Turkey & Europe

Turkey and Europe

Few political issues are as contested as Turkey's possible accession to the European Union. Will Ankara be able to meet all the criteria in the long term? In our dossier, sponsored by the Ernst Reuter Initiative, we take a look at political, societal and cultural relations between Turkey and Europe Few political issues are as contested as Turkey's possible accession to the European Union. Will Ankara be able to meet all the criteria in the long term? In our dossier, sponsored by the Ernst Reuter Initiative, we take a look at political, societal and cultural relations between Turkey and Europe

Interview with Ruprecht Polenz

"Turkey Belongs in the EU!"

Chairman of the German Bundestag's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ruprecht Polenz, argues in favour of Turkish accession to the EU, and grapples with negative western perceptions of the nation, as well as of Islam. He spoke to Eren Güvercin More »

Ahmet Davutoğlu at NATO meeting in Brussels (photo: AP)

Interview with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu

"Turkey Creates Balance in the Middle East"

Turkey's foreign policy has been under the spotlight in recent months, with many Western commentators expressing concern about a perceived swing toward a more Middle Eastern orientation. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaks to Ayşe Karabat about his country's new regional role More »

Turkey's Relations with Syria and Israel

Fatal Renunciation of the West?

Recent weeks have seen Ankara leave one-time friend Israel out in the cold, while relations with former foe Syria have continued to thaw. Ayşe Karabat explores a possible sea change in Turkey's Middle East foreign policy More »

Coming to Terms with War Crimes in Turkey

The Dead Are Climbing out of the Wells

In the 1990s the Turkish army killed tens of thousands of Kurds in the dirty war against the PKK. Now these political crimes are coming to light. Details from Istanbul provided by Michael Thumann

It's a beautiful place, southeastern Turkey. Some reach for their cameras at the sight, others set up their easels. The small village near the town of Cizre on the border to Iraq no longer has a sign indicating its whereabouts or any inhabitants; it's not on any map. Violet-coloured flowers grow wild across the roads, ivy has overgrown the stone houses, and old wooden doors are hanging askew, green with moss.

The Tigris wends its way lazily over the plain, while opposite the jagged peaks of the Cudi Mountains rise up. Gorgeous. What a pity the Turkish army doesn't want any visitors here. Recently, however, criminal investigators have shown up in deserted villages like this one, and among them, unrecognised, journalists as well. It's only the former residents who no longer dare come here.

A beautiful landscape of executions

When Leyla was forced to leave her home village in summer 1993, she thought she had lost everything. But that was only the beginning. As Leyla and her family fled, their small house burned down to the ground. The pomegranate trees, the grapevines, the goats in their stall, the milking shed – all that remained were ashes.

The gendarmerie drove the Kurdish family out of the village. Leyla's husband had just turned 22. They beat him and dragged him away, down to the river. Screams could be heard coming from that direction, then shots and screaming again.

After an hour, Leyla and her aunt dared to go down to the river. Five men lay there, two burnt, two riddled with bullets and one whose brain flowed out of his skull, his stomach hanging from the gaping wound in his belly. Leyla pushed her husband's insides back into his body as best she could. She dragged her husband back to the village. And somehow she was lucky, she says today. She was able to bury her husband.

This was Turkey in 1993. A country where the army made war on its own citizens. A country where, in the "battle against the terror" of the Kurdish PKK guerrillas, thousands of villages were wiped out and tens of thousands of people murdered – virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world, which was preoccupied back then with Serbian crimes in Bosnia.

A country where shepherds and lawyers, farmers and human rights activists simply disappeared. A country where rock crevices, wood stoves and acid-filled wells replaced orderly burials. Here in southeastern Anatolia, between the Cudi Mountains and the banks of the Tigris, lies this landscape of executions, death shafts, and the unlimited dominion of the gendarmes.

Bones supply evidence

For fifteen long years, silence shrouded the region. There were only rumours. But now bones have been found that supply evidence for what the army and the gendarmerie have let grass and flowers grow over. Human bones retrieved from old wells, scraps of clothing found in the fields, pieces of skull turning up in gravel factories. Investigators are excavating the ground bit by bit – with the backing of the conservative government under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan.

The "deep state", a term referring to the impenetrable power structures of the military, security forces and bureaucracy, none of whom feel subject to law and order, is gradually being brought to light under Tayyip Erdoğan. A further chapter is being added to the ongoing confrontation between the freely elected government and what has traditionally been the final authority in Turkey – the army. Survivors of the victims of the nineties are gathering up their courage and beginning to speak out.

A farmhouse high over the town of Silopi on the Iraq border. Leyla and her friend Zeynep couldn't be more different. Leyla, 35 years old, looks like 50. She's gaunt, her headscarf drawn tightly around forehead and chin. Zeynep is in her mid-40s and seems more relaxed, with her loosely tied headscarf and flowing clothing enveloping her sturdy body. Two of her sons sit against a wall facing her. High above, just under the ceiling, hangs a hand-coloured black-and-white photograph of their dead father and brothers.

