UN investigation panel meets with wise man of Turkey

One of the most respected diplomats of Turkey and the former undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry wrote this sentence in February of 2009, right after the “one minute crisis” between Turkey and Israel. The article was published by the Radikal daily under the headline “Crisis in Davos and beehive” and was one of the many that Sanberk frequently writes not only for the Turkish press but for newspapers and magazines like Newsweek, Financial times and The Wall Street Journal.

The crisis, which is known by the phrase “one minute,” was between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli President Shimon Peres during a meeting of World Economic Forum on January 2009 at Davos. During a session on Gaza, Erdoğan walked off the stage when a moderator, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, cut off his remarks in response to an impassioned monologue by President Peres, strongly defending Israel’s deadly offensive against Gaza.

Sanberk, who is known for his ability to be patient and self-controlled but at the same time defend his ideas in a convincing way, wrote: “There is no doubt that the influence of Turkey over the Middle East and especially on Arab countries derives from its strong military and also for its ability to maintain candid relations with Israel based on mutual trust. Candid relations mean criticism as well.” He added that such a relation also requires a refusal of anti-Semitism.

Sanberk, who believes that “for Turkey seeking a positive role in the Middle East peace process is not preference but a requirement of its vital interest,” will represent Turkey on the UN Panel which plans to meet for the first time on Tuesday, and is expected to submit an initial report in mid-September.

Officials say the panel will review the circumstances surrounding the May 31 attack in which Israeli commandos tried to prevent pro-Palestinian activists from breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed during the raid.

Hikmet Çetin, the former foreign minister of Turkey while Sanberk was the undersecretary at the ministry, told Today’s Zaman that Sanberk is extremely gifted and creative in solving problems and is very open to dialogue. He added that during their time in the Foreign Ministry, there were many difficulties that Turkey had to deal with, for example, the war in the Balkans and the preparations for the customs union with the EU. “I am sure with his hard-working and intellectual nature and experience he will be very useful to the inquiry panel,” Çetin told Today’s Zaman.

Sanberk’s Israeli counterpart will be Joseph Ciechanover, a former senior official at Israel’s Foreign Ministry. The panel will be chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, and its vice chairman will be former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Sanberk is very familiar with international bodies and the UN system. He was appointed to different offices at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO. He served in Brussels, Bonn, Madrid and Amman. He was an adviser to late Prime Minister Turgut Özal, and together they tried to organize some meetings related to the Madrid Conference of 1991. After serving as ambassador in London he retired in 2000, but did not stop working. He has been the director of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) since September of 2003. He worked to help establish many civil society organizations and recently become the chairman of International Strategic Research Organization (USAK). He is one of the well known public intellectuals, a wise man, in Turkey whose opinion is frequently consulted by various circles.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry in a written statement last week commenting on the appointment of Sanberk to the panel said, “Sending a distinguished and exceptional diplomat like Mr. Sanberk as a panel member is a sign of the importance we attach to this investigation.”

Sanberk’s new assignment will not be easy, as another former undersecretary at the Turkish Foreign Ministry retired Ambassador Uğur Ziyal told Today’s Zaman last week, at the panel meetings there may be arguments and conflicts behind closed doors, but it is better to have them in the meetings instead of in front of the world. “If all sides want to solve this problem, the inquiry panel is a very good opportunity. All the related parties have interests that lie in their internal politics, but also at the international level,” Ziyal said.

There are discussions about the mandate of the panel as well. US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice infuriated Turkey last week when she issued a statement saying that the panel was “not a substitute for those national investigations” and that its focus was “appropriately on the future.” Ankara expressed its “uneasiness and displeasure” over Rice’s statement, which it considered an “alternative interpretation” of Ban’s investigative panel.

As former Foreign Minister Çetin underlines, Sanberk was an excellent choice for Turkey whose security and stability is under threat due to the continuation of the Middle East conflict. And as Sanberk puts it in the same article, “But worse than this if a solution today or tomorrow will be reached on the Middle East problem without the contribution of Turkey, such a solution might present new risks for our national security and economic interests.”