{"id":11461,"date":"2022-12-16T11:56:10","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T11:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/2022\/12\/mc\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T22:00:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T19:00:47","slug":"developing-peaceful-foreign-policy-for-turkey-the-tale-of-two-strategies-murat-cemrek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/2022\/12\/developing-peaceful-foreign-policy-for-turkey-the-tale-of-two-strategies-murat-cemrek\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing Peaceful Foreign Policy for Turkey: The Tale of Two Strategies – Murat \u00c7emrek"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The\nnaming preferences of either the Turkish \u201cCyprus Peace Operation\u201d in 1974 or\nthe American \u201cOperation Enduring Freedom\u201d during\n2001-2014 remind me of \u00d6zdemir Asaf\u2019s famous lines, \u201cAll colors were getting\ndirty fast \/ They have championed the white\u201d [\u201cB\u00fct\u00fcn renkler h\u0131zla\nkirleniyordu\/Birincili\u011fi beyaza verdiler<\/em>\u201d]. Thus, as in George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984<\/em>,\n\u201cWar is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is power,\u201d the concepts of\npeace or freedom have become buzzwords, manipulated as they cannot escape their\nfate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly,\nduring our formal education from the beginning of primary school to the end of\nhigh school, we learned by heart that Turkey, as a peninsula, is surrounded by\nseas (the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean) on three sides by but also\nby external enemies on all four sides, not even counting the domestic ones. So,\nit is not surprising that realism is a hugely popular approach not only in the\nbroader country that rose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, devastated by\nthe Treaty of S\u00e8vres after World War I but also among International Relations\nstudents in Turkey. In understanding the self-help model, which means no friends\nat all, Turkey has geographically applied the second half of the wise saying, \u201cKeep\nyour friends close and enemies closer\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite\nbeing contained by enemies from all sides, Turkey\u2019s unique geostrategic\nlocation, also as a matter of self-pride, had provided the country a golden\nopportunity to serve as a bridge between the West and the East, or at least between\nthe continents of Asia and Europe, embodied in the Bosphorus Bridge whose name\nwas converted into the 15th<\/sup> of July\nMartyrs Bridge like many other public estates after the 2016 coup d\u2019\u00e9tat\nattempt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\ncourse, being a bridge, even metaphorically, was also a curse denoting\nbelonging nowhere, like Edward W. Said\u2019s autobiography book titled Out of Place: A Memoir<\/em>. This view\nforced Turkey to be always on alert to preserve its relatively peaceful domestic\nmedium and to realize peace regionally and globally, crystallized in Atat\u00fcrk\u2019s\nmotto, \u201cPeace at home, peace in the world\u201d. Yet, one should keep in mind that\ndespite his motto, Atat\u00fcrk also paid no attention to status quo<\/em> politics\nin the case of Hatay and showed how war could be an option if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign\npolicy is mainly equated with peace in the world, especially in Turkey,\nalthough war is always one of the options on the table, either flagrantly or\nlatently. Thus, foreign policy sounds loftier than its content since it is a\npolicy among many others but has a greater role even in dominating domestic\npolitics in general through shaping, e.g., defense or economic policies. This\nstructural privilege provides foreign policy having a grander shadow than its\nsize deepened via globalization since the decision-making and implementation\nprocesses have been hit in the rising number of actors besides the\nnation-states, their ministries of foreign affairs, and even the international\norganizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\ndevil\u2019s advocate here may question if we must develop a peaceful foreign policy\nin general and specifically for Turkey. S\/he may refer to how Ministries of War\nof the previous century only changed their names but not their functions. At\nthe same time, the military-industrial complex is an essential trait of\nnation-states paying attention to arms sales as the number one issue, or war\ndrums have never ceased even in the heydays of peace. S\/he may lengthen the\nlist as we had several low-profile violent conflicts and minor wars compared to\ntwo world wars during the Cold War years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nfrom a liberal perspective, all