Erdogan seemed quite serene and composed in his conversation with the journalists who addressed him with frank questions. I guess the prime minister’s vacation in Ekinlik Island did have a good effect on him. Sitting at the table was Fehmi Koru, Taha Akyol, Mustafa Karaalioglu and Fatih Karaca. As it may be known, one auxiliary building of Dolmabahce Palace, which housed Sultans in the nineteenth century, has been converted into an office for the prime minister. The journalists talked with him out in the garden. The weather was nice, and the Bosporus view was pleasant as usual. With this kind of warm atmosphere we did have a nice chat out there.
What were the contents of all this conversation with the prime minister? Well, actually, it was a kind of conversation that included questions, answers and comments on a wide range of topics. But it remains that nothing the prime minister said can be counted as official statements. For that reason, it would be wrong to take his words verbatim and to put them here as a dialogue. For this was not a “meeting” where words were tape-recorded, or written down. Most of the words weren’t even meant to be written down. Was the bulk of this conversation made of up things not to be disclosed? Certainly not! Let me give you a clue: the prime minister seemingly kept thinking about an interview with Larry King he was going to have immediately following our discussion. Every once in a while, he asked questions to Akif Beki, his press secretary, to be notified about official issues. While we were having our chat, a team from CNN was making preparations out in the garden for the interview. And at midnight, Larry King interviewed the prime minister, which received extensive coverage from the Turkish media. Most of the ideas put into words in this interview had already been brought up in our conversation. After all, nothing new was added to former statements about Iraq, the Middle East, and the problematic situation in southeastern Turkey. No statement of the kind which can be described as sensational has ever been made, since it would not be appropriate to have such statements made in a conversation of this sort. Therefore, the conversation drifted sometimes into the possibility of a cross-border operation and sometimes into claims of match-fixing in Turkish football. It also drifted into recent formations in domestic politics and sometimes to memories that made all of us smile.
During the conversation, the prime minister has also talked on the phone a few times. All his telephone conversations were used to celebrate the holy night of Regaib, the first Thursday of the three holy months in the Islamic calendar. He sent his best wishes to all who called him. On one call he even told all of our names to someone on the other end of the line just to convey our best wishes as well. On this occasion, some expressed their hopes for such future informal meetings with people from the business world. At this point, the prime minister was reminded of an editorial by Hasan Cemal, who claimed that the government gets little support from the business world. The prime minister, in turn, expressed his agreement with the idea of having informal talks with agents from the business world where these things can be the subject-matter for far more frank discussions.
I found the prime minister to be quite determined and resolute to do away with PKK’s terrorist activities. Maybe there is not a high likelihood of an immediate cross-border operation. However, the prime minister is stressing the need for teamwork between the Iraqi government, the American administration and Turkish officials in Ankara in the fight against terror, which, he later said, needs to be actualized. The prime minister got sentimental as he emphasized the need for inclusion of the people in southeastern Turkey into the social fabric, the need for social tolerance across the country and the need to obliterate division in society. No matter which side of the country one may be attached to, nationalism in its extreme form always did a bad job of cutting off people from their cultural and historical ties. The prime minister was also upset all about the negative efforts meant to blockade economic, political and cultural progress.
The wish to have Zidane play in Turkey
As the conversation turned to football, we had a specific talk about the last World Cup finals and Zidane. He asked whether Zidane can be counted on as someone who could help the Turkish government to forge better relations with France in its march towards the European Union. I can sense the prime minister’s high regard for Zidane’s outstanding football skills. He even wished that some Turkish football clubs could have had Zidane play in Turkey for one year at the most. It must be nice to have a dream of Zidane, the Algerian-born French player, playing for a Turkish football club even after he stopped playing professional football. When the subject turned to Zidane’s head-butting an Italian footballer, the prime minister began to tell his own stories as a young football player. He said he was shown a yellow card only one time. He told a story of himself hearing profanity, similar to the one Zidane heard.
You know what is odd? On the morning of the day after this conversation was held, reporters kept telephoning me, one after another, to learn of the contents of our conversation with the prime minister. It was a typical conversation – the kind of talk that is most likely to be had when people from politics as well as from the media come together – only with a twist this time: it was not really a conversation in the formal sense of the word; it was, rather, a chat. I presume the prime minister will have similar talks with agents from the business world, apart from those from the media. And I think that such talks will be of great benefit to all of us. The situation is this: The prime minister needs such stress-free meetings; plus, the kind of people who are expected to ask sensible questions to the prime minister and who are also counted on to convey their thoughts to him need such meetings as well. We had this chat in the Musahiban apartment building of Dolmabahce Palace. As may well be known, the word ‘musahabe’ comes from the word ‘sohbet,’ signifying the meaning of mutual talks. In this regard, it was a chat that perfectly matched the name of this apartment – plus it was really enlightening.
