PM ERDOGAN REAFFIRMS TURKEY’S ROLE AS GLOBAL PLAYER WITH UN SPEECH
Today’s Zaman
Sept 23 2011
Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday in reference to
Somalia that the UN has not been able to show the necessary leadership
to conquer the fears threatening humanity and lift their hopes.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s address at the UN General Assembly on
Thursday reflected Turkey’s ambitions of being a global player in
dealing with deeply rooted conflicts on the world agenda, while the
speech also displayed deficiencies of the global system to handle
these conflicts.
The scope of the speech itself was the boldest sign of Turkey and
its leader Erdogan’s assertiveness. In addition to hot topics such
as the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, the stalled Middle East peace
process and Palestine’s bid for UN recognition, Israel’s stubbornness
to meet the requirements of international law, the Arab Spring,
the Syrian regime’s oppression of its own people, the transition
process in Libya and Arab Spring in general; frozen conflicts such
the Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Kashmir
dispute between India and Pakistan also found a place in the speech.
“The speech was an open and systemic criticism against the functioning
and structure of the international system. Within this framework, he
used Somalia as an example and harshly criticized the global system
for remaining indifferent to grievances in Africa,” Prof. Birol
Akgun, a specialist with the Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE),
told Today’s Zaman on Friday.
“The prime minister called on the international community to work
toward justice, morality and compassion. He cited the colonialist
past of Western countries in the African continent and how unjust
they were by ignoring Africa. Erdogan exposed the double-standard
wielded by the West’s self-interest-oriented system, as some Western
countries are showing close interest in Libya while they do not show
the same kind of interest toward Somalia,” Akgun said.
According to Sinan Ulgen, head of the Ä°stanbul-based Center for
Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), the fact that the prime
minister spoke of a wide region is not an extraordinary situation.
“However, the language he used is different and it reflects Turkey’s
will to play a more leading role in the international arena. Looking
at the issues highlighted in the speech, it is possible to say that
Turkey may not necessarily be successful in resolving of all of these
issues,” Ulgen told Today’s Zaman.
Ulgen recalled that Turkey is playing a role in issues in which it
is not a direct party such as Somalia and argued that this is to
Turkey’s credit in the international arena.
“Turkey is using this credit to make progress in other areas. It
is carrying the partnerships and alliances it established on a
particular issue to other areas to resolve other conflicts. All of
these will be advantages for Turkey. No matter whether the particular
problems mentioned by Erdogan will be resolved in a short-run or not,
Turkey will carry its experience in dealing with these problems to the
field of multilateral diplomacy in order to become a global player,”
Ulgen said.
While speaking of Ankara’s foreign policy, Turkish officials avoid
using concepts which can be associated with a kind of power game and
sidestep questions over its position as a regional actor. Instead,
Ankara prefers to note that the dynamics and principles of Turkey’s
foreign policy are based on the notion of moral depth.
Officials say the government doesn’t consider its foreign policy as a
test of power. Turkish foreign policy is not about flexing its muscles,
but it is a manifestation of what kind of a world Turkey wants to see,
they underline.
Nonetheless, Akgun believes that Erdogan’s speech at the UN General
Assembly is about Turkey’s redefinition of its international identity.
“Turkey has assumed an identity which exerts efforts for a new legal
and institutionalized structure based on justice and a sense of
morality,” Akgun said.
According to Ali Karaosmanoglu, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy
and Peace Research Center, Erdogan’s speech reflects the fact that
Turkey is becoming a pioneering country on an international scale,
not only on a regional scale.
“After the end of the Cold War, regional policies became more important
since global balances changed. Turkey’s voice is beginning to be
heard in some regions,” Karaosmanoglu told Today’s Zaman.
“Turkey, as a country which embraces post-Cold War concepts such
as human rights, democracy and a liberal economy, and as a country
which has a Muslim majority population, is able to touch the hearts of
the people in the Middle East. On the other hand, it is also able to
openly call on the Middle Eastern countries to embrace human rights,
democracy and a liberal economy,” Karaosmanoglu said.
“All of these characteristics are advantages of Turkey in the region
and it is also an advantage to play a global role. Since the United
States is not able to have a relationship with the countries from the
region in the same way as Turkey, Washington is pleased with Turkey’s
role in this region,” he added.
‘Why not vie for global power?’ In remarks which strengthen
aforementioned arguments by experts, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent
Arınc on Friday said Turkey can and will become a global power,
while indicating that the country would not stop at its claim to
regional power and could aim higher in the global arena.
“We consider it small progress for Turkey to become a regional power.
And why shouldn’t Turkey become a global power?” Arınc rhetorically
asked members of the international media during a visit to Brussels.
Answering questions regarding Turkey’s relations with the EU, Arınc
reaffirmed that Turkey would not settle for regional strength, that
it has the means to vie for global strength and wants to have a bigger
say in international affairs.
Although Arınc noted that Turkey was a peace-seeking country, he added
that it would not mean that it would forfeit the rights of its people,
with regards to the turbulence between Turkey and Greek Cyprus in the
eastern Mediterranean over gas and oil resources. While the minister
stressed that Turkey was still very much committed to full membership
within the EU, he warned that Greek Cypriots assuming the rotating
EU presidency, an event that is expected to take place next year,
will eventually mean a freeze in negotiations.
“Our relations with the EU date back to 1958. … Accession
negotiations have been in progress since 2005,” Arınc said, indicating
that Turkey would not take anything less than full membership,
with reference to the recently repeated suggestions from the EU that
Turkey could be granted a “privileged partnership.” “Turkey will be
a full member when the process is over,” Arınc said and added that
the country would tread down the path to accession with patience.