wars are civil wars at the last instance\nbecause humans execute them against humans, so we must try our best to end\nblood feuds among our brethren. That is why the essence of foreign policy is to\nrealize peace nationally, regionally, and globally by employing diplomacy even\nunder war conditions. Dialectically, wars teach us the value of peace, which is\nworthy because of its fragile nature, like a Chinese vase. There are always\nelephants before the China shop making us keep our eyes open for them. Although\nClausewitz depicted war as a duel on a larger scale, I prefer to define it as one\nof the age-old maladies of humanity, like racism, in need of rehabilitation\nthrough total eradication. Following Clausewitz\u2019s definition of \u201cwar\u2026not merely a political act but a\nreal political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, carrying\nout of the same by other means,\u201d one may replace peace with war to reach the\nsame ends. Briefly, peace is the ontological environment we can cultivate\nhumane traits starting with freedom rather than being challenged by the war\nconditions harming such qualities and turning us into savages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could Turkey develop a peaceful foreign\npolicy? Especially\nsince peace is ontologically fragile and foreign policy is getting more complex\nthan ever, as explained above. My answer is to turn Turkey into a trading state\nand Turkish people into a business nation. Turkey, since the 1980s, has\nnot been able to repeat the miraculous example of South Korea, barely producing\nalmost one percent of the global GDP, in parallel weight to its population\nshare in world demographics. Thus, the more\nTurkey develops an economic perspective in decision-making and implementation\nprocesses; the more rationality would form the basis for policy formulation in\nevery sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may measure anything based on numbers; anything\nmeasurable is controllable and open to checks if we made a mistake earlier. Historically,\nany state must provide welfare, after security, to its citizens to keep its legitimacy\namong them and its survival. Thus, equating the state with a charity\norganization to distribute the welfare from taxes to the whole society in a\njust way makes sense. However, the state is more than\nthat; any state is not only a profit-maximizer. This is a paradox as it must\nperform all its functions in a capitalist medium, at least since Wallerstein\u2019s\n\u201cthe long 15th<\/sup> century\u201d. In such a context, any state should look forward to increasing its profits as in\nmicroeconomics rather than equating the macroeconomic formula to zero. A\ntrading state as a profit maximizer would pay attention to its long-term\nbenefits more rather than short-term gains, so it would try its best to disseminate\nsuch benefits first to its neighbors and then to the whole world rather than\nconsuming its total energy on regional and global problems beyond its limited\npower and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey is a middle-sized regional power but consumes\nmost of its energy extravagantly to find solutions to either regional or global\nproblems. For example, Turkey\u2019s open-door policy for people fleeing from the civil\nwar in Syria has cost a lot not only in economic terms but also socially and\npolitically. The then Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davuto\u011flu admitted\nthat -as a government- their red line was to accept 200K refugees at most.\nStill, Turkey today hosts about 4M Syrian refugees, not even counting the Afghans\nand others, which has dramatically burdened the Turkish economy and transformed\nits demographics while harming social harmony with the rise of xenophobia in Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more Turkey improves its economy, so it will be\nable to enlarge the cake and minimize its problems. Turkey has already proven\nthat it could succeed in the first ten years of the Justice and Development\nParty governments by applying the trading state model while attracting further\nforeign investment and opening its doors to the world through its possible\nmembership to the European Union after its candidacy was accepted in 2004. This\nis a tested and affirmed way in that Turkey would have more profound effects on\nglobal politics rather than focusing on its heavy rhetoric that results in\nnothing, as in the case of \u201cthe world is larger than five\u201d (the permanent\nmembers of the United Nations Security Council) rhetoric. