{"id":58848,"date":"2012-11-12T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=58848"},"modified":"2014-01-07T21:33:06","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T19:33:06","slug":"turkey-and-the-new-world-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2012\/11\/12\/turkey-and-the-new-world-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey and the new world order"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu during a joint press conference on October 20, 2012: well-known for a foreign policy which has been dubbed \u201cneo-Ottoman\u201d |AFP PHOTO\/MOHAMMED HUWAIS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Supporters of Turkish EU membership often claim that this would prove that democracy and Islam are compatible. But it is the Turks themselves who have demolished this argument.<\/p>\n

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In a keynote speech by \u0130brahim Kal\u0131n, Prime Minister Erdo\u011fan\u2019s chief adviser, at the Istanbul Forum in October, Dr Kal\u0131n spoke of a post-Western political order in which the West does not have a monopoly over the democracy debate and the global human rights discourse. Furthermore, he claimed that the failure of secular humanism to secure freedom, rationality and equality has led to the search for a post-secular age.<\/p>\n

In fact, the European model of secular democracy, politics and pluralism seems to have little traction in the Arab and larger Muslim world.<\/p>\n

It is often asserted that the EU is a community of values, and after the start of accession talks with Turkey in October 2005 Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn emphasized that pluralism and free speech are basic values which cannot be compromised. However, Dr Kal\u0131n said there was \u201ca mental gap\u201d between Islamic and Western notions of what constitutes sacred, religious rights and freedom of expression. Consequently, Turkey has expanded the classical definition of foreign policy as advancing a state\u2019s national interest to include value-based considerations. As Turkey \u00a0now occupies a pivotal place in the new geopolitics, it accordingly seeks to pursue a value-based and principled foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Dr Kal\u0131n failed to define these values, but as Turkish foreign policy is determined by internal dynamics, the answer can be found in a statement by Mustafa \u00d6zel, a driving force behind M\u00dcSIAD, the Islamic Independent Industralists and Businessmen\u2019s Association, in 1996. According to \u00d6zel, the preservation of Turkey\u2019s domestic unity cannot be preserved through an ideology imported from the West but through a true connection with Islam, \u201cthe key source of our world view\u201d.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s foreign minister, Ahmet Davuto\u011flu, is well-known for a foreign policy which has been dubbed \u201cneo-Ottoman\u201d and builds on principles outlined in his key work, \u201cStrategic Depth\u201d from 2001. According to Professor Davuto\u011flu Turkey\u2019s strategic depth rests on its geographical and historical depth and on engagement with the countries with which Turkey shares a common past and geography as well as shared interests and common ideals.<\/p>\n

In a speech in Sarajevo in October 2009 Davuto\u011flu explained: \u201cLike in the 16th Century, when the Ottoman Balkans were rising, we will once again make the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East, together with Turkey, the centre of world politics in the future. That is the goal of Turkish foreign policy and we will achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new world order<\/p>\n

In a speech made at an AKP congress in Konya in April the Foreign Minister \u00a0was more specific. \u201cOn the historic march of our holy nation the AK Party signals the birth of a global power and the mission for a new world order (nizam-i \u00e2lem).<\/p>\n

This is the centenary of our exit from the Middle East \u2026 whatever we lost between \u00a01911 and 1923, whatever lands we withdrew from, from 2011 to 2023 we shall once again meet our brothers in those lands. This is a bounden historic mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

It should be noted that nizam-i \u00e2lem is an Ottoman concept, according to which the world order in all its aspects \u2013 political, social and economic \u2013 was ruled by religion (Islam).<\/p>\n

A fortnight later Davuto\u011flu outlined his vision for the Middle East in the Turkish parliament. \u201cA new Middle East is about to be born. We will be the owner, pioneer and servant of this new Middle East.\u201d However, this vision has collided with reality.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Erdo\u011fan\u2019s cordial relationship with his \u201cbrother\u201d Bashar al-Assad \u00a0and the \u201clong-term strategic partnerhip\u201d between Turkey and Syria have turned to hostility with Turkey\u2019s support of the Free Syrian Army against the Assad regime.<\/p>\n

However, Turkey\u2019s attempt to draw the UN Security Council into the conflict with support for a safe zone for Syrian refugees has failed. And NATO has been content to express its solidarity.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s support for Assad reflects the struggle for regional hegemony betweeen Turkey and Iran and threatens Turkey\u2019s policy of \u201ceconomic interpendence\u201d with Iran. Around 90 percent of Iran\u2019s exports to Turkey consists of hydrocarbons, as Iran has become Turkey\u2019s largest supplier of crude oil and its second larger supplier of natural gas.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s relations with Russia have also become strained after Turkish F-16s forced a Syrian airliner flying from Moscow to land in Ankara on suspicion that it was carrying arms. Another consequence of the conflict is that Turkey has had to abandon joint plans for a free trade zone with visa-free travel together with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.<\/p>\n

Erdo\u011fan has offered to build a trilateral mechanism together with Iran to deal with the crisis but after the failure of the Sunni rebels to seize Aleppo the issue may be solved \u00a0on the battlefield. Turkey\u2019s nightmare is a Kurdish alliance between Turkey\u2019s PKK and Syria\u2019s PYD (Democratic Union Party) with support from Iraq\u2019s Kurdistan Regional Government.<\/p>\n

Together with the standoff between Turkey and Israel after the Mavi Marmara incident and Turkey\u2019s occupation of northern Cyprus, Davuto\u011flu\u2019s policy of \u201czero problems with neighbours\u201d has seen its day. All that remains is to resolve the standoff with Europe, and Prime Minister Erdo\u011fan has given the EU until 2023, when the Turkish Republic will celebrate its centenary, to make up its mind.<\/p>\n

Robert Ellis is a regular commentator on Turkish affairs in the Danish and international press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu during a joint press conference on October 20, 2012: well-known for a foreign policy which has been dubbed \u201cneo-Ottoman\u201d |AFP PHOTO\/MOHAMMED HUWAIS Supporters of Turkish EU membership often claim that this would prove that democracy and Islam are compatible. But it is the Turks themselves who have demolished this argument. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":58849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2293,922],"tags":[830],"class_list":["post-58848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-robert-ellis","category-world","tag-new-world-order"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}