Just a matter of choice

Turkey is one of those unique countries with valuable geopolitical, cultural and historical assets which, if not utilized well, could just as easily become a headache. It is a country that could be considered Middle Eastern, Caucasian, Asian, Balkan and European all at the same time as well as being both a Black Sea and a Mediterranean state. It is a Muslim country yet it has a secular administrative system and has a centuries-old tradition of respect for religious differences.

The administrators of this country may prefer to pursue an inward-looking and opportunist policy more concerned with preserving their seats than integrating the country into the global community of nations. Similarly, the administration may want to integrate the country with European Union and Western economic, political, defense and cultural blocs while at the same time trying to consolidate relations with our brethren in Central Asia and the Caucasus and striving to enhance our ties with the Islamic world — particularly with our next-door neighbors in the Middle East.

The governments of this country may want to consolidate their grip on power by building up nationalist feelings through pursuing a policy of hostility against each and every one of the neighboring countries. Or they may realize the significant benefit of having friendly and cordial relations with our neighbors and try to settle the existing problems through an understanding based on mutual compromise.

By erecting protective barriers, an administration may decide to “safeguard its local industry” and condemn its people to suffering from expensive and low-quality products manufactured by those protected industrialists. Or an administration could also integrate the country’s economy with the world economy, encourage the competitiveness of local industry and enable its citizens to purchase higher-quality products at more reasonable prices regulated by the free market economy.

We may either like or dislike a particular government’s political perceptions and world view, but we have to feel as frank in expressing our appreciation for its good deeds as we feel free to level our criticism of issues on which we believe it has erred.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government was quite successful in its determined push over the past several years to open the way to this country’s eventual EU membership by securing a date for the start of accession talks. In the course of surmounting this hurdle, however, we have ignored our relations with the United States. Now the government has realized its mistake and is declaring that relations with Washington were “above everything else.” Well, actions speak louder than words.

We ignored not only our relationship with the United States but also our ties with our Middle Eastern neighbors, and we did that at a time when the good offices of a country like Turkey — the sole Islamic state in the area that has official and warm relations with both Israel and Palestine — would have been most valuable. Apart from some rhetorical statements — which did not win us much praise anywhere — the AKP government did not concentrate too seriously on the Middle East issue.

Now Gul is taking a step in the right direction by traveling to Israel, the Palestinian State and Jordan to explore Turkey’s possible contributions for revival of the peace process in the wake of the emergence of a new climate in the area, considered by many to be conducive to a settlement.

What Gul is trying to do, indeed, is exactly what the role of a country with such unique potential ought to be doing. It’s just a matter of choice.