Davutoğlu argues that Turkish foreign policy had been unbalanced, with an overemphasis on ties with Western Europe and the United States to the neglect of Turkey's interests with other countries, particularly in the Middle East. His vision displays familiar characteristics of "neo-Ottomanism," which builds on the approach of former President Turgut Özal. According to this view Turkey needs to rediscover its imperial legacy and seek a new national consensus where the multiple identities of Turkey can coexist. Three factors help define the neo-Ottoman tendencies of the AKP. The first is the willingness to come to terms with Turkey's Muslim and Ottoman heritage at home and abroad. Neo-Ottomanism does not call for Islamic governance in Turkey or Turkish imperialism in the Middle East and the Balkans. Instead, it seeks a less militant understanding of secularism at home and "soft" Turkish influence in formerly Ottoman territories. Similarly, neo-Ottomanism's willingness to embrace Turkey's imperial and Islamic legacy opens the door for a less ethnic concept of Turkishness. In other words, neo-Ottomanism is at peace with the multiethnic and cosmopolitan nature of the state. Thanks to the common denominator provided by Islam, such a mindset sees no major threat behind Kurdish cultural rights and the expression of Kurdish national identity.
This more flexible mindset, in turn, leads to the second characteristic of neo-Ottomanism: a sense of grandeur and self-confidence in foreign policy. Neo-Ottomanism sees Turkey as a regional superpower. Its strategic vision and culture reflects the geographic reach of the Ottoman and Byzantine empires. Turkey, as a pivotal state, should thus play a very active diplomatic, political and economic role in a wide region of which it is the "center."
According to Kemalists, this ambitious vision is utterly unrealistic. It constitutes a dangerous departure from republican norms -- such as the idea of allowing Kurds to have cultural rights or giving Islam more political space. The Kemalist paradigm considers neo-Ottomanism naïve, adventurous and potentially harmful to Turkey's national interests. Traditional republican foreign policy refuses to contemplate pan-Turkic or Islamic openings in foreign policy on the grounds that they are against Atatürk's cautious precepts. Kemalist foreign policy puts a high premium on stability and the status quo as opposed to activism and change.
The third aspect of neo-Ottomanism is its goal of embracing the West as much as the Islamic world. Like the imperial city of İstanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, neo-Ottomanism is Janus-faced. Even on its deathbed, the Ottoman Empire was known as the sick man of Europe and not of Asia or Arabia. In that sense, the European legacy matters a great deal to neo-Ottomanism. Being open to the West and Western influences requires pragmatism and a willingness to adapt to changing norms. Such distance from dogma and ideological flexibility is largely absent in the mindset of Kemalist hard-liners, who consider Islam, multiculturalism and liberalism as potential enemies of the republican revolution and the need to preserve the post-revolutionary status quo. Not surprisingly, the AKP's ability to embrace the West has not impressed the Kemalists, who suspect a hidden Islamic agenda. As mentioned, the Kemalist establishment is suspicious of Westerners, whom they see as naive, permissive toward Islamists and dangerously tolerant of Kurdish nationalism.
In short, there are clear differences between Kemalism and neo-Ottomanism in these three main aspects of strategic culture. Where neo-Ottomanism favors an ambitious regional policy in the Middle East and beyond, Kemalism opts for modesty and caution. Where one favors multiculturalism and liberal secularism, the other prefers strict measures against headscarves and Kurdish ethnic identity. Where one is increasingly resentful of the EU and the United States, the other is actively pursuing EU membership and good relations with Washington.
