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ANKARA: Turkey Has No Foreign Policy Worth Mentioning

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  • ANKARA: Turkey Has No Foreign Policy Worth Mentioning

    TURKEY HAS NO FOREIGN POLICY WORTH MENTIONING

    Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
    May 1 2014

    SEMİH İDİZ

    Murat Yetkin, our editor-in-chief, and Nuray Mert, one of our prominent
    columnists, had interesting commentary pieces recently in the Arabic
    daily Asharq Al-Awsat concerning the prospects for Turkey's foreign
    policy following the strong support Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    Erdoğan got in the local elections.

    Agreeing that Turkish diplomacy over the past few years has been
    marked by serious failures, Yetkin and Mert nevertheless concluded
    that Erdoğan had little reason to change his foreign policy orientation
    under these circumstances.

    According to Yetkin, Erdoğan is happy with his foreign policy,
    "not because of its diplomatic successes, but because of its domestic
    payoff, which keeps him ruling the country." Mert, on the other hand,
    argues that "Erdoğan, who considers himself the leader of the Muslim
    world, thinks his leadership has been approved once more, not only
    by the Turkish electorate, but also by the 'prayers of Muslims all
    over the world.'"

    The bottom line is that Erdoğan believes he is pursuing a highly
    successful foreign policy which he says has been vindicated by the
    results of the local elections. This appears delusional when looked
    at from the outside, of course. However, it is clear, as is being
    pointed out by many, that Erdoğan is only eyeing the domestic gallery
    and the approval he is getting there.

    In other words, Erdoğan has no real foreign policy concerns. His
    only interest is to maintain the support of the "Muslim Brotherhood
    International" and the latest death sentences given out Egypt's
    military-sponsored kangaroo court have provided him with another
    opportunity in this regard to play politics at home.

    He provided a fine example of this when he lashed out at the Doğan
    Group, which owns this paper as well, only a few days ago, accusing
    it of indifference toward the death sentences in Egypt while having
    supported the demonstrators in last summer's Gezi protests.

    Erdoğan was of course mixing apples and oranges, but who cares if
    there is a political dividend involved. His angry response to visiting
    German President Joachim Gauck for the latter's highly critical remarks
    about anti-democratic developments in Turkey can also be seen in the
    same vein.

    His request for Washington to extradite Fetullah Gulen, who has not
    been convicted in Turkey of any crime - at least not yet - is another
    case of demagoguery and populism. But that seems to works for him as
    far as a significant portion of the Turkish population is concerned
    and that is all that counts.

    It is obvious that one cannot talk about a foreign policy under these
    circumstances, but only about a domestic political strategy that is
    spilling over into the foreign policy domain. In other words, just as
    "the emperor is naked," Turkey currently has no foreign policy to
    speak of.

    Erdoğan's abrasive manner with regard to matters that require
    diplomatic delicacy, on the other hand, show that if he should become
    president things could end up getting worse, given that he is likely
    to hit hard at the West for criticizing his authoritarian rule,
    and at the East for his support for the Muslim Brotherhood which is
    considered a threat by most of the current regimes in the region.

    Erdoğan's groundbreaking message of condolence to the Armenians
    last week is also unlikely to go anywhere under these circumstances,
    even though this message - regardless of the political calculations
    behind it - must be considered a positive development if its result,
    as a side product, is that Turks start looking at the events of 1915
    in a more objective light.

    I suggested recently that Erdoğan had to start drawing Turkey's foreign
    policy back to neutral territory to regain what influence it had in
    its region in the past, and to be able to play a proactive role in
    efforts to resolve the key issues facing the region today. Looked
    at from the current perspective - where Turkey has no foreign policy
    worth mentioning - that appears to be no more than wishful thinking.

    May/01/2014

    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-has-no-foreign-policy-worth-mentioning.aspx?pageID=449&nID=65800&NewsCatID=416



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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