Most recently, many accords have been concluded between Turkey and Iran. These deals, signed one after another within a short space of time, may bring profitable economic results in the short term, especially in the field of energy. But the latter has many complicated and numerous variables even though it presents many advantages, not only for supplier and consumer countries, but also for Turkey. For instance, the security-related deals remain quite vague. No matter what, Turkey is keeping in mind that these accords may not last forever, because Ankara has sufficient experience with the East's problems and the possible dead ends.
However, friendly visits paid to these countries, and especially the cordial atmosphere during the trip to Iran, were met with some doubts in the West. During this visit, Ahmedinejad benefited from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's presence to reiterate Iran's anti-Israel propaganda, and Erdoğan repeated that Turkey doesn't want any regional state to possess nuclear weapons. Some analysts affirm that Iran and Turkey are now on the same wavelength about Israel. Besides, these analysts, who apparently think that Israel is a Western state, stipulate that Turkey's attitude toward Israel demonstrates Ankara's choice to move away from the occidental world.
Should Romania, Malta or Norway conclude the same accords with the same Eastern countries, no one would say that they are moving away from Europe, because their European-ness is not a matter for discussion.
The situation is especially delicate for those who don't know in which category to put Turkey. It's quite surprising to see that people who claim on all occasions that “Turkey is not European and it is certainly not in Europe” are also the same people who ask now if Turkey is changing direction. Why are people who believe that Turkey is not a Western country panicked by the thought that Ankara may slip toward the East? Maybe these people want Turkey to always remain the “in-between,” at an equal distance from the West and the East. The same contradiction can also be observed among those who keep affirming that Turkey is in Europe and it is a European country. If one has no doubt that Turkey is European, why think that it can change tracks in its foreign policy?
In fact, the East and the West are already intertwined. The Turkish president's visit to Serbia and the prime minister's visit to Iran happened on the same days, but everyone preferred to talk about Iran. Nevertheless, there are serious difficulties and growing tension in the Balkans, and especially in Bosnia, about which Europe must be very much concerned. It is sufficient to take a look at the list of new pipeline projects to notice that most of them are designed to transit through the Balkans.
However, some people in Europe are probably so convinced that the Balkans is the EU's backyard that they don't deign to take Turkey's diplomatic and political relations with that region seriously.
Do those who have blocked five chapters of EU negotiations just because these would, according to them, lead unavoidably to full membership expect Turkey to cross its arms and wait? How can a policy that is practically pushing Turkey toward the East but which is at the same time regretting that Turkey is moving away from the West be understood? Maybe these contradictory policies are the result of some European leaders' confusions emanating from their prejudgments about Muslim identity.
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