He said, "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." He then conducted his first interview as president with Al Arabiya, an Arabic news station based in Dubai. In his interview he said: "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that." He vowed to improve relations with the Muslim world, to communicate better with Muslims and listen to them more carefully. While Turkey was experiencing the Feb. 28 process since the mid-1990s, a quasi-Feb. 28 process has been dominating the world since Sept. 11, 2001. This process, which incriminated Muslims and resorted to violence to suppress them, intensified the world's fever. Similar to the situation in Turkey, Muslims around the world were blamed for crimes they did not commit and were always under suspicion. In both cases, the process did not emerge from concrete evidence, but by advocating certain images and perceptions. In both, some laws were suspended and the legal system succumbed to political interests. Those with power tried to rule with an iron fist, believing they could control people by inciting fear. Moreover, they believed -- like most powerful figures in history -- that they would have power forever.
There was a desire to implement the neocon idea of arranging the world by force in Turkey as well. Do you recall the conversations of retired Gen. Hurşit Tolon that were posted on the Internet? Referring to İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerah in an impolite tone, he said the governor did not have the guts to replace Celalettin and that the general of the army should call the governor and tell him to put pressure on the police chief by threatening him.
What he is saying is that if you intimidate them, you can bring them into line. He demands that Cerah should be replaced with another judge, politician or government official. He has the kind of mentality that anyone who does not line up on the right side should be eliminated. Don't you think the action of Tolon and similar men are identical to the mentality of the neocons?
As the occupation of Iraq enters its sixth year, neocon policies are ending in fiasco these days. Violence led to more violence. The iron fist killed millions of innocent people and thousands of innocent Americans were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, for which there is still controversy over who orchestrated the attacks. Today, America is seeking to change this mentality. In response, Obama wrote a letter to Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmelettin İhsanoğlu, expressing his "staunch confidence in the ability of the US and the OIC to work together in a spirit of peace and friendship for the sake of building a more secure world over the next four years."
Obama will visit Turkey as part of efforts to solidify this understanding and win the support of the Muslim world. Meanwhile, Turkey is trying to cleanse itself of secretive organizations and develop into a country where armed men cannot conduct politics of have officials remaining within their sphere of influence. But in my view, the Feb. 28 mentality is experiencing great struggles in maintaining its existence in Turkey and in the world.
