Tweet
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Aug 25 2013
'Zero problems' policy supplanted by 'precious loneliness' approach
25 August 2013 /LAMİYA ADİLGIZI, İSTANBUL
Turkish foreign affairs policy makers are becoming acquainted with a
new idea of "precious loneliness," created by Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan's chief foreign policy adviser, İbrahim Kalın, as a
successor to the "zero problems with neighbors" strategy of the
foreign minister and architect of the policy, Ahmet Davutoğlu, since
the prime minister is furious with the West and Arab nations over the
military coup that ousted Egypt's first democratically elected
president, Mohammed Morsi, in early July.
"The claim that Turkey has been left alone in the Middle East is not
true, but if it is a criticism then we should say that is a precious
loneliness," Kalın said on his Twitter account on July 31.
Used as a label for recent Turkish foreign policy, this concept is
also considered a first in the jargon of international relations
studies. The closest in resemblance is the term "splendid isolation,"
used for the foreign policy concept pursued by Britain during the late
19th century.
"Splendid isolation" originated and was practiced in praise of
Britain's lack of involvement in European affairs, but it is very
difficult to place the concept of "precious loneliness" into any
framework that can adequately explain the nature of Turkish foreign
policy in the region.
Refusing to accept the new Turkish foreign policy concept of "precious
loneliness," Sedat Laçiner, an expert on the Middle East and
international relations with a focus on Turkish foreign policy, says
that loneliness only becomes precious when the state is a super power,
such as the loneliness of the US during the Cold War, of Britain, and
of the Ottoman and Roman empires.
"However, the loneliness of certain states such as Turkey cannot have
a positive side as it represents nothing but failure," Laçiner said in
an interview with Sunday's Zaman.
Describing Ankara's approach as one of "purely ethics-based foreign
policy," Laçiner said that "Turkish foreign policy is not rational or
sustainable, and not a foreign policy at all, as foreign policy should
be based on a country's national interests. So, if Turkey's current
foreign policy and Ankara's loneliness are not sustainable, then they
cannot be considered valuable, either."
Elaborating on the concept of "precious loneliness" on Thursday, Kalın
said via Twitter that he is using "precious" to mean "worthy or
valuable" or "value-based." Kalın offered this explanation after
Taraf's Amberin Zaman said earlier that same day to Kalın via Twitter
that the most appropriate translation of "precious loneliness"
("değerli yalnızlık" in Turkish) might be "worthy solitude."
Kalın's new concept came out after recent developments in and around
Egypt that led Turkey to fall into a deep conflict with some of the
Middle Eastern countries with which Ankara has been doing its utmost
to warm and develop its relations since 2003, when Ankara started to
play a mediating role to settle the disputes between different players
in the region.
Ankara's harsh reaction to the Egyptian army's overthrow of Morsi,
calling it an "unacceptable coup" and accusing international powers of
having a hand in ousting Morsi, not only strained relations between
Turkey and Egypt's current administration, but also drew sharp
criticism from overseas.
Known for its close relationship with members of Morsi's moderate
Islamist party, the Freedom and Justice Party, Erdoğan's Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) declared its support for Morsi and
immediately denounced the overthrow of the Egyptian president, trying
to convince other countries to increase pressure on Egypt's interim
regime.
The prime minister continued to lash out at Western countries for not
calling the military intervention in Egypt a "coup" and criticized
their ineffective and unassertive reactions to the political crisis in
Egypt, where the clashes between Islamist protesters and security
forces have left hundreds dead.
Calling "precious loneliness" a continuation of Foreign Minister
Davutoğlu's theories of diplomacy, including "rhythmic diplomacy,"
another first in international relations, Joshua Walker, a
transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States
who is also an expert in Turkish foreign affairs, says that following
Davutoğlu's logic Turkey's relative isolation from its neighborhood
during the Cold War had more to do with the framework that dominated
the mindset of Turkish foreign-policy elites for decades, rather than
events on the ground, whereas now, as seen regarding events in Syria
and Egypt, Ankara publicly relishes taking the moral high ground as it
cuts off relations with dictators who don't support the will of their
people.
"As a successful free-market Muslim-majority democracy in the Middle
East that has enjoyed the cultural and moral high ground for most of
the last decade of AK Party rule, Turkey may now believe it is better
to be 'preciously alone' than to have friends like Assad and the
Egyptian military," Walker said.
However, Laçiner says that the current state of Turkish foreign policy
has not come about by choice or preference, and the efforts now are to
turn recent developments into a theory because "Turkish foreign policy
is completely lost."
