It was not difficult to find evidence for this. Turkey had been imagining itself as an indispensable player in the region. But because of the policy it was pursuing, it failed to be included in the tour of US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. In a post-Davos world, Turkey was completely discredited.But things did not go as those who have been voicing these kinds of arguments, both inside and outside the country, expected. Indeed, soon Mitchell made his appearance in Ankara. Moreover, senior-level talks were not restricted to this. First Obama phoned both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül, conveying his compliments to them. Then, last Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to Turkey. She made frequent references to Turkey's "global leadership." She also announced that Obama would soon visit Turkey.
The reason those who promote the abovementioned analysis were so wrong is that their hatred against a government with a religious identity prevents them from engaging in objective analysis. Another reason is that they tend to confuse their political scenarios with realities.
Let us start with the first one: If for a moment they can dispense with their fury, they will be able to see that in this period Turkey has made historical initiatives both in the West and in the East. So many parties that were extremely assertive with respect to modernization have assumed control of the government. But the most concrete step with respect to modernization, the start of negotiations for EU membership, was taken by this government, which has been frequently accused of having a secret Islamic agenda. Has Turkey tilted toward the West and forgotten the East altogether? For the first time, Turkey was elected to the office of general secretary of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Due to the successful performance of Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu as the secretary-general of the organization, the members agreed to grant him another term. For the first time, Turkey established contact with the Arab League. It became the strategic partner of the African Union. Relations with the Turkic world and Russia were reinforced. Thanks to these efforts, Turkey was elected as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council by securing a record 80 percent support from UN member states.
The second reason for this distorted analysis is quite obvious: to turn important groups inside and outside the country against the government and add legitimacy to anti-democratic initiatives by continuously repeating the misinformation that the AK Party has an Islamic agenda.
Those who are blindly repeating the argument that Turkey has been moving away from the West fail to see the fact that the West will not abandon this new Turkey. There are two reasons for this: positive and negative. The positive reason is that Turkey has recently become a player whose weight is noticeable in the region. There is no issue where Turkey can be ignored, be it in Afghanistan, Darfur, Palestine, Lebanon, the Caucasus or Iraq or on energy or terror. Turkey no longer issues meaningless condemnations of important incidents. Rather, it has developed a unique attitude and strategy. It is active with respect to the Shiite-Sunni conflict in Iraq and the crisis between Afghans and Pakistanis. It plays a role not only in Lebanon, but also regarding the conflict between Hamas and Fatah and between Israel and Syria. Moreover, it acts as a model for harmony with its Muslim identity and democracy. The US and Europe can hardly be expected to exclude such a country.
The negative reason for not excluding Turkey is evident when the costs of such are taken into consideration. Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who can be viewed as the coldest politician in Europe regarding Turkey's membership, is aware of this fact. At a forum in Berlin she said, "Whatever the final decision about Turkey is, this country must be bound tighter to Europe." For this reason, even if Turkey's full membership is treated in ambiguous or open-ended statements in EU documents, this much is clearly stressed: Turkey must be anchored to Europe. In this respect, the following statement in the Negotiation Framework Document is considerably important: "If Turkey is not in a position to assume in full all the obligations of membership, it must be ensured that Turkey is fully anchored in the European structures through the strongest possible bond."
In conclusion, it is groundless to view Turkey's every contact with the East as part of a tilt away from the West. On the contrary, our value to the West will increase as we boost our activity in the East. This country will be visited by the pope, the British queen, the Saudi king and Obama alike. Then, who knows? We may even enter the EU via Asia.
