“Foreign policy affairs cannot be conducted with sentimentalism, with a mentality to bargain on everything. They [the government] made Turkey’s honor subject to bargaining for $1 billion in Dubai. ... This can hardly be defined as [good] foreign policy. But it is defined as treason under the law.“The EU [European Union] is quite important. We do not accept the double standards applied to us. You [the EU] will either give us a date [for accession] in a decent manner, or we will go on our way.”
These sentences belong to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was elected as the new chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) last weekend with -- using his own words -- a “fait accompli,” i.e., with the winds blown into his sails by the Doğan Media Group in the aftermath of a sex tape scandal that toppled the former CHP leader. I listened to the speech he delivered during the party congress, and I scanned all the news stories and articles written about this speech. Then, I went back to the speech and perused it once again. There is nothing related to foreign policy. You may or may not consider these simple and superficial sentences a foreign policy vision, but you cannot find any more than these three ambiguous sentences -- which do not tell us anything about foreign policy -- in the “historic” 75-minute speech of Kılıçdaroğlu, who seems to be buying into the partisan media’s kingmaker campaign.
Yet, foreign policy is an area which no politician who seriously considers himself/herself a potential candidate for the prime ministry can ignore in Turkey, a country which, with its growing economy, spreading culture and developing social relations, is now fully integrated with the globalizing world, and which not only tries to improve its historically problematic ties with its neighbors, but also gives serious thought to regional and global issues in a series of recently launched foreign policy initiatives. If your goal is to secure and maintain the peace and security of Turkey, you cannot do it without foreign policy moves. If you have concerns about the integrity of the country or national unity, you cannot eliminate them without assuming active foreign policy roles.
If your focus in on improving employment and the overall economic prosperity of your citizens by solving economic problems and ensuring stable growth, then you must have a foreign policy vision. You will not be able to improve the country’s economy or maintain sustainable development without establishing amiable bilateral and multilateral relations with your neighbors and near or distant international players. Whether you will be able to keep your promises for employment and prosperity for everyone -- which you generously make just for the sake of populism and cheap popularity -- is more closely related to what you can do in foreign policy than you might think.
Although certain media organizations advertise some “great change in the CHP,” I really could not quite understand what has changed in the CHP except for some positions within the party. Has Kılıçdaroğlu said something about the solution to the Kurdish issue without ever mentioning it openly? Or have I missed something? Has he voiced worthwhile views about the problems of religious minorities in this country? Did I miss something about what he said about how to solve the Cyprus issue or how he would conduct the negotiations with the EU or what his views are about normalization with Armenia or about Turkey’s relations with the US, Russia and China?
Some groups may enthusiastically believe that he will certainly be prime minister, but does he really believe that peace and economic welfare can be achieved without developing a consistent policy about Iraq, a country that is currently in the throes of restructuring? Does he think that he can ensure Turkey will be safe by just sitting and silently watching what happens to Iran, which is atop the international agenda and a target for the big guns in connection with the nuclear row? Although he makes it clear that he will pursue a pro-Denktaş line in Cyprus, he fails to make any mention of our relations with the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia and even the Middle East. As he scorns the $1 billion in funds from Dubai, he will, we assume, force the mints to work overtime to fund the financial resources he promises to distribute to the poor lavishly.
It is not only scandalous, but also sad that only three cryptic sentences fall to the share of foreign policy in his harangue, replete with populism-tainted empty rhetoric and without a single sign of dispensing with the entrenched infamous red lines of the CHP. Perhaps, Kılıçdaroğlu, who, it appears, will be giving similar tirades in future in the CHP tradition of doing much talk and blocking every good development, may enlighten us about his secretly kept foreign policy vision in the coming days, if there is one.
