We Turks always measure ourselves and our deeds by the criteria of Westerners. It was interesting to read the opinion of an Arab intellectual who compared the two “Eastern” leaders and came up with a tally.
Alhomayed warns us, though, “This [article] is not to compare between Erdoğan and Ahmadinejad, but rather to know where Iran stands today in comparison with Turkey, and the implications of this.”
He then goes on to analyze the Turkish prime minister's visit to Egypt, where he “received a hero's welcome.” He finds this rather unusual because Egypt has always sought the leadership of the Arab world. Egyptian leaders believed that if there would be an Arab unity, it would be under Egypt's guidance and initiative.
It was not just politics or diplomatic maneuvers, as Erdoğan went to Egypt accompanied by nearly 300 businessmen of all sorts. He tried to forge a wide and sustainable business relationship with this country in order to create an economic center of gravity in the Levant (eastern Mediterranean) where other neighboring countries could come into play.
He also raised eyebrows with the transitional (military) leaders of Egypt like Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman, but especially the Muslim Brotherhood, by saying that the best option for them was to build a secular, rather than a religious state. He repeated the same advice in Tunisia, his next stop, where the Arab Spring started. Here again his entourage of businessmen sought new opportunities in unison with their Tunisian counterparts.
That is not all. “Prior to Erdoğan's visits, the Turkish foreign minister was one of the first officials in the region to travel to Benghazi after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's authoritarian regime,” in order to seek alliances with groups that are likely to build a more popular regime in Libya. Turkey extended considerable aid to the freedom fighters and deserved the cheers of the Libyan people during the visit of the Turkish prime minister.
“What about the Iranian president?” Alhomayed asks, answering as follows, “Ahmadinejad did not visit one Arab country that had been affected [by the Arab Spring], so much so that any observer would have almost forgotten the name of Tehran's minister of foreign affairs.” The same is true for Ahmadinejad, who did not visit any influential Muslim country apart from Sudan when he left Tehran to participate in the UN General Assembly in New York.
Alhomayed finds this move rather ironic because the Sudanese president, for whom there is an outstanding international arrest warrant, is one of the rare defendants of Ahmadinejad on the international scene. Ahmadinejad later visited Mauritania, which has neither clout nor leadership to influence the surrounding region and the Middle East. “What is the meaning of all this?” Alhomayed wonders. “The simple and short answer,” he says, “is that Iran is in a state of international and regional isolation, whilst Erdoğan's Turkey is currently spreading its influence and strengthening its position, specifically in areas affected by the Arab earthquake.”
Alhomayed asserts that Turkey is trying to fill the current vacuum in the region. The vacuum he is referring to (although he does not qualify it as such) is both democracy or popular government and free cooperation of nations that have been strained by dictators with an agenda of their own.
In contrast, he points his finger at a parallel but sinister initiative Ahmadinejad is masterminding by visiting both Sudan and Mauritania. “If we consider the geographical location of Khartoum and Nouakchott, and their proximity to Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, it is clear that Iran wants to escape from its isolation by maneuvering in geographical areas close to the Arab states currently feeling their way towards rebuilding their political regimes. Meanwhile, Turkey is seizing the initiative and expanding [its influence] in the region to fill a clear Arab vacuum that is waiting to be filled.”
What this means is that Turkey promotes values of democracy while Iran is doing just the opposite and working against the will and interests of the people. This is being acknowledged by more and more people.
