Slow Down, Turkey

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The Arab citizen is thirsty, forever searching for someone or something that can quench his thirst, even a little; and whenever hope appears on the horizon, he runs after it, longing, calling out for rescue, pleading, begging that this hope not turn out to be a mirage. The Arab citizen is the most humiliated person on earth, and the most aware of that humiliation, whatever its source, internal or external, and he yearns to feel some measure of dignity, or to feel that defeat has parted from his bedside for just a while, so that he might rest as people elsewhere on earth rest. And whenever a voice rings out somewhere in the world sympathizing with the Arabs, even out of mere courtesy, Arab necks crane and Arab hands reach out, hoping that in that voice lies something that might deliver them from their misery and wretchedness.

We once clung to the former Soviet Union, and always took it — not all of us — as the awaited hero who would rush to our rescue in every ordeal. We cheered for the American president when he promised the Palestinians a state, and we elevated the French president Chirac to the rank of a righteous saint when he visited us bearing an insistence on establishing a Palestinian state. And now Chavez’s photographs hang in many Arab homes, and many classify him as an Arab national hero. And now Turkey takes center stage, and its prime minister occupies the front rank in the list of heroes who will come to the Arab citizen’s aid and deliver him from his intractable ordeal of humiliation.

Between Hope and Wishful Thinking

It is hard to find Arabs, outside the circle of the many Arab regimes, who do not view Turkey’s positions on the Palestinian cause, and on the aggressive Zionist policies against the Palestinian people and Arabs in general, with a positive eye. There is no doubt that Turkey surpasses most of the Arab regimes in its positions, and surpasses vast numbers of Palestinians who are enamored of defeat and find American pleasures more agreeable than the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people. From the ordinary, poor person with no time to spare for politics, all the way to the great intellectuals, Turkey enjoys appreciation and respect, and its positions are met with cheers and applause. Only the Arab regimes and those who revolve around them hold their breath in rage and spite, and these may amount, at best, to no more than 10 percent.

But it is noticeable, from people’s comments, whether in the media or in the street, that they sometimes stray beyond the circle of hope proportionate to Turkey’s actual capacities and resources, reaching a degree of exaggerated expectation that Turkey may not be able to bear, at least given its current economic, social, and political situation. There are very great hopes now pinned on Turkey among the Arab street, and the Palestinian street in particular, reaching the level of pure wishful thinking. Many people see in Turkey a highly advanced military power surpassing Israel’s, and see in it the capacity to deter Israel militarily and punish it, and so they raise the ceiling of their expectations.

Exaggerating expectations is a dangerous thing on two counts: the frustration that would follow if these expectations fail to materialize before people’s eyes, and the standing Turkey would lose in people’s hearts if its actions fall short of expectations. The Arabs have pinned great hopes before on Arab and non-Arab leaderships and states, and reaped nothing but disappointment and failure, which negatively affected people’s psychological state and their willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of achieving their own aspirations and hopes. Over time, the Arabs came to think that their own two arms might not be necessary for achieving accomplishments, and looked to others to make the sacrifices on their behalf, and so sank into further defeats. This is why it is very important for intellectuals and the media to play their role in educating people about what Turkey can actually offer, if we are not to sink once again into what we do not wish for.

Turkey is a strong and important state in the Arab-Islamic region, and its people are our own people, our own kin and friends, bound to us by religious, historical, social, and economic ties, and we and they, like our various other neighbors, form a single body that can complement itself and provide dignity, honor, prosperity, and progress for all the peoples of the region. Turkey plays a great and important role now, particularly amid the absence of the Arab states, or the entanglement of many Arab regimes in the siege on Gaza, and their encouragement of the Ramallah Authority to keep up its futile negotiations. But this does not mean we should burden Turkey with more than it can bear, place upon it responsibilities greater than its capacities, or ask its people to confront the Arab regimes on our behalf. Turkey has a great and important role, and in the past that role was sometimes directed against Arabs and against Turkey’s own interests too; it is still working out its own orientations toward a future different from the one earlier party leaderships wanted for it, and the Arabs must not exhaust their hopes in mere wishing, or they will lose.

