Australia sees Turkey as natural ally within G-20

The 95th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing will be commemorated next month with Australians and New Zealanders, some of whom are the descendants of the ANZAC soldiers who lost their lives on the Çanakkale battlegrounds while fighting against the defending Ottomans in 1915, flowing into Çanakkale’s Anzac Cove. Ambassador Doyle says Anzac Day is a good foundation to build a strong relationship on. Doyle, however, admits that the two countries should not just rely on sharing these precious memories of what is described as “gentlemanly war that has created a bond of mutual respect, admiration and friendship.”

Like almost every other ambassador based in Ankara, Doyle, in an interview with Today’s Zaman, expressed his deep interest in and appreciation for Turkey’s growing economy, while sharing his views regarding the two countries’ opportunities to achieve a better level of cooperation through their joint presence within the G-20.

“It’s a big issue for us and it’s a big issue for Turkey,” Doyle told Today’s Zaman, speaking about this joint presence within the G-20.

“From my perspective, it brought something new, a new beginning into the relationship between Australia and Turkey,” Doyle went on to say, and recalled that the G-20 existed for a long time at the finance minister level. “But in response to the global financial crisis, a number of leaders and governments agreed that this was the appropriate vehicle to mobilize global action on a heavyweight response to the crisis. It was very much Australia’s view that it was the appropriate forum and that it should be leader-led -- from the finance minister level to prime ministers and presidents.”

The G-20, or the Group of Twenty, is an international body that meets to discuss economic issues. Its members -- 19 countries which are some of the world’s biggest industrial and emerging economies, plus the European Union -- represent about 90 percent of the world’s gross national product (GNP), 80 percent of world trade and two-thirds of the global population.

“This is very much Turkey’s view as well. So we found ourselves as natural allies within the forum. The G-20 is much more representative. Yes the G-7 and the G-8 have played a very valuable role but I think there is broad acceptance, including by most G-7 members, that the G-20 was the appropriate forum in which to deal with financial and economic issues. As some G-7 leaders said, how can we talk about the global economy without China and India? The way that the G-8 engaged with those major economies was not really acceptable from the point of view of those major economies. So something new needed to be put on the plate. And it turned out to be the G-20,” Doyle remarked.

“On most of the key issues regarding the G-20, Australia and Turkey are on the same page and we’re working very closely together. The G-20 has been an opportunity for Australia and Turkey to sit and talk around the same table; this is the leading institution for financial and economic reform. It’s really been a very pleasing development,” Doyle said.

“On most of the key issues Australia and Turkey are working in a very similar way and we’re working very closely together. It has been something that has helped Australia and Turkey to talk at the same table. This is the leading institution for financial and economic reform. It’s really been a very pleasing development,” Doyle said.

Victims of own success within their regions

The volume of trade between the two countries stands at around $1 billion, which Doyle says is satisfactory. However, he is not able to use the same adjective to describe mutual investments by Australian and Turkish companies.

Doyle: Turkey’s Afghanistan policy was insightful Australia has about 1,550 soldiers serving in Afghanistan, with most based in Uruzgan, as part of Operation Slipper, the Australian military’s contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), while Turkey took over the rotating command of the Kabul Regional Command for ISAF in November and doubled its number of troops to around 1,750. “We share the same objectives: a stable, unified Afghanistan that is able to maintain control over its territory. Turkey and Australia are both contributing to that in a major way,” Australian Ambassador to Turkey Peter Doyle said in an interview with Today’s Zaman, calling Afghanistan another area in which Australia and Turkey are united in their objectives. When asked whether the two countries also shared the “recipe” for achieving those common objectives, Doyle responded: “Turkey was a little bit ahead of most of ISAF members and there has recently been a change in the general approach which took note of the fact that civil and military strategies work better together. And this is something Australia fully endorses. Although it is not new, recently the emphasis has been stronger on the need for having the Afghan government and forces more in control. Again, that’s something that Turkey had strongly argued before many other countries eventually noticed.” He added: “Turkey had a very important role in sharing how it could deliver within Afghanistan. Australia is fully on board with this strategy.” Over the last few years, Turkey -- a country which has had relations with Afghanistan since the 10th century -- has tirelessly warned the international community that using military means to bring stability to the war-torn country will not work unless these efforts are supported by strong civilian assistance to the country to enable it to stand on its own two feet. Ankara’s efforts have eventually yielded fruit, as the significance of the civilian aspect of the struggle in Afghanistan was boldly highlighted in a communiqué released after January’s international conference on Afghanistan, held in London. “Afghanistan faces formidable development challenges, which require sustained, long-term support from the international community. A better coordinated and resourced civilian effort is critical to overcoming these challenges. Economic growth, respect for Rule of Law and human rights alongside creation of employment opportunities, and good governance for all Afghans are also critical to counter the appeal of the insurgency, as well as being vital to greater stability in Afghanistan,” says 16th article of the communiqué under the subtitle “Development and governance.” Today’s Zaman Ankara

“We are in a sense victims of our own success within our regions. Turkey has been so successful in its trade relations with the European Union, the Middle East and Russia. Turkish business has achieved so much in all directions around the country in the last few years. Likewise, Australia has been very successful in East Asia and South Asia,” Doyle said. “Turkey is now the 17th largest economy in the world and will continue to grow; then it will become much more important and much higher on the radar of Australian business,” he added, while describing the Turkish business sector as “very impressive, very entrepreneurial and imaginative,” sounding hopeful about the future of mutual investments.

