Yes, some of them are talking about a major shift in Turkey’s foreign policy from West to East, the end of the European Union process, blah, blah, blah, but anyway since the hardcore nationalists are against Turkey’s EU bid, they cannot use this argument that strongly.What makes them happy, even if they are not able to say this openly, are the genes of imperialism that they think are in their blood.
Thank God I don’t have them, but I have to admit, although I have been to Syria and Damascus many times, my last visit gave me a different feeling. It was a great pleasure to be able to enter Syria without a visa and to be more warmly received than ever by the locals due to Turkey’s rapprochement policy.
I will try to explain the reasons for this feeling, but first I have to say that I was about to die from jealousy of Denmark, and if I did not die, it was just because I don’t have imperialistic genes.
This tiny country up in the north has an independent organization, the Danish Institute in Damascus, established in a wonderful large mansion in the middle of the old city and has the means to invite many experts from all over the world to discuss Turkey and the Middle East.
The only thing the Turkish Embassy in Damascus could offer those experts and prominent intellectuals of the conference was a speech by Ambassador Ömer Önhon and a concert on the anniversary of Nov. 10, but only for Turkish participants.
My bad news for those who think they have imperialistic genes is not only limited to that. I heard from the Arab participants that this neo-Ottomanism idea of theirs is not welcomed. It is true, most Arabs don’t hesitate to say how they admire Turkey, but they are looking for relationships on an equal basis.
All the presentations at the conference, also sponsored by International Media Support (IMS), were very good and mind broadening. I learned a lot from them, but I want to underline one sentence from one of the participants -- Jihad el-Zein from the daily An-Nahar:
“Arab intellectuals had negative misunderstandings about Turks [before the rapprochement], but they have positive misunderstandings now.”
He means in the past some Arab intellectuals used to think that Turkey was the agent of the West in the region, preferred Israel against the Arabs, was untrustworthy and so on. But now they think that finally Turkey has turned its face to its origins and is joining the camp to save the Muslim and Arab world.
He definitely has a point. I can also say the same for some Turks, too; in the past, they misunderstood the Arab world, and some of them still do. Some Turks think, “How nice, we will be able to sell more biscuits,” or some of them are dreaming of teaching “modernization” to this “backward” culture.
Apart from these misunderstandings, which are not that strong and can easily be corrected, the rapprochement process contains some questions that have to be answered: What are the real aims of the governments? Do they really mean real cooperation or are they just looking at the process from a strategic point of view? Is this policy realistic? And so on.
Also, the implications to the West of this new process, not only to Turkey-EU relations but in general, should be evaluated, too.
I think some Europeans also misunderstand the process. Maybe they are not saying this openly, but they are happy to think that finally, Turkey has found its place and is giving up its EU bid.
Putting aside all these misunderstandings and question marks, I think if this new period will stand firm, it will be useful for the whole region and will bring prosperity, but still one more thing is required: the interaction of people with each other.
For me, this new period will not be complete if it remains only as economic cooperation or high government strategy and as long as civil society organizations are not supporting each other and sharing their experiences. As long as the women of the region are not meeting to contribute to each other’s lives and people are not coming together to save the Mediterranean or to help refugees in the region, this project will not mean that much to me.
Because it is time for interaction among people, not for imperialism.
