The bloody and widespread crackdown on democracy protesters in Syria presents an opportunity for Turkey to reconsider its ‘zero problems’ foreign policy \u2013 and work with its NATO allies to change the ideological landscape of the Middle East.<\/p>\n
By the Monitor’s Editorial Board \/ May 9, 2011<\/p>\n
The increasingly violent crackdown on democracy protesters in Syria has become a test case for neighboring Turkey and its ties to the West.<\/p>\n
As a member of NATO and the only democracy in the Muslim Middle East, Turkey has long boasted about \u201czero problems\u201d on its borders. It actively sought to better ties with its neighbors, no matter their political persuasion. This approach has collected a string of successes, most notable Syria, with which Turkey almost went to war in 1998.<\/p>\n
Since then, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has developed a warm friendship with Syria\u2019s autocratic leader, President Bashar al-Assad. The two governments held joint cabinet meetings and military exercises. Trade surged.<\/p>\n
But the limits of Turkey\u2019s influence as a regional peace broker are now becoming clear. Despite Mr. Erdogan\u2019s personal pressuring of Mr. Assad to reform, Syria\u2019s forcible put-down and mass killing of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators has escalated to an alarming degree.<\/p>\n
Similarly, after the democratic revolt began in Libya, Erdogan talked with Col. Muammar Qaddafi, offering him a plan to quit power and call elections. Mr. Qaddafi ignored him, though Turkey was instrumental in negotiations to free four New York Times journalists who had been detained by Libyan authorities.<\/p>\n
Examples of \u201czero problem\u201d failures extend further back in time: Turkey\u2019s clumsy attempt to work out a nuclear-fuel arrangement with Iran; a severely strained relationship with Israel, in contrast to a time when Turkey had once facilitated Israeli-Syrian talks.<\/p>\n
The reasons for Turkey\u2019s limited success are multiple. Cornered dictators are not so easy to remove. As Erdogan said last week, he\u2019s not sure whether Assad \u2013 who had appeared to be a reformer \u2013 has lost interest in change, or whether he is being overruled by others in his government.<\/p>\n
Turkey also has tremendous stakes in preserving the status quo. For instance, it has billions of dollars in contracts to lose in Libya if Qaddafi falls. Turkey is also keenly aware of the threat of refugees pouring over its border if Syria collapses, and of the influence that Kurds in Syria could have on Kurd separatists in Turkey.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s not merely a matter of preferring the status quo, but also of divisions within Turkey itself. Erdogan leads a mildly Islamist party, but secularists suspect his long-term intent is to defy Turkey\u2019s strict separation of mosque and state. Is Erdogan perhaps a reluctant democrat? Turkish secularists, and NATO allies who complain of his overtures to Iran or his attacks on a free media, sometimes wonder.<\/p>\n
Erdogan was ahead of the curve in calling for Egypt\u2019s Hosni Mubarak to step down. But he has been slow to do the same for Qaddafi (he only called for it publicly last week), and likewise slow in his public condemnations of the Assad government. Neither he, nor the United States, by the way, has called for Assad\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n
Turkey has an opportunity in Syria and other countries of the Arab Spring to stand much more firmly on the side of democratic protesters. True, there is only so much it can do. But it\u2019s also not doing as much as it could.<\/p>\n
What it really needs is to reassess its \u201czero problems\u201d policy. That worked at a time of one-on-one crises with countries, and when the aim was to avoid conflict and improve business ties.<\/p>\n
But there is an ideological sea change under way in the Middle East, and that requires a democracy like Turkey \u2013 as imperfect a model as it may be \u2013 to choose sides and stand squarely behind freedom advocates.<\/p>\n
At this time in history, zero problems can no longer mean zero principles.<\/p>\n
Turkey spent decades as a NATO member working with the West to contain the threat of Soviet communism. That was an ideological battle of great import to the progress of humanity.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Turkey has a historic chance to swing solidly behind the democratic movement in the Middle East and North Africa. Hesitancy works to its detriment. It besmirches its credibility among protesters (Libyan rebels burned the Turkish flag because Ankara did not back the no-fly zone). Worse, its lack of definitive support makes it harder for democracy advocates to succeed.<\/p>\n
As Turkey\u2019s own president, Abdullah Gul, has written, \u201csooner or later the Middle East will become democratic.\u201d Turkey, and its allies, must now make a strategic decision to back this movement \u2013 even when it\u2019s inconvenient for them. And even at the risk of creating other problems.<\/p>\n
via Syria a test case for democratic Turkey – CSMonitor.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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