Turtles can fly

According to the fable, once upon a time there was a turtle who wanted to know how to fly. He wanted to cross over to the other side of the lake. The turtle’s friend, who was a bird, offered to help. He told the turtle to hold a stick in his mouth, which the bird would grasp to carry the turtle across the lake. But when they started to fly, the turtle got afraid and opened his mouth to shout, causing him to let go of the stick and fall down.

The lesson to be taken from this fable depends on the person. You can either take from it that if you cooperate, you can fly as long as there is no fear, or you can take from it that birds that think turtles can fly are not realistic.

Davutoğlu, during his two-day visit to Egypt, said several times that he was aware of the fact that his ideas about a prosperous and cooperative Middle East are considered unrealistic by some both in Turkey and abroad.

He had a point; a part of the Egyptian intelligentsia in particular thinks this way. They are always talking about the glorious old days and blaming every power except themselves for the situation in the Middle East, and these people are skeptical about Davutoğlu’s ideas on the Middle East.

According to some Egyptian intellectuals who are prone to believing conspiracy theories, Turkey is challenging the regional leadership of Egypt and trying to get the European Union ticket through its relations with the Middle East. A part of the Egyptian intelligentsia also perceives Davutoğlu and his policies regarding the region as an attempt to bring back the Ottoman era, which means occupation to Egyptians because of their Arab nationalism.

But Davutoğlu tried to explain himself in Egypt on several different occasions. While he was addressing the ministerial-level meeting of the Arab League on Tuesday, he said, “In our endeavors, we neither seek prestige nor self-interest; our aim is to promote regional ownership and a unified regional approach.”

He also underlined that Egypt and Turkey are not in competition but that as important countries of the region, they should apply a new approach and even a new paradigm based on full cooperation.

Another message that he emphasized was that his ministry’s aim is not only to reintegrate Turkey with its neighbors but also try to help with regional integrations. To this end, they have worked very hard on Iraqi-Syrian reconciliation, and they are ready to give all necessary support and help to Egypt’s efforts to ensure unity among Palestinian factions. He said that they are trying to set examples for regional integration.

Davutoğlu also underlined that it is not the time for competition but for cooperation and that if Turkey and Egypt are able to set common planning strategies and preferences, this will have a determining effect on the future of the region.

“The region belongs to us. We should not blame others, their colonialism or their imperialism. We should take our destiny into our hands. I don’t mean that we will not have problems, but we can develop our relations in a way that the relations will not produce problems but instead create a suitable atmosphere that will solve them,” Davutoğlu said on several different occasions in Egypt.

He also pointed to the rising powers of the world and warned that if regional countries continue to fight each other, these rising powers will become richer by controlling the region’s resources and manpower. But if the countries of the region can unite their assets, they might revive their glorious history.

He also outlined the formula for such a vision, based on four principles: economic interdependence, a common security system, high-level strategic dialogue and the coexistence of multicultural, multireligious life.

The skepticism, reluctance and lack of self-confidence of some Middle Eastern countries and intelligentsia made me think about the other phrase which kept my mind busy. It’s actually an idiom: “The pain of the racehorse that is obliged to walk with turtles.”