Ten minutes to leave home

One morning in 1993, the gendarmerie apprehended Zeynep's husband, a farmer. Beets, potatoes and hazelnuts made up his narrow world. He had nothing to do with the troops of PKK fighters up in the hills. The soldiers hung him for seven days by his arms; he spent seven nights on the rack under fluorescent lights. They beat his feet, arms, back, genitals. Then they let him go. "Zeynep", he told her, "I want to leave this village. I won't survive another week like that."

A few days later, soldiers suddenly appeared in the kitchen. Zeynep was just making breakfast. "So now you're fighting in pyjamas?" she laughed. The family was given ten minutes to leave their home. As Zeynep left the house through the front door with her four children, the back rooms were already burning. But her husband had to go with the soldiers.

The trail of the men who were abducted throughout the Cudi Mountains region can be partially reconstructed today. One path leads to a bright-yellow blooming rapeseed field not far from the main road to Iraq. The warm air smells of springtime. All that's left of Sinan's restaurant is a concrete ruin. The walls and roof are pockmarked with bullet holes. Old graffiti tells of the hatred of the soldiers for their victims – and more recent scrawls of the Kurdish inhabitants' fury at the soldiers.

Human remains in wells

In the corner stands the broken oven with an opening that is much too large for only pita bread and pizza. Turkish special forces expelled Sinan in 1993 and set up an execution site here. The shots from the automatic weapons could be heard all the way to the next village.

Nearby, on the grounds of a gravel factory, there were wells. Their covers have been broken open. The investigators found the remains of skulls, elbows, ribs and hair. The acid did not obliterate all traces of the bodies.

Turkish civil servants are investigating the vestiges of a Turkish reign of terror – which is tantamount to a coup. They are digging in the acid cisterns, in the cellars of the gendarmerie, into a past that some people would like to pretend never happened. This is probably the most complex uncovering of state crimes since the founding of the republic in 1923. Arduously, the agents are revealing step-by-step a network of radical Kemalist officers, gendarmes, state officials, journalists and professors.

A wide-flung web of conspiracy

The "Ergenekon Network" wanted to protect Turkey against its enemies – Kurds, Christians, Jews, the EU, America – and terrorised Turkish citizens to achieve its aims.

Part of the wide-flung web of conspiracy was a secret task force whose existence the General Staff and the gendarmerie still obstinately deny today, but which ex-agents have attested to. Abkülkadir Aygan worked for nine years for the secret task force JITEM. He is a Kurd and fought until 1985 for the Kurdish PKK, killing Turkish nationalists. Then he went over to the other side.

The Turkish gendarmerie first put him in prison to protect him from the revenge of the PKK. His family was given a nice apartment, and Aygan got a new name, an immaculate police record and a social insurance policy. JITEM takes care of its employees. Today Aygan lives in exile in Stockholm. He is telling the investigators where to dig. Aygan told the Turkish newspaper "Taraf" that four out of five of the unsolved murders in southeastern Turkey were the doing of JITEM.

Anyone suspected of working with the PKK received a visit from the task force. "Our job: abducting these people, interrogating them, executing them, getting rid of the bodies somehow, by burning or submerging them." Aygan personally witnessed thirty executions. JITEM did the army's dirty work, he says. Sometimes the victims were farmers and other times indiscreet lovers, or children. He estimates that 15,000 people were murdered. "JITEM's operations always ended in death, no exceptions."

"Ask the PKK about your husband"

Zeynep wanted to know for sure. She went to police stations in the towns in the Cudi Mountains, to Silopi, Cizre, Sirnak. The gendarmerie demanded money before they would provide any information: six million lira, or more than a farmer earns in a year. Her village collected money for Zeynep. The gendarmerie took the money and, as thanks, just laughed in her face: "Ask the PKK about your husband."

In her despair Zeynep ate too much and became diabetic. She was plagued by nightmares for fifteen years. The gendarmes were in her kitchen again. Loading their guns. Setting the house on fire. Taking her husband away.

In one bad dream he called her on the phone. He screamed that he was on a far-away island where the soldiers were eating him alive, today a foot, tomorrow a hand, and then the rest. "He was there, on this island", says Zeynep. "They ate him up, but I want a rib, a hair, a piece of him so I know what happened to him."

The Turkish General Staff seething with anger

The investigators are trying to identify the remains found in the wells using DNA testing. And the police and justice officials are arresting more and more members of the Ergenekon terror network, JITEM commanders and police officers from southeastern Turkey. Among them is the former mayor of Cizre, a multiple murderer whose crimes were expunged from his police record, and who belonged in the nineties to almost all of Turkey's major political parties.