Another field Doyle attaches high importance to vis-a-vis bilateral relations is education. University-age students in Turkey are usually looking to the West and in Australia students from abroad generally come from China, India and Malaysia, he noted.

“Likewise in commercial relations, we are not focused on each other in this field. But there are opportunities and interests in having cooperation in this field. Australian universities are eager for cooperation with private and public universities in Turkey. Particularly in Ankara and İstanbul, the natural starting point is universities that are giving courses in the English language,” Doyle said, adding exploratory studies are currently being conducted by Australian and Turkish universities.

The ambassador also highlighted that Turkish citizens have the opportunity to become beneficiaries of the Australian government’s Endeavour Awards, an internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship program providing opportunities for citizens of the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas to undertake study, research and professional development in Australia.

A flexible and evolving sense of identity

A page allocated to bilateral relations between Australia and Turkey on the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s Web site says, “The warm sentiments between Turkish and Australian nations were best voiced in the message of the Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which was sent to the Australian and New Zealand mothers in 1934.”

It continues: “Those heroes that shed their blood/And lost their lives…/You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country/Therefore rest in peace. /There is no difference between the Johnnies/And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side/Here in this country of ours…”

Doyle emphasized that his country deeply appreciates the cooperation it receives from the Turkish authorities in putting together the Anzac Day commemorations each year.

“It’s something that we value very highly and that we don’t take granted.” Checking the same page on the Foreign Ministry’s Web site, one can also see that there have been more than a dozen bilateral agreements signed between Ankara and Canberra, the first being signed in 1935 on Civil and Trade Issues.

“Among all the bilateral agreements, the agreement which we reached 1967 about Turkish migration is interesting to me. And we actually made that agreement before we established an embassy here. So people-to-people links were more important in a way than official links,” Doyle said, referring to the 1967 Agreement on Residence and Employment of Turkish Citizens in Australia and to the fact that the Australian Embassy was opened in Turkey in 1968.

“So we come back to people-to-people links,” he added, reiterating the importance he attaches to people-to-people relations in the two countries’ bilateral relations.

When Doyle speaks of people-to-people relations, the successful integration policies of the Australian government come to one’s mind. One-third of Australia’s approximately 22 million citizens were born outside the country and there are about 60,000 Australians of Turkish origin. One of the major reasons behind Australia’s success is widely considered to be its unique way of attracting immigrants as future citizens and, unlike Europe in its handling of migration, its willingness to encourage the workers to come to Australia with their spouses and families and settle there.

“Migration overall contributed brightly to our success as a nation,” Doyle said, underlining that Australia is a nation of immigrants and that most Australians can identify with the migrant experience.

“We see migration as a good thing, not as a problem to be managed. It is something that makes us stronger. If someone wants to live in Australia, we want them to live in Australia and we invite them to become citizens. Not every country has this approach,” he explained, recalling an exhibition that opened in Ankara on the 40th anniversary of the migration of Turkish workers to Australia and their becoming Australian citizens.

The exhibition, “We Came as Workers, We Stayed as Citizens,” was brought to Turkey in May 2008 by the Australian Embassy and prepared jointly by the Turkish 40th Anniversary Celebrations Committee Melbourne and the Immigration Museum in Victoria, Australia.

“They are Turks but they became Australian as well. That’s the other thing, I think in Australia we have a flexible and evolving sense of identity. There is no problem with being Turkish and Australian at the same time.”

Hopeful about Turkey’s painful journey

Doyle’s remarks about the sense of identity in his homeland reminds one of the fierce debates of the last few years in Turkey which have almost all revolved around the concept of identity, whether it be the Kurdish issue, the Armenian issue, the Alevi issue or the constitutional citizenship issue.

“Quite fundamental issues are addressed almost on a daily basis and people have extremely strong and diverging views on fundamental issues,” Doyle said, while noting that no similar debates are being held in Australia. “From an outsider’s perspective it is a fascinating study, but if you have to live through it then there are problems that you have to deal with. However, I think the way that the issues are now being discussed seems to be a good thing. Issues that were buried before are no longer buried and people are able to discuss issues and discuss them in a way that would have been difficult for a lot of people in the past. So this seems to be a very good thing to me,” he said.

“The end result will be a good result. However painful the journey, it is important that the main objective stays in sight. These are very important times for Turkey in the way that it is dealing with these issues.”