{"id":8941,"date":"2009-02-05T12:44:44","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T09:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=8941"},"modified":"2023-04-05T11:35:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T08:35:53","slug":"washington-post-turkeys-turn-from-the-west-soner-cagaptay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/02\/05\/washington-post-turkeys-turn-from-the-west-soner-cagaptay\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post: Turkey’s Turn from the West (Soner Cagaptay)"},"content":{"rendered":"

oninstitute. org\/templateC06. php?CID=1225<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkey’s Turn from the West <\/span>
\nSoner Cagaptay<\/p>\n

Washington Post, February 2, 2009<\/p>\n

Turkey is a special Muslim country. Of the more than 50 majority-
\nMuslim nations, it is the only one that is a NATO ally, is in <\/span>
\naccession talks with the European Union, is a liberal democracy and <\/span>
\nhas normal relations with Israel. Under its current government by the <\/span>
\nJustice and Development Party (AKP), however, Turkey is losing these <\/span>
\nspecial qualities. Liberal political trends are disappearing, E.U. <\/span>
\naccession talks have stalled, ties with anti-Western states such as
\nIran are improving and relations with Israel are deteriorating. On <\/span>
\nThursday, for example, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out <\/span>
\nof a panel at Davos, Switzerland, after chiding Israeli President <\/span>
\nShimon Peres for “killing people.” If Turkey fails in these areas or <\/span>
\nwavers in its commitment to transatlantic structures such as NATO, it <\/span>
\ncannot expect to be President Obama’s favorite Muslim country. <\/span>
\nConsider the domestic situation in Turkey and its effect on relations <\/span>
\nwith the European Union. Although Turkey started accession talks, <\/span>
\nthat train has come to a halt. French objections to Turkish <\/span>
\nmembership slowed the process, but the impact of the AKP’s slide from <\/span>
\nliberal values cannot be ignored. After six years of AKP rule, the <\/span>
\npeople of Turkey are less free and less equal, as various news and
\nother reports on media freedom and gender equality show. In April <\/span>
\n2007, for instance, the AKP passed an Internet law that has led to a <\/span>
\nban on YouTube, making Turkey the only European country to shut down <\/span>
\naccess to the popular site. On the U.N. Development Program’s gender-
\nempowerment index, Turkey has slipped to 90th from 63rd in 2002, the <\/span>
\nyear the AKP came to power, putting it behind even Saudi Arabia. It <\/span>
\nis difficult to take seriously the AKP’s claim to be a liberal party <\/span>
\nwhen Saudi women are considered more politically, economically and <\/span>
\nsocially empowered than Turkish women. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then there is foreign policy. Take Turkey’s status as a NATO ally of <\/span>
\nthe United States: Ankara’s rapprochement with Tehran has gone so far <\/span>
\nsince 2002 that it is doubtful whether Turkey would side with the <\/span>
\nUnited States in dealing with the issue of a nuclear Iran. In <\/span>
\nDecember, Erdogan told a Washington crowd that “countries that oppose <\/span>
\nIran’s nuclear weapons should themselves not have nuclear weapons.” <\/span><\/p>\n

The AKP’s commitment to U.S. positions is even weaker on other
\nissues, including Hamas. During the recent Israeli operations in <\/span>
\nGaza, Erdogan questioned the validity of Israel’s U.N. seat while <\/span>
\nsaying that he wants to represent Hamas on international platforms. <\/span>
\nThree days before moderate Arab allies of Washington, including <\/span>
\nEgypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, gathered on Jan. 19 in Kuwait to <\/span>
\ndiscuss an end to the Gaza conflict, Erdogan’s officials met with <\/span>
\nIran, Syria and Sudan in Qatar, effectively upstaging the moderates. <\/span>
\nAmazingly, Turkey is now taking a harder line on the Arab-Israeli
\nconflict than even Saudi Arabia. <\/span><\/p>\n

For years, Turkey has had normal relations with Israel, including <\/span>
\nstrong military, tourist, and cultural and commercial ties. The Turks <\/span>
\ndid not emphasize religion or ideology in their relationship with the <\/span>
\nJewish state, so Israelis felt comfortable visiting, doing business <\/span>
\nand vacationing in Turkey. But Erdogan’s recent anti-Israeli <\/span>
\nstatements — he even suggested that God would punish Israel — have <\/span>
\nmade normal relations a thing of the past. On Jan. 4, 200,000 Turks <\/span>
\nturned out in freezing rain in Istanbul to wish death to Israel; on <\/span>
\nJan. 7, an Israeli girls’ volleyball team was attacked by a Turkish <\/span>
\naudience chanting, “Muslim policemen, bring us the Jews, so we can <\/span>
\nslaughter them.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Emerging anti-Semitism also challenges Turkey’s special status. Anti-
\nSemitism is not hard-wired into Turkish society — rather its seeds <\/span>
\nare being spread by the political leadership. Erdogan has pumped up <\/span>
\nsuch sentiments by suggesting Jewish culpability for the conflict in <\/span>
\nGaza and alleging that Jewish-controlled media outlets were <\/span>
\nmisrepresenting the facts. Moreover, on Jan. 6, while demanding <\/span>
\nremorse for Israel’s Gaza operations, Erdogan said to Turkish <\/span>
\nJews, “Did we not accept you in the Ottoman Empire?” Turkey’s tiny, <\/span>
\nwell-integrated Jewish community is being threatened: Jewish <\/span>
\nbusinesses are being boycotted, and instances of violence have been <\/span>
\nreported. These are shameful developments in a land that has provided <\/span>
\na home for Jews since 1492, when the Ottomans opened their arms to <\/span>
\nJewish people fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. The Ottoman sultans <\/span>
\nmust be spinning in their graves. <\/span><\/p>\n

The erosion of Turkey’s liberalism under the AKP is alienating Turkey <\/span>
\nfrom the West. If Turkish foreign policy is based on solidarity with <\/span>
\nIslamist regimes or causes, Ankara cannot hope to be considered a <\/span>
\nserious NATO ally. Likewise, if the AKP discriminates against women, <\/span>
\nforgoes normal relations with Israel, curbs media freedoms or loses <\/span>
\ninterest in joining Europe, it will hardly endear itself to the <\/span>
\nUnited States. And if Erdogan’s AKP keeps serving a menu of <\/span>
\nilliberalism at home and religion in foreign policy, Turkey will no
\nlonger be special — and that would be unfortunate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Soner Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish <\/span>
\nResearch Program at The Washington Institute, and author of Islam <\/span>
\nSecularism and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who Is a Turk?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

oninstitute. org\/templateC06. php?CID=1225 Turkey’s Turn from the West Soner Cagaptay Washington Post, February 2, 2009 Turkey is a special Muslim country. Of the more than 50 majority- Muslim nations, it is the only one that is a NATO ally, is in accession talks with the European Union, is a liberal democracy and has normal relations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8941","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=8941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}