His election to the office of mayor was fixed, his vengeance genuine. People like him dominated southeastern Turkey in the nineties. People like Brigadier General Levent Ersöz, gendarmerie commander in the Southeast and the JITEM leader who set up the "republic of terror" in Sirnak. Last year he fled from the investigators to Moscow, a refuge for villains. But he was later caught when he checked into a hospital in Ankara under a false name.

Several highly decorated Turkish ex-generals have now joined Ersöz behind bars. They can read about their crimes every day in the papers. The Turkish General Staff is seething with anger. Human rights organisations are accusing the generals of doing everything they can to hinder the investigations. The national Kemalist elites and their mass media by contrast are accusing Erdoğan's government of conducting a political vendetta.

While the public prosecutors are maintaining strict silence, mass arrests and investigative slip-ups are fuelling gossip. Recently, coroners found dog bones on their examination table instead of human remains. Nobody knows what feints the army and gendarmerie will come up with next. But until now they have kept astoundingly quiet. In the Turkey of 2009.

Kurds in the Turkish army

It is the homeland of the Kurdish woman Zeynep. This became clear to her all over again seven years ago, when soldiers once again appeared at her door. This time without guns pointed at her. But they took away one of her sons – to do military service. Leyla's sons must also go into the army. For the two women this was pure torture. Would they now lose their sons as well to the "deep state"?

At the time, Zeynep wanted to gather up her family and flee. To Saddam Hussein's Iraq, to the UN protection zones for Kurds in the northern part of the country. But her relatives persuaded her to stay. Her son came back from military duty, unscathed. Like Leyla's sons.

"Life has become more bearable since those horrible days", says Zeynep, and Leyla nods. But they still can't forgive the Turkish state. "Too much has happened for that", Zeynep sighs, pointing to the pictures of the men of the family who vanished and were killed hanging on the wall.

Her sons have only vague memories of their abducted father. They were too little at the time. They know he was a farmer and that he disappeared at some point. And they know that his brother fought and died for the PKK in the nineties. For Zeynep's sons, their uncle is the hero.

Michael Thumann

© DIE ZEIT / Qantara.de 2009

Michael Thumann is Middle East bureau chief for the German weekly newspaper "DIE ZEIT".

Qantara.de

Kurdish Conflict Flares Up Once More
The "Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan" Thwart the Ceasefire
Only a few days after the PKK offered a ceasefire agreement to the Turkish state, the "Freedom Falcons of Kurdistan" carried out a number of terrorist attacks. Ömer Erzeren believes that they were a sign the Kurdish movement doesn't know which direction it's going in

The Kurdish Issue in Turkey
Limits to the Policy of Assimilation
Around 20 percent of the Turkish population is Kurdish. Since the time of Atatürk, in spite of the size of this minority, the Turkish state has followed a policy towards them of assimilation or "Turkification." Mesut Yagin reports

Turkey's Kurdish Question
"More Democracy, More Citizens' Rights, More Prosperity"
The most recent bombings of PKK splinter groups seemed to suggest there is little hope of reconciling Turkey's Kurdish question. Minister President Erdogan, however, seems to be determined to initiate a policy of rapprochement. Ömer Erzeren reports

Gerhard Schweizer (photo: Klett-Cotta-Verlag)

Interview with Gerhard Schweizer

"The AKP Has No Hidden Agenda"

Sabre-rattling in its foreign affairs and power struggles in its domestic politics are prompting many observers to wonder where exactly Turkey is heading. The cultural historian Gerhard Schweizer, an authority on Turkish society, rejects fears of Islamification in Turkish politics as "out of touch with reality". Christian Horbach spoke to him about how Turkey is developing More »

Abdullah Gül and the armenian president Serzh Sarksyan after their meeting in Eriwan, September 2008 (photo: dpa)

Turkey-Armenia Relations

Football Diplomacy Starts to Bear Fruits

Turkey and Armenia decided to establish ties due to a process started for the World Cup qualifying game. But just like in football the process faces risks, even off-side, as Ayşe Karabat reports More »

People protesting against Ergenekon in Istanbul (photo: dpa)

Turkey and the Ergenekon Secret Network

The Men in the Shadows

It is not Islamists or members of the military or the old elite that pose a threat to the Turkish state. Its real enemies operate under cover, as Ahmet Altan, one of the country's most successful authors, explains More »

Turkey's Image in the Arab Countries

"Are There Any Muslims in Turkey?"

Part of the West or leader of the Islamic world? The Arab nations see their neighbour Turkey in various ways. The Jordanian journalist Yousef Alsharif, head of TV station Al Jazeera's Turkey office in Ankara analyses how the perception of Turkey in the neighbouring Arab states has changed

One of the most important results of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Baghdad in July this year was the signing of an agreement establishing a high-level council for strategic co-operation between the two countries. Erdoğans's foreign policy advisor, Ahmed Davudoğlu, emphasized the particular significance of the agreement, comparing it with the agreement which founded the European common market.

