Sticking to EU path best panacea for change of axis claims

Pundits also emphasize that the best way for Turkey to counter these claims is to stick to the European Union path with renewed dynamism and expedite the process of harmonization with the rules and regulations of the 27-member bloc. In fact, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has carried out serious reforms to this end in a size and magnitude never before seen during the term of any previous Turkish government. But it also missed important opportunities to bring the country forward, as was seen in the shelved constitutional reform package of 2007.

    Özdem Sanberk, veteran diplomat and former undersecretary at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, says Turkey may, in fact, suffer from the possible negative consequences originating from these debates, stressing that Turkey should use multidimensional foreign policy initiatives to counter the so-called “black” propaganda.

    “The best way to get away from this cycle, despite all the obstacles created by the EU, is to continue working on the EU bid and to realize full democratization as soon as possible,” he told Sunday’s Zaman. “The only way to counter this slander is to reassert the country’s EU bid with a stronger emphasis,” he added.

    If there is something positive that came out of the discussion, it is self-criticism on the part of the EU, forcing some EU diplomats to question the stalled EU negotiations. Yasin Aktay, director of the Ankara-based think tank the Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE), said that some participants in these discussions are sincere and they really want to see Turkey more involved in Europe.

Aktay recalled remarks by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who stated that there is a need to “reflect” on the errors made by Europe in relation to Turkey. One of them is “pushing the Turks away towards the East instead of trying to attract them towards us,” Frattini said in an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “For some Europeans this discussion has turned into self-criticism and they have started to look for a way to revitalize relations with Turkey,” Aktay said.

Last week’s talk of Turkey’s “axis shift” away from the West has prompted debate in the European Parliament as well as at the foreign ministerial meeting of the 27-nation bloc over whether continuing Turkey’s EU membership process at the lowest possible speed is a useful policy. EU members have started to question whether they risk losing Turkey following the latter’s vote against a US-backed UN Security Council resolution for tougher sanctions on Iran, adopted on June 9, and its harsh reaction to the May 31 raid by Israeli naval forces that led to the deaths of nine people in an aid flotilla in the eastern Mediterranean.

Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas, topped the agenda of a foreign ministerial meeting, joined by both EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy representing the quartet of international powers -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- seeking Middle East peace. The meeting was to discuss a strategic perspective on Turkey, yet due to long debates on Gaza this discussion was shorter than planned.

Similar discussions were held at the European Parliament during which one group argued that it was the EU’s fault for leading Turkey to move away from the bloc due to its inappropriate approaches toward the candidate country but another group was angry with Turkey’s foreign policy and argued that the process of Turkey’s EU bid should be frozen.

‘One minute’ crisis and calls for interference

The debate on whether Turkey is sliding away from West towards the East is not new. It started right after the event known as the “one minute” crisis in which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan harshly criticized Israel’s policies in a panel discussion with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Davos during the World Economic Forum.

After the face-off, Efraim Inbar from the Begin-Sadat Center, known for his cozy relations with the old establishment of Turkey, wrote an open letter to his “Turkish friends” and urged them to take action against the ruling government. In this letter Inbar appealed to his Turkish friends and colleagues “to stop Turkey’s slide toward the Middle East and to maintain its alignment with secure Western powers.”

He claimed that Turkey under the AK Party is increasingly succumbing to Islamic impulses, relegating its political and cultural links to the West to second place. Inbar underlined that Turkey had invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Turkey as well as Hamas officials, representing signs of a “possible loss of Turkey to Islamism.”

Aktay argues that calls for interference in Turkish politics are not new. He says Turkey witnessed it during the Feb. 28 postmodern coup in 1997. “At the time, we learned how important black propaganda was. We had seen similar discussions emerged. They were targeting the inner circles of Turkish politics. Let’s put it this way, the Jewish lobby does not like the current government of Turkey and is doing its best to harm it,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.

Right after Turkey’s “no” vote at the UN Security Council on fresh sanctions against Iran and the deterioration of relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara due to Israel’s lethal attack on the Freedom Flotilla on May 31, which claimed the lives of nine Turks, this attitude, which aims to harm Turkey’s position, went even further and reached the point of urging Western institutions to cut ties with Turkey.

The US-based Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) even said Turkey should be thrown out of NATO. The Turkish public is aware that JINSA is known for its award to Gen. Çevik Bir for his remarkable contribution to Turkish-Israeli ties. Bir played a major role in the Feb. 28 coup process and last year he testified before the Ergenekon prosecutors but was not indicted. Ergenekon is a clandestine criminal network that is accused of working to overthrow the government. Dozens of its suspected members are currently in prison pending trial.

Hasan Köni from Bahçesaray University told Sunday’s Zaman that those who claim Turkish foreign policy has shifted may actually mean that Turkey is not listening to the West on every matter as it used to in the past.

“The main financial system of the US is based on the Jewish lobby. They are also the owners of many important and influential newspapers. Nowadays, they are also critical of US President [Barack] Obama and claim that since he is not able to take firm decisions against Turkey, Ankara is able to follow an active foreign policy which is against Israeli interests. They will use the upcoming congressional elections in November to pressure Obama into taking action against Turkey. He has already been dealt a blow in the public polls from the handling of the BP oil spill crisis in the South,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.