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey could also develop a peaceful foreign\npolicy paying further attention to diplomacy. It is the fifth country in the\nnumber of embassies worldwide. It is time to deepen these networks in the number\nof locations and their staff and transform them into liaison offices for more\nbusiness in line with my first proposal. Although Turkish shuttle diplomacy efforts as an honest broker between\nIsrael and Palestine earlier have not borne fruit, and even Turkish and Israeli\nambassadors were withdrawn for a long time due to several conflicts,\nTurkish-Israeli relations are improving today after the reciprocal assignments\nof ambassadors. Similarly, Turkey\u2019s strained\nrelations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are being eased thanks\nto cozy efforts on both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last but not least, Turkish\nPresident Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s\nrelations with both Russian and Ukrainian counterparts have opened the path for\nthe grain corridor agreement despite the ongoing war between these countries and\neven signaled Turkey would have a role in a possible peace or at least a\nceasefire. Thus, much as Turkey pays attention to developing its diplomatic\npotential, it would improve its soft power potential. The rationality mentioned\nabove would drive Turkey towards becoming a smart power after that. Moreover, it\nwould benefit Turkey to strengthen its relations with the West without damaging\nits relations with China and to develop its ties with India, another potential\nactor in the global economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following\nthe end of the Cold War, Turkey rose as an oasis of peace amid a desert of\nseveral ethnic conflicts and bloody wars in the Caucasus, Balkans, and the Middle\nEast. While preparing this piece, Turkey was on the eve of the 99th<\/sup>\nanniversary of the Turkish Republic\u2019s establishment, and President Erdo\u011fan declared\nthe Republic\u2019s next century as \u201cthe Turkish Century.\u201d Just after the Cold War,\nwe heard such a phrase-mongering from President Turgut \u00d6zal, indicating that\n\u201cthe 21st<\/sup> century would be the Turkish century,\u201d and later President\nS\u00fcleyman Demirel declared the emergence of the \u201cTurkish world from the Adriatic\nSea to the Great Wall of China.\u201d However, though almost a quarter of this\ncentury is over, there seems even no clue yet to indicate any development\nparalleling such glaring discourses. As a result, for Turkey to achieve a peaceful\nforeign policy, it should become a trading state with more diplomacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Dr. Murat \u00c7emrek <\/strong>is a faculty member at Necmettin Erbakan University, Department of International Relations. He completed his BA in Political Science and Public Administration at METU, and his MA and PhD in Bilkent University, in Political Science and Public Administration, and his post-doctoral research at Budapest College: Institute of Higher Specialization. Globalization, Turkish Foreign Policy and the Middle East are his fields of study.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To cite this work: <\/strong> Murat \u00c7emrek, \u201cDeveloping Peaceful Foreign Policy for Turkey: The Tale of Two Strategies” Panorama, Online, 16 December 2022, https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/blog\/2022\/12\/16\/mc\/ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article has been prepared with the support provided to the International Relations Council<\/a> and the Global Academy<\/a> by the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Stiftung Association Turkey Representative within the scope of the project titled ‘Foreign Policy for the 21st Century; Peaceful, Equitable, and Dynamic Turkey’.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Copyright@UIKPanorama. All on-line and print rights reserved. Opinions expressed in works published by the Panorama belongs to the authors alone unless otherwise stated, and do not imply endorsement by the IRCT, Global Academy, or the Editors\/Editorial Board of Panorama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The naming preferences of either the Turkish \u201cCyprus Peace Operation\u201d in 1974 or the American \u201cOperation Enduring Freedom\u201d during 2001-2014 remind me of \u00d6zdemir Asaf\u2019s famous lines, \u201cAll colors were getting dirty fast \/ They have championed the white\u201d [\u201cB\u00fct\u00fcn renkler h\u0131zla kirleniyordu\/Birincili\u011fi beyaza verdiler\u201d]. Thus, as in George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984, \u201cWar is peace, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":9767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[510,486,508],"tags":[656,713,650],"class_list":["post-11461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-years-of-the-republic","category-opinion","category-turkey","tag-english","tag-heinrich-boll-foundation","tag-turkiye"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}