Iraq has become Turkey's most important economic partner in the region, also allowing Turkey access the Arabic Gulf states. The desire to form a partnership with the Arabs, Davudoğlu says, extends to Turkish dreams of an EU-like organization uniting the Middle East countries. But to what extent do Turkey's visions fit with the way Arabs see the Turks?

One answer was provided by a taxi driver in Jordan. When he heard that I lived in Turkey he asked, "Are there any Muslims in Turkey? And how long are they going to carry on allying themselves with Israel against the Arabs?" He was genuinely astonished when I told him that ninety percent of the Turkish population is Muslim, that the relationship between Turkey and Israel had fundamentally altered and that Turkey now saw the Arabs as important partners in the region.

Arabs equate secularism with atheism

The image of Turkey firmly entrenched among many Arabs is twofold: western secularism and the alliance with Israel. Many Arabs misunderstand the meaning of secularism, conflating it with atheism, with the suppression of religion and the banning of its symbols.

With the head-scarf ban in universities for instance, Turkey's strict system of laicism has contributed to the reinforcement of these misunderstandings. Many Arabs therefore see Turkey as part of the West. Some position it between East and West; under no circumstances is it seen as part of the oriental, Islamic world.

The 1996 military agreement between Ankara and Tel Aviv and the fact that Turkey was the first Islamic country to recognize the state of Israel remain vivid to the average Arab citizen. The sympathies of most Arabs therefore lie with the Islamic parties in Turkey, which evoke nostalgic memories of a common cultural and religious past. The Turks who profess to the Islamic faith are the ones most Arabs wish to see in power. They associate them with a country which matches their vision; an Islamic, oriental Turkey, with which they can pursue shared political goals, firmly on the side of the Arabs and distancing itself from Israel and the USA.

The refusal to support the USA's Iraq invasion was a turning point

The Turkish parliament's May 2003 decision not to support the US armed forces' invasion of Iraq represented a historic turning point in Arabs' perception of Turkey. A NATO member, Turkey suddenly broke out of the West Atlantic, American consensus.

This new approach met with approval from the great majority of Arabs, particularly when they compared Turkey's stance to that of their own governments; most Arab leaders were tacitly co-operating with the USA, making military bases available and providing logistical assistance. There were many articles in Arabic press at the time praising the Turkish position and demanding that their countries learn from Turkey how to say no to the USA.

It comes as no surprise that this decision, by a parliament where the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has the majority, aroused hopes that Turkey might align itself more towards Arab interests. This change in perception was further boosted by Prime Minister Erdoğan's strong criticism of the US military operations in Iraq and of Israel's murder of Sheikh Yassin, founder of the Hamas movement. While Erdoğan described the assassination as "state terrorism", none of the Arabic leaders spoke out against the attack on Yassin, confined to a wheelchair. Turkey insisted that, having won the election, Hamas should be given the chance to rule in the Palestinian territories. The Turkish government received Khalid Mash'al, head of the movement's political office, in Ankara despite diplomatic pressure from the US and Israel.

Turkey as mediator

This has all strengthened the trust many Arabs have gained in Turkey over the past six years. Turkey now works hard as a mediator in countless conflicts throughout the region. The most important example is the secret, indirect round of negotiations between Syria and Israel, which came about as a result of diplomatic efforts on Turkey's part. If Syria was once the fiercest critic of the Turkish-Israeli relationship of all states in the region, now it is benefiting from the fruits of this relationship.

From a purely political point of view, Turkish-Syrian relationships improved since, following enormous pressure from Turkey in 1998, Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was forced to leave his hiding place in Damascus. Till then Öcalan had directed his party's attacks on the Turkish military and security forces from Syria. As a result of the normalization of the relationship between the two countries Turkey also gained respect within the Arab League. Syria had previously vetoed all projects or proposals leading to a strengthening of Arab-Turkish relationships, pointing to an ongoing dispute between the two countries over the allocation of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Following the 11th September 2001 attacks and the occupation of Iraq a further strengthening of Arab-Turkish relations was brought about surprisingly by the USA. Due to the spread of so-called Islamist terrorism Washington sought a moderate Islamic organization which would serve as a role model for Muslims and deter them from terrorism.

The AKP was exactly what the US government was looking for. The party has succeeded in expressing itself politically in a way which avoids it being perceived as Islamist. It presents itself as a centre-right party within Turkey's political landscape of secularism. To Muslims it is still however seen as an Islamic party. The AKP government receives support as part of the so-called "Wider Middle East" project, with which Washington seeks to entice its allies among the rich Gulf States to commit to large-scale investments.