Difficulties Facing the Turkish Government

The current Turkish government, led by the Justice and Development Party, is trying to forge a new path marked by calm and deliberation, and also by a great deal of scientific rigor and professionalism. It is a government that thinks many times over before it acts, and studies matters at length before taking a decision, and it is fully aware that there are internal and external obstacles and impediments standing in its way that it must reckon with. The Palestinian cause, and the cause of Gaza, are not the only issues on its agenda; it has a great deal of other work before it. Here I explain the most important of these obstacles:

At the Domestic Level

There are a number of obstacles at the domestic level, among which I mention the following:

First: there are those who lie in wait for the current Turkish government, working to bring it down one way or another, particularly among Turkish secularists who feel they have lost the throne they had occupied since the days of Atatürk. Turkey’s nationalist and leftist parties are constantly on the lookout for missteps by the government, the prime minister, or the ministers, in order to prove to the Turks — particularly the judicial establishment — that the government is Islamist and thereby violates the constitution, which would call for it to be ruled illegitimate and for the Justice and Development Party to be banned. The secularists never stop contesting the government on its various policies, and constantly work to distort its image, claiming it is working to eliminate Atatürk’s legacy, do away with secularism, and establish an Islamic state.

These very same people are the friends of Israel, and they are the ones who made Turkey the first Islamic state to recognize Israel; a number of them are known to descend from the Dönmeh Jews who entered the Ottoman state and spread through Anatolia and the Levant. These are the people who established military, security, economic, and political relations with Israel, and who have always been a mainstay for it in its brutality against the Palestinians and the Arabs generally. The secularists now find themselves in the predicament of the Freedom Flotilla, constrained, because they cannot support an Israel that has wounded Turkish national pride and killed Turkish civilians, and they find that their Israeli friends have entangled them in positions against Israel that sometimes appear even harsher than those of the Justice and Development Party. But this does not mean the secularists will change the position they hold and the course they are on.

There is suspicion that the missile that struck the Turkish naval base at Iskenderun was arranged, or plotted, by Israel.

Turkey suffers from Israeli, American, and European security infiltration, and if these states wanted to make trouble for Turkey, they are certainly capable of doing so. For nearly ninety years, the people of the West have been meddling in Turkey, and they have friends, agents, spies, and supporters there, spread across every corner and quarter of the country, and they are able to support the Kurds with money, weapons, training, and organization.

Third: the current Turkish government suffers from the bias of the Turkish judiciary and the leaders of the security and military establishments in favor of its domestic opponents, and it is like someone walking along the edge of a sword — careful not to provoke the judiciary into ruling it outside constitutional legitimacy, and careful not to provoke the army and the intelligence services into weaving coup plots against it. Past governments consistently shaped the judiciary, the army, and the security services in a manner suited to the requirements of secularism, hostile to any other intellectual current, particularly the religious current, and factionalism has become deeply entrenched within these institutions, far removed from democracy and professionalism. The government is aware of this situation, which is what has led it to adopt a gradual, slow process of change. Erdoğan’s government often walks through minefields, and caution is necessary on its part, just as caution against rushing or pressuring it is necessary on the part of those who hope for good things from it.

Fourth: Erdoğan’s government is concerned with achieving the greatest possible degree of economic growth, in order to prove to people its seriousness and its concern for the Turkish citizen and for improving his living conditions. Domestic competition in Turkey is fierce, and the weapon of elections is always present, and it is important for economic success to be one of the elements that persuades the Turkish public.

At the External Level

There are many external obstacles that limit the acceleration of Turkey’s role; I mention some of them here:

First: most Arab regimes constitute an obstacle in Turkey’s path, because these regimes despise change and see in Israel an element of stability in the region. The Arab regimes, in general, are hostile to anyone seeking change, and thus find themselves, deliberately or not, allies of Israel; and just as these regimes stood against Iran and Hezbollah, they will stand clearly against Turkey too, should it cross the red lines in its opposition to Israel.

Second: Turkey is a member of NATO, and the alliance has rules and covenants that Turkey cannot entirely step outside of, among them maintaining military cooperation relations with Israel. Turkey may be able, for now, to halt any direct cooperation with Israel, but in the end it finds itself compelled to maintain it through the alliance. This, while NATO has kept weapons in Turkey since the days of the fallen Soviet Union, and the Americans still hold wide influence there to this day.

