Some Turks see U.N. force in Lebanon as chance to revive glories of Ottoman
rule; others see dangerous outcome
AP Worldstream; Sep 01, 2006
SELCAN HACAOGLU
Some Turks _ remembering the glory of Ottoman times, when their empire
stretched from southeastern Europe across North Africa and the Middle
East _ may see engagement in the Lebanon peacekeeping force as a
chance to reassert Turkish influence in the Middle East and win favor
with the West.
But others see a more dangerous outcome if they send troops to help
enforce a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants: a Mideast
quagmire that could engage Turkish troops in hostile fire with fellow
Muslims.
“Turkey having a military presence beyond its borders would be a
prestigious development,” Turhan Comez, a legislator from the ruling
Justice and Development Party, acknowledged. “However, such a risk
taken under these unstable conditions will draw Turkey into the line
of fire, and I don’t even want to think of the consequences.”
The government asked parliament later Friday to approve sending
peacekeepers. The lawmakers are expected to vote on the resolution
Tuesday _ the day U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to arrive in
Ankara. The number of troops is expected to range between 500-1,000.
Europe, the United States and Israel are eager to see Lebanon
peacekeepers from Turkey _ NATO’s only Muslim member and one of the
few Muslim nations with ties to Israel _ in the hope that strong
Muslim participation could avert the impression that the
U.N. peacekeepers are primarily a Christian, European force.
And Ankara, nostalgic for the glory of more than 600 years of empire
has hankered for a key role in a country it ruled for centuries _
present-day Lebanon.
The Ottoman Turks _ who began conquering the declining Arab empire in
the 14th century _ added Lebanon and Syria to their domain in 1516.
But by the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was unable to stop Western
interest in the oil-rich Middle East and Arab desires for
independence. After World War I, France and Britain divided the
Ottoman Empire into protectorates: today’s Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and
Jordan.
Since then, however, the region has fallen into turmoil _ and the
Islamic-rooted Turkish government believes it could play a role in
returning stability to the region.
“Turkey has an obligation as a regional power and the old guardian of
the Middle East to exert its positive influence on developments,”
editor in chief Ilnur Cevik wrote in The New Anatolian.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is responding to Lebanese
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s request for Muslim Turkey’s help in
monitoring the truce that ended 34 days of devastating fighting in
southern Lebanon. He assured Turks the soldiers would only be
protecting peace and helping with humanitarian aid, not disarming
Hezbollah militants.
“It would be treason to our history, our future and the high interests
of our people to stay away,” Erdogan said Thursday, playing on the
emotional outpouring of support for the Lebanese and calling it
Turkey’s duty to protect the innocent women, children and elderly of
Lebanon, where hundreds were killed in the fighting.
“Let’s not forget: If we shut our doors, we can’t escape the flames
that are surrounding us,” Erdogan told the nation in a televised
address Thursday. “The only way to protect our interests is to be
part of the process nearby instead of remaining as spectators.”
“If you stay away, you become spectators to the killings of innocent
people and to your own future,” he said.
The government also is aware that responding to the EU call for help
could boost Ankara’s efforts to join the European Union.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso highlighted Turkey’s
“strategic role” in the U.N. force Wednesday, praising the
“significant reforms” Ankara has made on democracy and the economy,
according to Turkey’s state-owned Anatolia news agency.
But analysts question whether Turkish participation in the U.N. force
would bring Ankara back to the days of regional rule.
Joining the U.N. mission would have little meaning other than being “a
triumph for Erdogan’s neo-Ottomanism,” said Michael Rubin of the
American Enterprise Institute.
“No good can come of this deployment for Turkey,” Rubin said. “There
is no real peace between Hezbollah and Israel. Does Turkey really want
to be in the middle of it?”
Rubin warned that any confrontation with Hezbollah could pit Ankara
against Tehran, a key backer of Hezbollah with which it now has
cordial relations.
“Such an unwanted development would amount to an undeclared war
against Iran,” said Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst with the Economic
Policy Research Institute in Ankara.
And then there is the furor at home, and concerns that deployment
would fly in the face of fierce Turkish opposition. Many Turks fear
that their soldiers could end up facing hostile fire with fellow
Muslims. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who serves in a figurehead role
but has enormous influence in the country, has already spoken out
against such a mission.
The foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, also reassured Turks on Friday
that Turkish soldiers would not disarm militants. “But of course, if
the soldiers come under attack they would defend themselves,” he said.
Lebanon’s Armenians, who make up about 4 percent of the country’s
population, have come out against Turkish participation _ a reminder
that some in the region have not completely shed bitter memories of
Ottoman rule.
Armenians accuse the Ottoman Turks of killing 1.5 million ethnic
Armenians in 1915 in what they call a campaign of genocide aimed at
flushing out the Armenian population. But Turkey vehemently denies any
systematic genocide, insists the number of dead is significantly
inflated, and says most died from disease and hunger when they fled or
were deported to Syria and Lebanon during World War I.
“Of course I wouldn’t want them to come to Lebanon _ not because they
are Turks but because they have strong relations with Israel and they
occupy a part of Cyprus,” jeweler Manoog Minassian, a renowned
crooner, said in Lebanon.