The Gulf states supported the Turkish economy, which in turn promoted links between Turkey and these countries, which had previously viewed the secularist system with suspicion, Saudi-Arabia in particular. On the other hand the US occupation of Iraq caused an inversion of the military and political relations of power: Iraq, previously an important factor in the region's balance of power, collapsed. Iran's influence on Iraq and the entire Middle East increased. The Arab triangle consisting of Saudi-Arabia, Syria and Egypt, fell apart. Syria moved closer to Iran.

Turkey does not wish to lead the Sunni-Islam world

Other Arab countries looked to Turkey as their new ally against Iran. In particular Saudi Arabia, which saw the disagreements between Shiite Iran and the Sunni Arab states more in terms of religious confession than politics, believed that largely Sunni-Islamic Turkey, with its powerful army was capable of playing the role Iraq had previously played in holding the Iranian, Shiite influence in the region at bay.

The Arabs' public courting of Turkey went so far that King Abdullah ibn Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia visited Turkey three times in fourteen months. No Saudi king had ever visited Turkey before.

However Turkey politely refused the Saudi offer of leadership of the Sunni Islam world. It was emphasized that the Turkish state was based on a secular system, that Turkey rejected polarization according to religious confession and supported dialogue with Teheran. At the same time however Turkey exploited these public courtship attempts to sign several trade and economic agreements throughout the Arab world. The AKP's strategy of taking a neutral position won Turkey the role as mediator in the region's conflicts, from the conflict in the Sudanese province of Darfur, to events in Lebanon and the atomic dispute with Iran. This made a decisive contribution to the stereotypical image of Turkey in the Arab world.

The majority of Arabs however still believe that the changes to Turkey's approach are entirely thanks to the AKP and that if another party or the military were in control Turkey would not continue down the same path. They have grave doubts as to whether the current course of Turkish foreign policy will last forever. It is well known in the Arab countries that Erdoğan and his supporters in Turkey have many powerful adversaries who would like to remove them from power.

The desire for freedom in the Arab world

In the area of culture, Turkish television series dubbed into Arabic have been very successful in dismantling stereotypes. With the romantic series "Noor" and "The lost years", which the Saudi-financed satellite station MBC transmitted in 2007, Turkey reached almost every Arab home. Arabs were able to "experience" Turkish customs and habits.

The secret of the series' success in the Arab world is undoubtedly down to viewers' longing for more freedom, and it is laicism which guarantees Turkish Muslims this freedom, particularly in terms of relations between men and women. It is hardly surprising that the only protests against the programmes came from Islamist extremists; in their opinion the series continually promote the idea that women have the same right to love and desire as men.

The extremists fear that such influences could cause the Arab masses to run out of control and demand more freedom. It is no wonder either that three times as many Arab tourists visited Turkey this summer compared to the previous year. Turkey has almost become the Hollywood of the Middle East, used for pop videos by Arab singers; anyone seeking to stand out from their colleagues who shoot in Arab countries chooses Turkey as their backdrop.

Turkish nationalism as a dividing line

People in the Arab world are still full of admiration for the way the five-hundred-year Ottoman Empire began. They still hold respect for Sultan Mehmed Fatih who conquered Constantinople, later Istanbul, and drove out the Byzantines in 1453. However the last century, which climaxed in the rule of the nationalist Young Turks movement, has left deep scars in the memories of the Arab peoples. Handed down by their grandparents, gruesome stories evoke the Young Turks' racist policies, the slaughter of non-Turkish population groups, the many men conscripted during the "Seferberlik" period when the Young Turks attempted to occupy Russia, drawing the Ottoman Empire unto the First World War, in which the Arab population had no interest whatsoever. This was the time in which Turkish nationalism grew.

The Young Turks adhered to the ideology of Turanism, which promoted the supremacy of Turks and related peoples. This doctrine of superiority led among other things to the segregation of races. This dark chapter in Turkey's history was dealt with in the Syrian television series "Brothers of the Dust" which provoked strong criticism from the Turkish government when it was broadcast throughout the Arab world in 2001. At the time Syrian-Turkish relations had not yet recovered from the Öcalan crisis.

It is certain at any rate that the stereotypical image of a ferocious Turkish ruling elite still lurks in the corners of the Arab imagination. It returns to the surface every time the Turkish military executes a putsch, or an Islamist party is banned in Turkey. However this image is very gradually softening and loosing its terror. Turkey's economic development has also provoked admiration and respect from Arab businesses who are increasingly investing there.

Turkey's political and economic

The astonishing result of all these factors, along with the less active role of the Arabs in the region, is the feeling spreading throughout the Arab population, that the Arab world needs Turkey's support again; it needs to close ranks with Turkey to protect its own interests. Turkey's experience with the European Union provoked sarcastic responses from many Arabs; the EU will never open membership to a state such as Turkey, they warned when Turkey initiated efforts to join. But even on this point their attitude changed after Turkey's political and economic reforms of the past ten years on the European model were shown to reap positive results.