"No ruling party can come out and profess that its policy has
crumpled, and it is therefore trying to develop a theory that would
legitimize the current state of foreign affairs," Laçiner said. The
expert added that some of Prime Minister Erdoğan's statements and the
way the prime minister delivers his views on regional developments go
beyond the political style we are accustomed to.
"The prime minister does not refrain from defying international actors
such as Israel, the United States, the European Union, etc. Without
speaking diplomatically, he does not mince words and sticks to doing
things his own way and, as a matter of fact, this directly affects the
loneliness Turkey finds itself in," Laçiner underlined.
Early this week, Erdoğan spoke at a meeting of his ruling AK Party and
stated that Israel was behind the military coup that ousted Egypt's
Morsi, adding that the Turkish government has evidence to prove the
Israeli hand in the events.
"What the prime minister said is not news. Do you think that no other
states know about that? It might be a secret to a kid playing in the
yard, but not to the world's leading powers. If this is so, what is
the need to say it, then?" Laçiner asked, underlining, "This is a very
risky period [for Turkey]."
Echoing Laçiner, Walker called Kalın's "boss" one of the most gifted
populist leaders in Turkish history, saying, "Erdoğan's comments
sometimes confound the best theories of international relations."
Currently experiencing cool ties with Iran, Turkey has tense relations
with the pro-Iranian Maliki government in Baghdad as well as Syria due
to the ongoing war there that has left tens of thousands dead and
hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. Its
ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon are strained and are almost cut off
with Egypt. Relations with Egypt's watchman, Saudi Arabia, are also
strained. Turkey's relations with Israel soured in May 2010 due to the
Mavi Marmara incident, when Israeli naval commandos stormed a ship
carrying humanitarian aid that was attempting to breach Israel's
blockade of Gaza and killed eight Turkish civilians and one
Turkish-American. Turkey has had disagreements with Europe and the US,
its longtime allies, due to the recent developments in the Middle
East. Russia, another major power in the region, is already in the
opposite camp from Turkey due to the Syrian crisis. Ankara shares a
century of enmity with Armenia, another neighbor of Turkey, too.
"After all is said and done, this kind of loneliness, in any case,
cannot be precious," Laçiner said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-324415-zero-problems-policy-supplanted-by-precious-loneliness-approach.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Aug 25 2013
'Zero problems' policy supplanted by 'precious loneliness' approach
25 August 2013 /LAMİYA ADİLGIZI, İSTANBUL
Turkish foreign affairs policy makers are becoming acquainted with a
new idea of "precious loneliness," created by Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan's chief foreign policy adviser, İbrahim Kalın, as a
successor to the "zero problems with neighbors" strategy of the
foreign minister and architect of the policy, Ahmet Davutoğlu, since
the prime minister is furious with the West and Arab nations over the
military coup that ousted Egypt's first democratically elected
president, Mohammed Morsi, in early July.
"The claim that Turkey has been left alone in the Middle East is not
true, but if it is a criticism then we should say that is a precious
loneliness," Kalın said on his Twitter account on July 31.
Used as a label for recent Turkish foreign policy, this concept is
also considered a first in the jargon of international relations
studies. The closest in resemblance is the term "splendid isolation,"
used for the foreign policy concept pursued by Britain during the late
19th century.
"Splendid isolation" originated and was practiced in praise of
Britain's lack of involvement in European affairs, but it is very
difficult to place the concept of "precious loneliness" into any
framework that can adequately explain the nature of Turkish foreign
policy in the region.
Refusing to accept the new Turkish foreign policy concept of "precious
loneliness," Sedat Laçiner, an expert on the Middle East and
international relations with a focus on Turkish foreign policy, says
that loneliness only becomes precious when the state is a super power,
such as the loneliness of the US during the Cold War, of Britain, and
of the Ottoman and Roman empires.
"However, the loneliness of certain states such as Turkey cannot have
a positive side as it represents nothing but failure," Laçiner said in
an interview with Sunday's Zaman.
Describing Ankara's approach as one of "purely ethics-based foreign
policy," Laçiner said that "Turkish foreign policy is not rational or
sustainable, and not a foreign policy at all, as foreign policy should
be based on a country's national interests. So, if Turkey's current
foreign policy and Ankara's loneliness are not sustainable, then they
cannot be considered valuable, either."
Elaborating on the concept of "precious loneliness" on Thursday, Kalın
said via Twitter that he is using "precious" to mean "worthy or
valuable" or "value-based." Kalın offered this explanation after
Taraf's Amberin Zaman said earlier that same day to Kalın via Twitter
that the most appropriate translation of "precious loneliness"
("değerli yalnızlık" in Turkish) might be "worthy solitude."
