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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 23 2007
Does transparency legitimize an illegitimate action?
by BULENT KENES
We all know that, as with many Turks and Muslims, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan is also sensitive toward and upset by
the excavation work around the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Erdoðan himself
conveyed these feelings of discomfort to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert last week when Olmert visited Ankara. Dissatisfied with
statements from Olmert and the delegation who accompanied him,
Erdoðan proposed that a Turkish inspection team should be sent to the
region to make their evaluation of the situation on location. It was
enough to stir a political storm in Israel when Olmert abruptly
agreed to the proposal.
Erdoðan's approach to the situation deserves praise when we look at
it from the viewpoint of the pro-active foreign policy that Turkey
has recently adopted. As a country that has been exposed to endless
mistreatment from both European and American inspectors who looked
for traces of human rights abuses, Turkey ought to feel proud that it
has promoted itself to a level where it inspects from a level where
it used to be inspected. It also has revived our self-esteem and
self-confidence.
If I am not mistaken, a Turkish envoy felt compelled to see on
location alleged abuses of human rights in French prisons at a time
when there was heated discussion on a draft bill that made it a crime
to deny an Armenian genocide in the French parliament. Undoubtedly,
it is possible to see from the desire of Turkey to inspect on
location aberrant modes of behavior in other countries that Turkey
believes in itself and is comfortable with the fact that it managed
to minimize its poor marks on the same subject.
Actually, it is of paramount importance to observe that recent
diplomatic traffic to and from Ankara is not at all meant to be an
inspection of abuses of human rights or aberrant modes of behavior
when compared with earlier diplomatic trips to the capital. All this
is also evidence to the extent to which Turkey has undergone a great
reform, transformation and renovation.
Let's now discuss the way the Israeli side perceives the matter at
hand. Olmert, who approved of the trip by the Turkish inspectors to
the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is having hard time in his own country. It is
normal that he is having trouble there. Think of it: it must not be
easy for a country to agree to inspection when it has too much
national pride and self-reliance and when it can heedlessly keep
putting into action many policies despite worldwide opposition.
The envoy of inspectors was the main topic of discussion on Wednesday
when Ýstanbul Consul General of Israel Mordehai Amihai and a group of
diplomats who accompanied him visited Today's Zaman. While Mordehai
mentioned in diplomatic style the discomfort of Israeli people, he
argued that inspection would not make much sense since all work
around the Al-Aqsa Mosque is being carried out in full transparency.
Actually, this is the essence of the problem. Israel is a country
that puts into action many policies in full transparency, decidedly
not in political disguise, although such policies may upset not only
Muslims but also the entire international community. But the question
remains whether illegitimate acts can become legitimate when they are
pursued in transparency and not in disguise. Israel attacked Lebanon
and caused numerous casualties in front of the eyes of the world by
using Hezbollah attacks as a pretext for its incursion into Lebanon.
This is also true for the use of violence in both Ramallah and Gaza.
We will not regard Israel, which made it a doctrine of security to
use methods even worse than terror in order to destroy the kind of
groups that Israel considers as terrorist, as legally right just
because Israel is resorting to excessive use of violence/force in
front of everyone. Neither will we appreciate Israel because Israel
is causing civilian casualties so long as they occur before our eyes.
Then again, it frightens one to think of Israel's concealed actions
when already it does not refrain from putting into action any kind of
illegitimate policy with the utmost impudence before the eyes the
world.
Feb 23 2007
Does transparency legitimize an illegitimate action?
by BULENT KENES
We all know that, as with many Turks and Muslims, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan is also sensitive toward and upset by
the excavation work around the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Erdoðan himself
conveyed these feelings of discomfort to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert last week when Olmert visited Ankara. Dissatisfied with
statements from Olmert and the delegation who accompanied him,
Erdoðan proposed that a Turkish inspection team should be sent to the
region to make their evaluation of the situation on location. It was
enough to stir a political storm in Israel when Olmert abruptly
agreed to the proposal.
Erdoðan's approach to the situation deserves praise when we look at
it from the viewpoint of the pro-active foreign policy that Turkey
has recently adopted. As a country that has been exposed to endless
mistreatment from both European and American inspectors who looked
for traces of human rights abuses, Turkey ought to feel proud that it
has promoted itself to a level where it inspects from a level where
it used to be inspected. It also has revived our self-esteem and
self-confidence.
If I am not mistaken, a Turkish envoy felt compelled to see on
location alleged abuses of human rights in French prisons at a time
when there was heated discussion on a draft bill that made it a crime
to deny an Armenian genocide in the French parliament. Undoubtedly,
it is possible to see from the desire of Turkey to inspect on
location aberrant modes of behavior in other countries that Turkey
believes in itself and is comfortable with the fact that it managed
to minimize its poor marks on the same subject.
Actually, it is of paramount importance to observe that recent
diplomatic traffic to and from Ankara is not at all meant to be an
inspection of abuses of human rights or aberrant modes of behavior
when compared with earlier diplomatic trips to the capital. All this
is also evidence to the extent to which Turkey has undergone a great
reform, transformation and renovation.
Let's now discuss the way the Israeli side perceives the matter at
hand. Olmert, who approved of the trip by the Turkish inspectors to
the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is having hard time in his own country. It is
normal that he is having trouble there. Think of it: it must not be
easy for a country to agree to inspection when it has too much
national pride and self-reliance and when it can heedlessly keep
putting into action many policies despite worldwide opposition.
The envoy of inspectors was the main topic of discussion on Wednesday
when Ýstanbul Consul General of Israel Mordehai Amihai and a group of
diplomats who accompanied him visited Today's Zaman. While Mordehai
mentioned in diplomatic style the discomfort of Israeli people, he
argued that inspection would not make much sense since all work
around the Al-Aqsa Mosque is being carried out in full transparency.
Actually, this is the essence of the problem. Israel is a country
that puts into action many policies in full transparency, decidedly
not in political disguise, although such policies may upset not only
Muslims but also the entire international community. But the question
remains whether illegitimate acts can become legitimate when they are
pursued in transparency and not in disguise. Israel attacked Lebanon
and caused numerous casualties in front of the eyes of the world by
using Hezbollah attacks as a pretext for its incursion into Lebanon.
This is also true for the use of violence in both Ramallah and Gaza.
We will not regard Israel, which made it a doctrine of security to
use methods even worse than terror in order to destroy the kind of
groups that Israel considers as terrorist, as legally right just
because Israel is resorting to excessive use of violence/force in
front of everyone. Neither will we appreciate Israel because Israel
is causing civilian casualties so long as they occur before our eyes.
Then again, it frightens one to think of Israel's concealed actions
when already it does not refrain from putting into action any kind of
illegitimate policy with the utmost impudence before the eyes the
world.