Only a week after a US congressional committee labeled the killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I genocide at the cost of damaging bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington, with Ankara recalling its ambassador to the US, the Swedish parliament branded the same killings as genocide last Thursday. On Friday, Turkey’s ambassador to Sweden returned to İstanbul. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also cancelled an upcoming summit between Turkey and Sweden. Turkey’s recent moves have put Turkish foreign policy and its long-praised main actors, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the intellectual architect of the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) foreign policy, and Prime Minister Erdoğan under the spotlight.Radikal’s Oral Çalışlar has concerns that these recent moves would mean a step back for Turkish foreign policy. Stating that the AK Party government has been trying to prove that they want to change the course of Turkish foreign policy and that they “enjoy reiterating that they follow a zero-problem policy with neighbors,” he says, however, recent developments imply that Turkey has returned to “traditional foreign policy.” “They [the government] recalled the ambassadors to the countries where ‘genocide’ bills were approved, and it is still unclear when they will return. It seems that in the following days ‘genocide’ bills could also be passed in some other European countries. If we show similar reactions, it will be inevitable that we will have diplomatic problems with many leading European countries [many of whom support Turkey’s EU bid and are trying to improve relations with Turkey],” he says. Çalışlar labels Turkey’s recent style of diplomacy “furious.” “One cannot help thinking that when looking at this new furious approach, there was no need for Davutoğlu. This policy can best be implemented by [Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman] Onur Öymen. Bring him to the post and put an end to everything,” he complains, referring to Öymen’s praising of a tragic massacre in Dersim (now Tunceli) in 1937.
Taraf daily Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Altan also criticizes Erdoğan and Davutoğlu for their recent stances, saying they have been recently putting on an unsuccessful act, unlike their past performance. “If we continue to act with Erdoğan and Davutoğlu’s narrow-mindedness, our prime ministers will not be able to find a country to visit in the future because they are narrowing their world more and more with ordinary statements and gestures that lack creativity. Just as they were getting ready to be included among the brightest stars of diplomacy, they have plunged in with simplistic attitudes, he says. Stating that Erdoğan and Davutoğlu are pushing themselves and Turkey towards isolation, Altan says both they and Turkey will lose if they carry on with these policies. “It would be very easy in a country that has broken off its ties from the world to stage coups and cause trouble for the civilian government by judicial and military means,” he warns.