Third: Israel is a militarily strong state, and it is capable of inflicting great harm on Turkey should a confrontation occur. I do not think Turkey is seeking a military confrontation, but I say this so that those who exaggerate Turkey’s steps will reconsider their exaggeration. Turkey sometimes buys weapons from Israel, and holds joint exercises with it, and so on. It is true that Turkey has taken bold and courageous steps, but it is not currently about to cross red lines such as severing relations with Israel entirely, or striking an Israeli ship in retaliation for the Turkish ship. Pressuring Turkey, or raising the ceiling of expectations placed upon it, could well have a negative effect on Turkey itself.

Fourth: the Turkish government is still in the process of laying new foundations for dealing with its neighbors and with its historic adversaries, such as Armenia. It is carrying out a campaign to renew and improve relations with Arabs and non-Arabs alike, in order to create a new atmosphere in the Arab-Islamic region, and it cannot devote its time to a conflict with Israel while its own vision for rearranging these relations remains incomplete.

Turkey’s Backing

Despite all the obstacles and impediments Turkey faces, its back is strengthened by the following elements:

First: the Turkish government is backed by its own people in confronting Israeli policy against the Palestinians; it is an elected government responsive to its people, and its position is a position that expresses the popular will. It is very difficult for a government armed with firm popular positions, and confident in what it is defending, to be intimidated or defeated.

Second: the Arab peoples support the Turkish government and give it their trust, and if Turkey ever needs popular Arab backing, it will find a wide response in the Arab street. The Arab popular position stands in contradiction to the official Arab position, and forms a restraint on official hostility toward Erdoğan’s government.

Third: Syria and Iran stand firmly with Turkey, and should Turkey come to any harm, it can rely on these two states.

Fourth: Turkey has managed to build for itself a number of friendships with a number of important states, such as Brazil, Venezuela, and Algeria, and to make itself a leading banner for the free peoples of the world and for human rights defenders. It has taken important steps toward building global relationships that serve as a driving force for itself and for its people.

The Arabs’ Own Inner Construction

Most Arabs extend heartfelt thanks to Turkey for what it is doing, and most of them also say that Turkey is performing its sacred duty, differing in this from the Arab governments that always move toward improving relations with Israel. But this gratitude must not turn into a burden upon Turkey, or into placing on it more than it can bear. Turkey, in the end, has limited capacities, both economically and militarily, and it could well groan under the strain if its adversaries decide to escalate their hostility to a degree that affects its military and economic structure.

Gratitude to Turkey can carry real weight only if we, the people, decide to support Turkey through action, not merely through cheering. We Arabs bear the responsibility of expelling Israel’s ambassadors from Arab countries, closing its trade offices, boycotting its goods, and halting normalization with it. And we Arabs bear the responsibility of halting negotiations and preparing to deter Israel, so that it no longer dares to continue its aggression, and so that it recognizes the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people. Beyond that, the Arab peoples are required to move against their own rulers who besiege Gaza. It makes no sense for us merely to applaud Turkey for wanting to lift the siege on Gaza, while we watch Arab governments practicing something even more heinous than Israel’s own practices against Gaza.

If we regard the good Erdoğan as a man, then we too must be men, and I do not think that half-men can lend Turkey any real strength. And if we see glory in the women of Turkey, then our own women must be women of glory too. We must roll up our own sleeves, and decide that changing our own condition will happen only through us, and that the defeat of the Arabs will only be reversed through their own efforts — efforts they are not making — and that their rulers are not equal to the responsibility, if they are not outright allies of the adversary. So shall we come to Turkey’s aid, just as it is trying to come to ours?

Turkey stands its ground, while the President of the Ramallah Authority insists on negotiations, and his own foreign minister says that halting negotiations would be a precious gift to Israel. As for the largest of the Arab states, it has contented itself with a conditional opening of the Rafah crossing. So if cheering for Turkey is necessary, then cheering for the fall of Arab regimes is even more necessary.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “مهلا على تركيا” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.