Instead many Arabs now support a union or partnership of the Arab and European countries bordering the Mediterranean, believing they might profit in a similar way. The Arab countries are genuinely grateful for the Turkish efforts to rediscover the Arab world. There is no indication that they would object to the idea of a Turkish-Arab reunification. The prototype is the old connection maintained during the Ottoman Empire, but under the condition that the new Ottomans govern, embodied by the AKP, and not the secularist descendents of the Young Turks.

The aim of this ideal union must be to draw the Arab world out of its political backwardness, to support moves towards democracy and overcome political crises to create a more stable, modern Middle East.

Yousef Alsharif

Translated from the Germany by Steph Morris

© Yousef Alsharif / Qantara.de 2008

This article was previously published in German in Kulturaustausch – Zeitschrift für internationale Perspektiven.

The Jordanian journalist Yousef Alsharif was born in Damascus in 1973. He has lived in Turkey for over fifteen years. Alsharif works for the Turkey office of the television station Al Jazeera in Ankara and writes for the Arabic daily newspaper Al Hayat, published in London. His specialist area is Turkey and its relationship to its Middle-Eastern neighbours.

Qantara.de

Turkey and the Middle East
A Trustworthy Mediator
Turkey has skilfully expanded its influence in the Middle East in recent years. The country could also help the EU advance its interests in the region – thus it is about time Europe finally recognised the possibilities offered by a closer collaboration, says Hüseyin Bagci

The Turkish Soap Opera "Noor"
More Real than Life
From Saudi Arabia to Morocco: Every evening the Turkish series "Noor" draws millions of people to their television sets. The show is about love, intimacy and equality; no social taboo is ignored. Some see in "Noor" proof of social change, others only fiction. Alfred Hackensberger reports

Turkey between Europe and the Islamic World
Reciprocal Influences, Convoluted Relations
The rapprochement of Turkey with the EU could have positive repercussions on European relations with the Arab-Islamic world, says Lebanese expert on Turkish Studies Muhammad Noureddine

Turkey and the Middle East

A Trustworthy Mediator

Turkey has skilfully expanded its influence in the Middle East in recent years. The country could also help the EU advance its interests in the region – thus it is about time Europe finally recognised the possibilities offered by a closer collaboration, says Hüseyin Bagci More »

Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and EU Comission President Barroso (photo: AP)

Turkey and the EU

A White Gentlemen's Club

The European Union will lose credibility with the rest of the world if it doesn't manage to integrate Turkey fully, says Şeyla Benhabib, professor of political philosophy at Yale University More »

Turkey's EU Membership Bid

A Security Policy Risk

Proponents of Turkey joining the EU generally point to strategic advantages. However, Turkish membership would bring no tangible benefits because the EU is not yet ready to tackle major security policy challenges, argues Erich Reiter More »

Turkey between the Middle East and the West

Ankara's Political Self-Blockade

Following the end of the Cold War, says Cengiz Çandar, Turkey has found it difficult to change the direction of its foreign policy towards becoming a bridge between the Middle East and the West More »

Turkey between Europe and the Islamic World

Reciprocal Influences, Convoluted Relations

The rapprochement of Turkey with the EU could have positive repercussions on European relations with the Arab-Islamic world, says Lebanese expert on Turkish Studies Muhammad Noureddine

For four hundred years the Arab world was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire, and Arabs were the last ethnic group to demand independence from the Ottoman center. But after the First World War ended with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, a dark chapter of tense relations began between Turkey and the Arab world.

The separation policy pursued by Atatürk under the motto "peace at home, peace in the world" also served to widen this chasm, even though relations were never characterized by hatred or animosity.
Turkey kept as much of a distance from the Arabs as they did from the rest of the world - Atatürk never once traveled abroad.

Turkish-Arab estrangement began systematically – apart from the Iskenderun problem with Syria at the end of the 1930s – after the end of the Second World War when Turkey joined the Western camp and took a stand against the Communist eastern bloc. This included recognizing Israel and joining NATO, as well as other pro-Western alliances, such as the Baghdad Pact, in particular.

Turkey's Middle East foreign policy developed along the lines of its contractual commitments with Western states and Israel. This gave rise to mistrust and tensions, and at times even led to armed conflicts between Arabs and Turks. At the end of 1998 war almost broke out between Syria and Israel.

New political orientation

In 2002 dramatic change came when the Islamic "Justice and Development Party" assumed the head of government. This party developed and pursued a new policy toward the Islamic world and distanced itself more from Israel, which gave it more opportunities than ever before to assert its presence and influence in Arab countries.

The Islamic orientation of Turkey's new ruling party became apparent with its pursuit of greater rapprochement with Iran, its strengthening of economic relations with the Arab Gulf states, its contacts with Islamic forces in Palestine, as well as with the restructuring of its relations with Syria, which surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.

