[Afghanistan: Not a parenthesis for Turkey] Turkish touch makes difference in Afghanistan

Whether the Great Game of Central Asia, in which Afghanistan was historically a buffer zone, is over or not is a matter of debate.

Yet, Turkey’s stance regarding the war-torn country -- with which it has had relations since the 10th century -- seems clear when considering the remarks made by veteran diplomat Basat Öztürk, Turkey’s ambassador to Kabul.

“Turkey is only doing positive things, and it is doing so in the name of making the lives of Afghan people easier. And for a long time, the Afghan people have known that we are performing our duty without being involved in any intrigue -- great or small,” Öztürk said last week in Kabul while speaking with a group of Turkish journalists following the Kabul Conference and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s visit to the country.

“Special interests and struggles are ever-lasting. The real issue is harmonizing the interests of Afghanistan, its neighbors and the international community. That’s how Turkey approaches the issue, by helping the Afghan people to create a system in which everybody wins, instead of creating conflict. Stability in Afghanistan is in Turkey’s interest,” Öztürk added, echoing remarks made by Davutoğlu last week in the city of Sheberghan in Jowzjan province in north Afghanistan.

“The destiny of Afghanistan is our own destiny,” Davutoğlu said, as he attended the official inauguration of Turkey’s second civilian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the war-torn country. Turkey’s approach is best observed on the ground, in the relationship between the Afghan people and Turkish officials, both diplomatic and military.

“Turkey has never adopted an approach to the Afghan people based on whether they are Tajik, Uzbek or Pashtun,” Türker Arı, the undersecretary of the Turkish Embassy in Kabul and the civilian coordinator of the Turkish PRT in Wardak province, explained last week in an apparent reference to Pashtun majority in Wardak. “Turkey approaches each Afghan person and each Afghan community with equal respect and warmth and is continuing to do so,” Arı added while speaking with Turkish journalists. “There is no discrimination at all in Turkey’s approach. This integrated method, which is a set of discourses, has been appreciated by the Afghan people,” he explained.

Speaking to journalists in the garden of the Turkish Embassy in Kabul following the Kabul Conference, Davutoğlu underlined that Turkey is not “just any NATO country” in Afghanistan. He also noted that Turkey has spent $250 million in aid to Afghanistan since 2005, and that this is the greatest figure the Turkish Republic has contributed to any cause in its history.

“For decades, Turkey and Afghanistan were in the same boat, as they were the rare countries that were not colonized by major powers following World War I. And this common destiny is still true today; nothing has changed, even if they are Pashtun, Uzbek or Tajik. This places a special responsibility on our shoulders,” Davutoğlu remarked.

A key principle of Turkey’s involvement in Afghanistan is to remain in accordance with Afghan priorities, and to continue providing assistance as long as required and requested by the Afghan people. Furthermore, Turkish officials keep in mind and understand Afghans’ proud nature and fondness for their own sovereignty.

“Afghanistan is not a parenthesis for Turkey,” Engin Soysal, deputy undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told journalists, referring to the fact that Turkey does not consider Afghanistan to be simply a small project on the side due to its historical and unique relationship with the country.

According to Staffan de Mistura, the UN secretary-general’s special representative in Afghanistan, Turkey’s presence in the war-torn country is vital as it helps the international community to convey an important message: The international community is not here to change the culture or the religion of Afghanistan. “Turkey is an example in the way they are handling civilian engagement in Afghanistan, and, in my opinion, is worth studying very carefully,” De Mistura said during a press conference in Kabul ahead of the international conference.

“Everybody came to help Afghanistan sustain itself and become stable, and [wishes to] respect their culture and their own traditions. And in that sense, I think that the Turkish experience in Afghanistan is very interesting, and will be worth studying for the future,” De Mistura said.

While explaining the difference created by the Turkish touch on the ground, Ambassador Öztürk said, “We have a different position among the Afghan people because we don’t approach them with suspicion, but with compassion.”

A statement of the obvious

A senior Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, commented, “This compassionate and sensitive approach -- which has a long history -- actually laid the groundwork for gaining the support of Afghan people in development and rebuilding efforts, provided that they are treated respectfully and their trust has been gained.”

“In this regard, Turkey’s approach is an example for other countries. Beyond that, because of our method, our training programs for Afghan security forces created some of the best units in Afghanistan,” the same diplomat told Sunday’s Zaman.

“Again, in this regard, the fact that the training of Afghan military conscripts at the Ghazi Military Training Center in Kabul has been completed, and the training of Afghan non-commissioned officers has begun is a statement of the obvious,” the diplomat added. An anecdote shared with Turkish journalists by Turkish army Brig. Gen. Levent Çolak, commander of the Regional Command Kabul, is proof of what the Turkish officials and diplomats refer to when saying the “Turkish touch.”

During the festival of Nevruz, a celebration of the new year and a public holiday in Afghanistan, all NATO allies in charge of training units were hesitant to give their trainees the day off, unlike Çolak.

Çolak, who was sure of the mutual trust between his Turkish trainers and Afghan soldiers, decided to give them all one day off, despite his NATO colleagues’ warning him of the possibility of desertions. Çolak didn’t regret his decision at all, because every single one of his Afghan trainees, without exception, came back to the Ghazi Military Training Center.