Kalın's new concept came out after recent developments in and around
Egypt that led Turkey to fall into a deep conflict with some of the
Middle Eastern countries with which Ankara has been doing its utmost
to warm and develop its relations since 2003, when Ankara started to
play a mediating role to settle the disputes between different players
in the region.
Ankara's harsh reaction to the Egyptian army's overthrow of Morsi,
calling it an "unacceptable coup" and accusing international powers of
having a hand in ousting Morsi, not only strained relations between
Turkey and Egypt's current administration, but also drew sharp
criticism from overseas.
Known for its close relationship with members of Morsi's moderate
Islamist party, the Freedom and Justice Party, Erdoğan's Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) declared its support for Morsi and
immediately denounced the overthrow of the Egyptian president, trying
to convince other countries to increase pressure on Egypt's interim
regime.
The prime minister continued to lash out at Western countries for not
calling the military intervention in Egypt a "coup" and criticized
their ineffective and unassertive reactions to the political crisis in
Egypt, where the clashes between Islamist protesters and security
forces have left hundreds dead.
Calling "precious loneliness" a continuation of Foreign Minister
Davutoğlu's theories of diplomacy, including "rhythmic diplomacy,"
another first in international relations, Joshua Walker, a
transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States
who is also an expert in Turkish foreign affairs, says that following
Davutoğlu's logic Turkey's relative isolation from its neighborhood
during the Cold War had more to do with the framework that dominated
the mindset of Turkish foreign-policy elites for decades, rather than
events on the ground, whereas now, as seen regarding events in Syria
and Egypt, Ankara publicly relishes taking the moral high ground as it
cuts off relations with dictators who don't support the will of their
people.
"As a successful free-market Muslim-majority democracy in the Middle
East that has enjoyed the cultural and moral high ground for most of
the last decade of AK Party rule, Turkey may now believe it is better
to be 'preciously alone' than to have friends like Assad and the
Egyptian military," Walker said.
However, Laçiner says that the current state of Turkish foreign policy
has not come about by choice or preference, and the efforts now are to
turn recent developments into a theory because "Turkish foreign policy
is completely lost."
"No ruling party can come out and profess that its policy has
crumpled, and it is therefore trying to develop a theory that would
legitimize the current state of foreign affairs," Laçiner said. The
expert added that some of Prime Minister Erdoğan's statements and the
way the prime minister delivers his views on regional developments go
beyond the political style we are accustomed to.
"The prime minister does not refrain from defying international actors
such as Israel, the United States, the European Union, etc. Without
speaking diplomatically, he does not mince words and sticks to doing
things his own way and, as a matter of fact, this directly affects the
loneliness Turkey finds itself in," Laçiner underlined.
Early this week, Erdoğan spoke at a meeting of his ruling AK Party and
stated that Israel was behind the military coup that ousted Egypt's
Morsi, adding that the Turkish government has evidence to prove the
Israeli hand in the events.
"What the prime minister said is not news. Do you think that no other
states know about that? It might be a secret to a kid playing in the
yard, but not to the world's leading powers. If this is so, what is
the need to say it, then?" Laçiner asked, underlining, "This is a very
risky period [for Turkey]."
Echoing Laçiner, Walker called Kalın's "boss" one of the most gifted
populist leaders in Turkish history, saying, "Erdoğan's comments
sometimes confound the best theories of international relations."
Currently experiencing cool ties with Iran, Turkey has tense relations
with the pro-Iranian Maliki government in Baghdad as well as Syria due
to the ongoing war there that has left tens of thousands dead and
hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. Its
ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon are strained and are almost cut off
with Egypt. Relations with Egypt's watchman, Saudi Arabia, are also
strained. Turkey's relations with Israel soured in May 2010 due to the
Mavi Marmara incident, when Israeli naval commandos stormed a ship
carrying humanitarian aid that was attempting to breach Israel's
blockade of Gaza and killed eight Turkish civilians and one
Turkish-American. Turkey has had disagreements with Europe and the US,
its longtime allies, due to the recent developments in the Middle
East. Russia, another major power in the region, is already in the
opposite camp from Turkey due to the Syrian crisis. Ankara shares a
century of enmity with Armenia, another neighbor of Turkey, too.
"After all is said and done, this kind of loneliness, in any case,
cannot be precious," Laçiner said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-324415-zero-problems-policy-supplanted-by-precious-loneliness-approach.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress