One way is for Turkey, the successor to the Ottoman
Empire, to declare: "we do not want to be in the EU." Tell London
and Washington to stop twisting arms to get Turkey in the EU. Ankara
can veer towards Islamicism and still get its guns and dollars from
Washington and the European powers playing the geopolitical card in
tandem or in opposition to Washington. In any EU referendum, Turkish
membership will collapse.
The alternative? Turkey can stop being a bully in the region,
transform herself into a modern, secular, and democratic society,
with the welfare and well-being of the Turkish people its only goal.
This is not easy, but it is possible. How?
FIRST, self-determination (even statehood) for the 18-20 million Kurds
will be an option. After all, the Turks and the Kurds, both Muslims,
have been on each other¹s throat since the creation of the Turkish
Republic, with more violence in the 1980s. They are still in a state
of war;
SECOND, this would require Turkey being split into two autonomous
republics, 70-30 or 60-40 ratio for Turks and Kurds, respectively,
in a loose federation or confederation;
THIRD, there would be equal representation at the Upper House,
proportional representation at the Lower House, requiring majorities
in each ethnic group and in each house for proposed legislation to
be become law;
FOURTH, there would be rotating Presidents and Vice-Presidents for
the majority Turks and minority Kurds, respectively;
FIFTH, total autonomy in cultural, religious, and ethnic affairs for
the two federated states, even the right to collect taxes and sign
commercial treaties with other states;
SIXTH, the central government will be in charge of defense, foreign
affairs, and federal taxation. An outside military force, possibly
from the UN or the EU will in Turkey to maintain peace between the
Kurds and Turks;
SEVENTH, there will be a Supreme Court of Turkish, Kurdish, and UN
or international Jurists to settle constitutional and legal conflicts.
The details can be worked out by experts and technocrats. There are
plenty of qualified Turkish and Kurdish constitutionalists, with help
from Washington, London and the UN, who could come up with a final
plan which will bring peace and justice the Turks and Kurds in Asia
Minor, even membership in the Europe Union.
This is not a crazy idea. It is a realistic proposal, a carbon copy
of the Ankara-London-Washington plan the UN (through Kofi Annan)
tried to impose on Cyprus in the last two years, if not in the last
30 or 50 years.
If this "Turkish Plan" is good for Cyprus, why not for Turkey!
**** George Gregoriou Professor, Critical Theory and Geopolitics
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