The summer of 2003 was no different. That year my poolside reading was a book called “Strategic Depth.” It was written by Professor Ahmet Davutoğlu, an academic-turned-advisor to the Turkish prime minister. At first it appeared to be loaded with strategic terminology and lengthy discussions on Turkey’s foreign policy. Soon I came to realize that a true treasure lay in my hand and I devoured the book within a couple of days. Little did I know then that the book I was reading was pretty much the blueprint for a new Turkey foreign policy that would transform Turkey from its Cold War satellite status into a regional powerhouse. It provided a significant contribution to the intellectual underpinnings of Turkey’s new foreign policy. Listening to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the Turkish Parliament last week truly signified the zenith of Turkey’s rising status and weight in the Middle East. Within a short time span of just five years, Turkish foreign policy has been steered successfully into its current position. Gone is the third-world status of the Cold War era. Turkey is negotiating with the European Union and is consistently developing as a regional energy hub. What is at hand is a rising hegemon with unique relations with Israel, Palestine, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Not long ago, last year in fact, some Turkish analysts snubbed the current government’s policies in the Middle East. Turkey was only “pretending to be a player in this region,” said these pundits, with some scorn. However, Turkey’s role in Lebanon, its proactivism vis-à-vis the Israeli-Pakistani meeting, its constructive role in Iraq as well as its influence over Syria are only some indications of Turkey’s changing role in this volatile region. More importantly, how Middle Easterners perceive Turkey has changed radically over the last five years. Most Arabs acknowledge Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s principled stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They also admired Turkey’s unwillingness to allow US troops to invade Iraq from the north. A good number of Middle Easterners follow Turkey’s EU drive with great interest. Turkish op-eds are frequently translated into Arabic. For most Middle Easterners İstanbul and Ankara are European cities. Turkey is growing economically, increasingly liberalizing its body politic and is setting a unique example for most Muslim countries in the region. In Turkey Islam and democracy, secularism and pluralism, coexist successfully. True, there is still a distance to be traveled, particularly on how to respond to the needs of citizens of non-Turkish descent. That said, the 1.2 million Kurds who voted for the Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) in 2002 this time voted for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the July 22 election, clearly preferring a national political party over the Democratic Society Party’s (DTP) narrow identity politics.
Although there are still some who either are blind to the monumental transformation this country has undergone, Turkey has become a regional hegemon. This is more evident when one travels abroad and experiences first hand how Turkey is discussed. The Turkish economy, its armed forces, its democracy and its dynamism are unrivalled in the region. Turkey’s European vocation, though complicated, still is an important catalyst for further change. Turkey’s growing self-confidence will eventually be shared by most Turks, despite the ideological confrontation pervading our political life. The numerous ghosts the conservative state elite is attempting to revive will not be able to subvert this country’s growing eminence. Despite strong domestic resistance, Turkey is consolidating its democracy. On the foreign policy front Turkey is increasingly making full use of its strategic depth in all directions. Friends and foes had best take note.