Yet this change in Turkey's foreign policy did not negatively affect its relationships with the West and the EU, in particular. Today, for the first time in modern history Turkey maintains good relations with every state in the region and in the world.

This can be attributed not only to the will of the "Justice and Development Party" leaders. The current international situation after the party's decisive win at the polls, which enabled it to govern alone, and its accurate interpretation of the ensuing changes played a significant role in reorienting Turkey's foreign policy.

Arab mistrust of secularism

No one will dispute that Islamic Turkey's secularism was also a divisive factor, which provided even more fuel to the mistrust of the Islamic and Arab world.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's visit to Turkey in August 2006 was thus the first one by a Saudi king for over 50 years – an unusual state of affairs for two Islamic states that lie in such close geographical proximity.

The secular form of government in Turkey continues unchanged, and the Islamists of the "Party for Justice and Development" affirm day after day that they intend to adhere to it. Yet the result of the new image of Turkey in the era of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his fellow party members is that Muslims view the interests of Turkey in obtaining membership in the EU more positively than ever.

Some even say that it is also in the interests of the Arab states.

Complex relations

The influence of Turkish-European relations on the EU and its presence in the Middle East cannot be viewed solely from a single standpoint, for this relationship is extremely complex.

It will also be determined by the extent to which the Turkish-European relationship will develop, and whether Turkey will be accepted into the EU as a member state, or if it will remain an ordinary relationship.

But relations could suffer a setback overall if Turkey is permanently excluded from the EU. In any case, it is undeniable that Turkey's rapprochement with the EU will have a positive effect on European relations with the Arab and Islamic world.

Alone the willingness of Christian Europe to admit Muslim Turkey would be a signal that Europe does not want to encounter the Islamic world on a religious basis. It could open a new chapter of good relations between Muslims and Christians worldwide and create a real chance for dialogue and interaction between cultures and religions.

Breaking a historical taboo

Turkey is offering Europe and the world an opportunity to establish stability and peace. If Turkey fulfills the conditions for EU membership, then Europe, on its part, should be aware of the strategic significance that accepting an Islamic country into its ranks would have with regard to its relations with the Islamic world at large.

Turkey is breaking a historical taboo with its request for admission into a Christian community. Europe should respond with the guarantee of full membership if Turkey fulfills all the conditions that go with it.

This is the only way Europe can prove that it has freed itself from its history. Moreover, this step would help promote greater social stability between European societies and its Muslim immigrants.

Positive effects of membership

Turkey as a full member state of the EU and more European support of Turkey in the area of democracy as well as in civil and human rights would have a very positive effect on the future of the Islamic world.

They would observe a vital process, which could also offer solutions for many of the problems in the Islamic world, whether it be in dealing with religious, confessional, or ethnic minorities, fighting corruption, or minimizing class differences.

The existence of a "finished" Turkish model that shares similar circumstances with other Islamic and Arab countries represents a chance for them to profit from this experience without having to entirely imitate it. Seen this way, the EU has the most to gain, especially with regard to the linkage of "terror" and Islam and the call for democratization in the Middle East.

But the possible role model function of a Turkish model under a European umbrella also depends on the extent to which Turkey is able to preserve its Islamic identity and its unique cultural characteristics.

Turkey as a Muslim member of the EU would also be an additional key to strengthening economic relations between Europe and the Arab and Islamic world.

Arab-Israeli conflict as a factor

Nevertheless, one of the most decisive factors of whether Turkish-European relations will have a positive or negative effect on the Arab-Islamic world is the question of how the Arab-Israeli conflict further develops.

Good relations between Turkey and Europe will remain a utopia as long as the Arab-Israeli conflict, with European support for Israel's settlement policy, continues, and the West – with Europe as an integral part – becomes an accomplice as a result of its inability to protect the Palestinian people.

Non-uniform EU foreign policy

In view of the current situation within the EU one cannot talk about the possible effects of Turkey's entry into the Union without taking into account the EU's foreign and defense policy. At present the EU does not pursue a homogeneous foreign policy. Instead, the policies of the individual member states conflict.

The divergent views with regard to Turkey and the American occupation of Iraq is clear proof. Up to now Arabs and Muslims have seen the EU act as a number of states in terms of foreign policy, not as a bloc, and this logically reduces the chances of a European rapprochement with Turkey.

Among the prerequisites for a positive interaction between Europe and Turkey as a member state on the one hand, and the Arab-Islamic world on the other, is an accepted uniform foreign and defense policy that is not directed against the interests of Arabs and Muslims. Otherwise Turkey's membership would be even more harmful than non-membership.

Convoluted relations

Relations between Turkey and the Arab world, and Turkey and the EU are complex and cannot be predicted for the future as long as the situation between Turkey and the EU remains so convoluted.

