DP LEADER: TURKEY LOST ITS DETERRENCE IN FOREIGN POLICY
Today’s Zaman
Oct 22 2012
Turkey
Democrat Party (DP) leader Gultekin Uysal has said Turkey has lost
its deterrence in its foreign policy due to its policies in the Syrian
crisis, adding that if Turkey aims to have a crucial position in the
region, it should have strong deterrence.
“Turkey set out goals that it may not be able to accomplish. If you
pledge to achieve something, you should act accordingly, at whatever
cost. Unless you do, you will lose your deterrence,” said Uysal,
stressing that Turkey is now susceptible to any attack.
In an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman, Uysal stated that
he does not believe that a Turkish fighter jet which crashed into
the Mediterranean Sea was downed by Syrian forces, adding that the
impression was given that Syria was responsible for the incident.
“Our plane was downed in June and it is quite challenging for us
to figure out the workings of defense systems in the region,” said
Uysal, highlighting that if the situation in Syria deteriorates,
it will have a lingering impact on Turkey.
A series of public statements meant to shed light on how the Turkish
jet crashed off the Syrian coast in a June 22 incident have ended up
raising many questions, including whether the aircraft was shot down
by the Syrian forces at all. The incident has been controversial from
the very beginning. Official statements about the circumstances of
the incident have offered contradictory accounts about how the plane
was downed.
The RF-4E Phantom, an unarmed reconnaissance jet, crashed off the
Syrian coast on June 22 amid tensions between Turkey and Syria over
Syria’s brutal crackdown on an anti-regime uprising.
Syrian authorities claimed responsibility for the jet’s downing
but defended the action, saying that the Syrian air defense was
forced to react immediately to a Turkish jet flying low at 100
meters inside Syrian airspace in what was a “clear breach of Syrian
sovereignty.” Syria also said the plane was downed by anti-aircraft
fire, rather than by a missile, well within its airspace.
Turkey, on the other hand, maintained that the plane was shot down by
a missile outside Syrian airspace — 13 miles off the Syrian coast —
when it was on a solo mission to test domestic radar systems.
Uysal maintained that, in general, Turkey’s most critical foreign
policy problem is its shortcomings in any foresight. “Turkey has
problems with projecting over how it will act regarding any one
incident and what kind of viewpoint it is going to present on a
particular issue,” he said.
“While the 19-month-long Syrian crisis dragged on, Turkey gave the
impression of being a country that could easily speak out but fell
short of putting its words into deeds.”
Recently, an Al Arabiya report, which claimed that the two pilots of
the Turkish jet downed off Syria were captured alive by the Syrian
forces, who executed them, has revived a months-long controversy by
raising more questions about the circumstances of the June 22 incident.
Newly leaked Syrian intelligence documents allegedly obtained by
the Dubai-based television channel claim that pilots Cpt. Gökhan
Ertan and Lt. Hasan Huseyin Aksoy survived the crash but were later
executed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime — a claim
strongly downplayed by Turkish officials.
“As for the downed jet, Turkey had difficulty locating the bodies of
the pilots. This is something linked to the capability of the country.
Turkey called Nautilus [a deep-sea exploration vessel] to recover
from the sea only the bodies of our martyrs. Therefore, one should
be more vigilant about this issue,” said Uysal.
Syria not only concern for Turkey but for region
Security is the foremost issue for advanced democracies, said Uysal,
highlighting that the ongoing crisis in Syria does not only concern
Turkey but is a regional concern.
Uysal touched on increasing incidents of terrorism in Turkey with
the escalating crisis in Syria.
“What happened in Gaziantep was highly unlikely to happen, but it
happened,” said Uysal.
An attack believed to have been carried out by the terrorist Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) took place in August and left nine civilians
dead and dozens wounded in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. It was
strongly condemned by Turkey’s politicians and civil society groups.
“The PKK is making Turkey face the music,” said Uysal, adding that
the PKK is not an organization that acts on its own, with a single
headquarters and leader.
Criticizing the Iraqi policy of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development
Party (AK Party), Uysal stated that Turkish-Iraqi relations were tense
due to Turkey’s stance towards Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
“The Turkish government’s Iraqi policy has dealt a blow to Turkey’s
interests. Indeed, Turkey is shooting itself in the foot,” said Uysal.
Maliki and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have
publicly traded insults several times this year as relations have
soured. Both prime ministers have engaged in tit-for-tat accusations
in recent months.
In addition, the civil war in Syria has taken its toll on Turkish-Iraqi
ties. Maliki, known to be close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s
main ally Iran, has taken a more muted stance on Syria.
Iran voiced its hostile stance against Turkey in the Syrian crisis
Touching on the recent statements of Iran’s chief of staff, Gen.
Hassan Firouzabadi, who blamed Ankara for the bloodshed in Syria and
warned that Turkey would be next, Uysal stated that Iran has voiced
its hostile stance against Turkey.
“Syria in fact serves as a checkpoint for Iran. Iran ensures its
security over Syria or, in other words, it employs Syria as a means
to ensure its own security. Turkey should have used the same policy
with Baghdad and Damascus. How could such a policy occur to Iran if
it does not occur to Turkey?”
