The Danish Institute in Damascus, which is a self-governing institution set up in 1995 in an agreement between Denmark and Syria, held the conference with the participation of intellectuals from Europe, Turkey and the Arab world, to explore the changes Turkey has been through in political, economic and social terms in order to understand how Turkey views its place in the world today, and specifically in regard to the Middle East. Conference participants also tried to find answers to the question of how this development influences the region and Turkey’s relationship with Europe. The conference invitation stated that Turkey’s relations with Europe have consistently been soured and cooled by hesitancy and ambivalence from the European side and that Turkey has steadily, over the last decade, been received more warmly by Middle Eastern actors as an active component of the region.
“In regard to the Middle East, it is safe to say that American self-alienation -- leaving a vacuum for lesser players like Turkey and Qatar to fill -- has been important, as has the political disappointment with Europe. Other obvious factors may be the fierce American-Russian energy struggle in Central Asia and internally the ascent to power of Islam oriented parties such as Refah [Welfare party] and AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party]. These factors may only be short term ‘changeable,’ and the conference wishes to establish or understand whether or to what extent more long-term determinants, external or internal, have lead to this significant shift in policy and orientation,” the letter said.
The key note speaker, William Hale, professor of Turkish politics at the University of London, explained to the audience that in the Cold War, Turkish foreign policy was based on the “overriding concern of security” but it later changed when the late Turgut Özal was president.
He added that after Özal’s death some years were lost but since the AK Party has come to power, Turkey has started to implement an active foreign policy, the architect of which is Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.
In one of the afternoon sessions at the conference, Associate Professor Nazan Üstündağ from Bogaziçi University discussed “Turkishness and How it Defines Internal Turkish Relations”; Professor Feride Acar from Middle East Technical University elaborated on “Gender as an Example of Social Change in Turkey”; Professor Kemal Kirişçi from Boğaziçi University spoke on “Civilianizing Turkish Foreign Policy: The Role of Civil Society in Turkey’s Relations with Its Neighbors”; and Professor Ziya Öniş from Koç University discussed “Turkey During the AK Party Era, the Challenge of Democratic Consolidation.”
