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CUBA, TURKEY AND THE UNBEARABLE FEELING OF LONELINESS
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 20 2014
It takes courage to accept failure. U.S. President Barack Obama
has shown the world that he can learn from the facts and abandon
a long-failed policy - because U.S. policy toward Cuba has been a
disaster, a remnant of the 20th century. The president's actions this
week set the stage: No more 20th century obstacles to U.S. policy
making. A country with unresolved issues from the last century cannot
lead in the present. Obama just showed that Americans have the courage
to lead again, and lead by example.
Turkey, meanwhile, is a country not only burdened with 20th century
problems, but also quite a few from the 19th century. Such a country
cannot be a regional anything. We urgently need to come to terms
with our own history and neighborhood. Yet we seem to be going the
opposite way. Not only are we not tackling these old problems, we
are creating new ones.
We used to complain in Turkey that the Americans were telling us to
mend fences with our neighbors rather than worrying about their own.
There are no direct flights to Cuba, after all, because Americans
weren't allowed to travel there. In this age of constant connectivity,
American cellphones do not function on the island, as there is no
roaming agreement between the countries' companies.
Now Obama has decided to pick up where his predecessors stopped nearly
half a century ago. Think about it: Every president since Kennedy has
chosen to continue the embargo that was supposed to bring Castro to
his knees. All the while, evidence was mounting against the policy.
Jimmy Carter, coming from an ideological place, wanted to restart
relations with Havana on the condition that it withdraws its troops
from Angola. Castro did not budge. Twenty years into the blockade,
isolation was by that point a badge of honor.
If there is another island similarly frozen in conflict, it surely is
Cyprus. The moment my plane touched down at Larnaca Airport, I got
the shudder of the feeling of being totally alone in this world. It
was because I knew I couldn't do what is by now almost muscle memory -
turn on my cell phone to check my email. My phone with its Turkish SIM
card was useless on the southern, Greek side of the island, because
Turkey does not recognize it and therefore its telecom providers
cannot ink agreements with their Greek-Cypriot counterparts.
That is an uncomfortable feeling, since we are all now accustomed to
being constantly connected via the digital grid. The few adventurous
Americans who have gone to Cuba probably welcomed the opportunity
to unplug, and many describe with fondness the old cars and shoddy
roads as being akin to going back in time. Ask the Cubans though,
and you are likely to get a much different tone. There is a reason
why we are connecting our economies and cultures across borders. It's
just a better way to live.
South Nicosia is not the only capital that Turks are not on talking
terms with. We officially recognized the Republic of Armenia in 1991,
but have still yet to establish normal diplomatic relations with it.
Relations with Tel Aviv have been all but cut, and now even Cairo
is on the list - we are just not talking to them, and they aren't
sending us any cards either. I am not even counting Damascus -
that is a different story. In fact, the only capital in the Levant
where Turkey currently has an ambassador is Beirut. We also have an
ambassador-level appointment to Palestine, who stays in Jerusalem.
Why is our circle of resentful neighbors growing? Why are we at each
other's throat? What can we do to stop that circle from widening?
Perhaps we need to change the way we engage them.
Remember the old joke: A man is happily driving on the highway when
an announcement comes on the radio: "Beware of the car on the highway
driving the wrong way." The man is annoyed, he's trying to concentrate
on the road. "Just one?" he thinks to himself. "They're all going
the wrong way!"
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/cuba-turkey-and-the-unbearable-feeling-of-loneliness.aspx?pageID=238&nid=75842&NewsCatID=403
December/20/2014
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 20 2014
It takes courage to accept failure. U.S. President Barack Obama
has shown the world that he can learn from the facts and abandon
a long-failed policy - because U.S. policy toward Cuba has been a
disaster, a remnant of the 20th century. The president's actions this
week set the stage: No more 20th century obstacles to U.S. policy
making. A country with unresolved issues from the last century cannot
lead in the present. Obama just showed that Americans have the courage
to lead again, and lead by example.
Turkey, meanwhile, is a country not only burdened with 20th century
problems, but also quite a few from the 19th century. Such a country
cannot be a regional anything. We urgently need to come to terms
with our own history and neighborhood. Yet we seem to be going the
opposite way. Not only are we not tackling these old problems, we
are creating new ones.
We used to complain in Turkey that the Americans were telling us to
mend fences with our neighbors rather than worrying about their own.
There are no direct flights to Cuba, after all, because Americans
weren't allowed to travel there. In this age of constant connectivity,
American cellphones do not function on the island, as there is no
roaming agreement between the countries' companies.
Now Obama has decided to pick up where his predecessors stopped nearly
half a century ago. Think about it: Every president since Kennedy has
chosen to continue the embargo that was supposed to bring Castro to
his knees. All the while, evidence was mounting against the policy.
Jimmy Carter, coming from an ideological place, wanted to restart
relations with Havana on the condition that it withdraws its troops
from Angola. Castro did not budge. Twenty years into the blockade,
isolation was by that point a badge of honor.
If there is another island similarly frozen in conflict, it surely is
Cyprus. The moment my plane touched down at Larnaca Airport, I got
the shudder of the feeling of being totally alone in this world. It
was because I knew I couldn't do what is by now almost muscle memory -
turn on my cell phone to check my email. My phone with its Turkish SIM
card was useless on the southern, Greek side of the island, because
Turkey does not recognize it and therefore its telecom providers
cannot ink agreements with their Greek-Cypriot counterparts.
That is an uncomfortable feeling, since we are all now accustomed to
being constantly connected via the digital grid. The few adventurous
Americans who have gone to Cuba probably welcomed the opportunity
to unplug, and many describe with fondness the old cars and shoddy
roads as being akin to going back in time. Ask the Cubans though,
and you are likely to get a much different tone. There is a reason
why we are connecting our economies and cultures across borders. It's
just a better way to live.
South Nicosia is not the only capital that Turks are not on talking
terms with. We officially recognized the Republic of Armenia in 1991,
but have still yet to establish normal diplomatic relations with it.
Relations with Tel Aviv have been all but cut, and now even Cairo
is on the list - we are just not talking to them, and they aren't
sending us any cards either. I am not even counting Damascus -
that is a different story. In fact, the only capital in the Levant
where Turkey currently has an ambassador is Beirut. We also have an
ambassador-level appointment to Palestine, who stays in Jerusalem.
Why is our circle of resentful neighbors growing? Why are we at each
other's throat? What can we do to stop that circle from widening?
Perhaps we need to change the way we engage them.
Remember the old joke: A man is happily driving on the highway when
an announcement comes on the radio: "Beware of the car on the highway
driving the wrong way." The man is annoyed, he's trying to concentrate
on the road. "Just one?" he thinks to himself. "They're all going
the wrong way!"
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/cuba-turkey-and-the-unbearable-feeling-of-loneliness.aspx?pageID=238&nid=75842&NewsCatID=403
December/20/2014