For example, let us remember the debate over the question "Will Turkey become another Malaysia?" The sophisticated men and women of the journalism profession would go to Malaysia to report the urgent news. What happened in the end? We have all forgotten about it. All those exaggerated statements and meaningless comments. They were all discussed, but for what purpose or end? A big nothing. The only outcome of those debates was to exhaust the internal energy of the country.Now we have a fresh topic to discuss: the sultanate. At first glance, you would think that the debate is over a banner that read, "Last Ottoman sultan, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan I," displayed during the opening ceremony of the new Metrobus line. Is this true? Absolutely not. This matter had been discussed by certain people before. Furthermore, the person who put up the banner was quickly detained and the banner itself was taken down. Certain people choose to turn a deaf ear to Erdoğan's words: "The sultanate has been terminated, as have kingdoms and single-man authority." Some are even trying to equate this banner with the infamous "Army, take action" sign. This is unbelievable. On one side were those who were dying to make sure that a military coup was launched and who resorted to all manner of provocations to this end, and on the other side was a banner that was unfurled suddenly and that was rejected by the party's officials.
It is true that Turkey's star is shining. As a matter of fact, it is making significant progress toward EU membership, on one front, and it is becoming more influential in its region, on another front. And it has not abandoned its close cooperation with the US while doing all this. Some people who tend to view everything from the limited perspective of daily politics fail to analyze this new situation correctly. For instance, in order to criticize Erdoğan's Davos walkout, they resort to the same old argument of Turkey's alienation from the West. This is a perfect illusion. Indeed, Erdoğan had gone to Davos after two days of talks in Brussels. How can one call this alienation from the West, given the mobilization for the country's EU bid? In a sense, Hillary Clinton's visit to Turkey serves as a refutation of this thesis. Clinton announced that US President Barack Obama will visit Turkey in one month.
The sympathy felt toward Turkey is not restricted to former Ottoman territories. Whether the Turkish Parliament was right in rejecting the government motion of March 1, 2003, allowing US troops to use Turkish territory in the war against Iraq is open to discussion, but it is obvious that Turkey's image as a country that can act independently has been reinforced since that time. Similarly, Erdoğan's Davos protest was viewed from this perspective by the world public. His protest had major repercussions, particularly in the countries that could not fend off the feeling of being oppressed. Nevertheless, it is wrong to describe these developments as the birth a new Ottoman Empire. Moreover, this discourse sounds disturbing to the countries that are our close friends, particularly Muslim countries. There is sympathy toward Turkey both in Russia and in African countries. The aspect of Turkey that is favored is this: It is a country that can maintain its progress toward democracy despite all interventions, a country that has integrated with the West despite barriers raised by certain EU countries, a country that insists on its EU bid and does not refrain from implementing democratic reforms while protecting its Muslim identity at the same time.
The intentions of some of those who are perpetuating this debate over the sultanate are suspicious. If that ill intention did not exist, they would also have been bothered by the "Dear son," banner, which contains the advice given by Sheikh Edebali -- an influential scholar who helped shape the policies of the Ottoman state -- to his son that is hanging in the office of the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader. Some groups had already been advertising this "sultan" label for the prime minister. For instance, some six months ago the Tempo journal had an image of Erdoğan wearing a sultan's caftan and sitting on a throne on its front page. Since then, this argument has been repeatedly exhausted in a number of articles. Interestingly, ultranationalist publications (some of them pro-Ergenekon) have been discussing this issue insistently. You cannot fool the general public. Actually, the target of this campaign is not the general public, but certain members of the judiciary who they deem to be close to them. They are sending their message to certain senior judges and prosecutors. In other words, what we are seeing once again is yet another attempt at social engineering, and this one is trying to provoke the justice system that must, by definition, refrain from ideology. Those who noisily complain about the sultanate are actually trying to make sure that their autocratic feudal rule remains.