Although countries such as Turkey and Egypt are some of the staunchest
supporters of the Syrian opposition that is trying to topple Assad,
Iran, the strongest supporter of the Syrian regime, stands by its
ally, Syria, despite growing international pressure on the Syrian
president. Iran was recently attacked at the UN Security Council for
its continuous backing of the Syrian regime.
Turkey and Iran have improved their ties in recent years, but
conflicting policies regarding Syria have strained Turkish-Iranian
relations over the past several months.
Although Turkey has strived to maintain good relations with Iran
in recent years, Uysal noted that Turkey has always faced a hostile
stance from Iran.
“Iran acts according to its own priorities as it is cornered in the
Syrian crisis,” he said.
CHP should not formulate policies drawing upon Alawites
Uysal also warned Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican
People’s Party (CHP), not to formulate policies drawing upon the
Alawites in Syria. “The CHP is doing something inept by stirring up
these sensitive issues,” said Uysal.
“The CHP should not derive political material from these matters. It
is not aware of which social fault line it might activate with such
policies.”
Recently, Turkish leftist groups held a rally in the province of
Hatay to show their endorsement of the Assad regime.
The rally came about after a group of CHP Hatay deputies were denied
permission to enter the Apaydın refugee camp, in which Syrian
military officials who defected have been staying. When they were
denied access to the camp, the lawmakers protested, accusing the
government of running secret operations inside the camp.
Erdogan has accused the CHP several times of failing to display a
“nationalistic” stance on the downing of the Turkish jet by Syria,
accusing the CHP of acting like a spokesperson for the Syrian Baath
regime.
Referring to Erdogan’s stance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) panel
in Davos in 2009, where he walked out following a heated exchange
with Israeli President Shimon Peres — a move that resulted in tense
relations between two former allies — Uysal stated that it is hard
to find another leader who would lash out as harshly as Erdogan did
in Davos.
“Even if a statesman could imagine acting as Erdogan did, he would
refrain from doing so,” said Uysal.
Uysal also believes that the Mavi Marmara incident, which left nine
civilians dead due to an Israeli attack on a Turkish-owned aid vessel,
led to Turkey establishing thresholds with many countries.
“We are aware that our country’s policies were criticized from time
to time after the Mavi Marmara incident. We are a state that paid
the price for its relations with the US, too,” said Uysal.
Uysal maintained that despite the relations with Israel, Turkey should
know the value of the US and what good relations with the US mean to
Turkey. “It is easy to campaign against America and to burn flags
in Beyazıt Square in İstanbul. One should not be indifferent to
the detrimental stance of America both in the region and globally,”
he said, adding that necessity determines a country’s foreign policy.
“America has foremost decisiveness in the region,” said Uysal.
He also argued that Turkey was waiting for the US elections to take
place before taking action in the Syrian crisis.
Turkey should improve relations with Armenia
Uysal believes that in the coming years, its relationship with Armenia
would be one of the major issues in Turkey’s foreign policy. “The
year 2015 is drawing near. Turkey needs to improve its relations with
Armenia,” said Uysal.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan after the Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of
Azerbaijan in 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
A historic reconciliation process was launched between Turkey
and Armenia in 2009 when the two sides signed twin protocols to
normalize diplomatic relations, but the move was not well received in
Azerbaijan. The protocols, signed in Zurich, shook Turkish-Azerbaijani
relations, and the Nagorno-Karabakh territorial conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan has yet to be peacefully settled.
Uysal also criticized Turkey in pursuing a weak soft power policy. “We
don’t have any experts dealing with the Middle East issues as well
as the Armenian issue. Turkey has no experts working in the field
in other countries. It is not appropriate to pursue a foreign policy
drawing on only historical ties without any effort in creating these
elements,” said Uysal.
ARABAÅ~^LIK EU’s Turkey approach based on ideology, history
Uysal also talked about Turkish-European Union relations, saying that
from the beginning of the EU, the founding states, including France,
based their perception of Turkey on ideology and history.
The recent presidential elections in France brought hope for a new
momentum in Turkey’s EU membership bid. Former President Nicolas
Sarkozy, a staunch opponent of Turkey’s EU membership, lost the race
for re-election to his socialist rival, Francois Hollande, who is
known to have a more favorable view of Turkey’s membership in the EU.
Thus, his election defeat in June opened the door for a new era between
France and Turkey, with Ankara praising the new administration’s
willingness to restore ties.
AK Party monopolizing politics in Turkey
Referring to the recent decisions of Numan KurtulmuÅ~_, former
Constitutional Court Rapporteur Osman Can and former Democrat Party
(DP) leader Suleyman Soylu to join the AK Party, Uysal stated that
the ruling party has started to monopolize politics in Turkey.
“Erdogan having incorporated these figures into his party’s ranks is
an attempt to narrow down the area to maneuver in politics,” he said.
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PROFILE
Gultekin Uysal, born in 1976 in Afyonkarahisar, is the current leader
of the Democrat Party (DP). Prior to Uysal, Namık Kemal Zeybek led the
DP. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bilkent University in Ankara
in the department of public administration and political science. He
also attended the University of Houston in the US. Currently, Uysal
is working on his master’s degree in political science at Ankara’s
Gazi University.
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