Another major factor cannot be ignored, namely the policy of the United States with regard to international relations, the Middle East, Turkey, and Europe.

The turbulence in Turkish-European relations since 1963 also reflect the fact that this relationship is not only bilaterally determined.

Relations between Turkey, Europe, the Arab and Islamic world are convoluted and at times fragile, making it impossible to predict with much accuracy what the final picture might look like.

Muhammad Noureddine

© Qantara.de 2007

Muhammad Noureddine is editor-in-chief of the Lebanese journal Schu'un al-Auswat (Middle East Affairs) and scientific advisor to the "Center for Strategic Studies, Research and Documentation" in Beirut.

Translated from the German by Nancy Joyce

Qantara.de

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New Developments in Turkish Literature

From Provincial Reality to Problems of the Individual

Even before Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Turkish literature had already taken a major step towards modernization. Turkish author Feridun Andaç reports with an overview of Turkish literature

The 1970s heralded a turning point in Turkish literature: Socialization and village stories as well as the discovery of the existence of the individual, which were dominant themes in novels and stories in the 1940s and 1950s, now gave way to popularization, urbanization, and individual identity. Political discourse also came to the fore.

The author as an institution also became more visible as a factor in prose. Repression and stagnation, induced by the provisional solution of two interim regimes, played as much a role here as the search for the self.

The search for a new language and form

Toward the end of the 1970s and at the beginning of the 1980s the Turkish novel came into its own. Authors Vedat Türkali and Pinar Kür introduced a new development, and the contemporary Turkish novel began to explore new themes. While forthright political discourse portrayed the reality of the country, the exploration of individual identity found an enduring expression in literature.

The atmosphere of social opposition so prevalent in the 1970s was also reflected in literature: much discussed and of considerable significance in the past, literature freed itself of its stereotypes and searched for a new form and a new language to depict the reality of people and society. This new trend could be observed in the works of representative authors.

While Yasar Kemal, born in 1923 in South Anatolia and who appeared on the literary scene in the 1950s, contributed to a major step in the development of Turkish literature with his trilogy "Kimsecik" (Little Nobody), many of the writers from the so-called "1950's generation" likewise enjoyed a prolific period of creativity that greatly enriched Turkish prose.

Pioneers of the "new novel"

A major characteristic of the prose literature from this period was the tremendous diversity of its themes – with a shift of themes from the country to the city, from provincial reality to the problems of the individual, from the scrutinization of female lives to the portrayal of historical facts, from domestic migration to emigration.

This wealth of themes made it possible for new paths to emerge, leading Turkish literature out of the literary stagnation into which it had been fallen in the 1980s during the "interim government."

During the 1960s literature and culture increasingly opened up to external influences. This, in turn, paved the way for the emergence of formative writers in the 1980s and up through the twenty-first century. Of particular note here are four outstanding novelists: Orhan Pamuk, Mehmet Eroglu, Ahmet Altan, and Latife Tekin.

These authors, each of whom addressed different motifs in the novel – from the historical and social structure of Turkey to the problem of the individual's existence, from the hopeless situations people find themselves in during times of change to the intellectual awareness of being a chronicler – can be called the pioneers of the "new novel."

Another kind of representation arose in the 1980s with the emergence of female writers who explored the theme of the "women question" and scrutinized female lives. In their works, Inci Aral and Erendiz Atasü highlight problems that revolve around the axis of gender relations. Even more noteworthy than their awareness is their exploration of this complex of problems.

During this same period authors such as Murathan Mungan, Hasan Ali Toptas, Ahmet Ümit, and Elif Safak, all known in Germany, also created a sensation with their novels and short stories.

The understanding of regional literature vanishes

The novel grew in prominence in the literary climate of the 1980s. Interest in popular culture was gradually spreading to wider circles of the population. For a society that had just discovered "hobbies," reading became a necessity.

Two facts can be observed of novels written during this period: History became a theme for novels, and the detective story started arousing interest as an independent genre. The understanding of a regional literature, as it had existed since the 1930s, crumbled; the problems of socialization and the new world order took its place in literature.

Novels were also written that dealt with the meaning of society, with the past in light of historical awareness, as well as the present.

Nobel Prize for Orhan Pamuk

The idea of the novel as a powerful instrument for comprehending society and people in society became more accepted. To a certain degree, acceptance of the idea that the path to enlightenment led through the novel is one reason why it became one of the most popular literary forms of expression.

The novel is the genre in which prose can best showcase itself and its maturity, which is why the novel has received the most attention in the reception of Turkish literature in other countries. In this regard, the influence of a highly developed Turkish prose on developments that led to Orhan Pamuk's Nobel Prize should not be underestimated.

Along with the rise in the expression of female voices and themes focusing on female lives and women's search for identity in the 1980s, themes such as city, urbanization, migration, the search for identity, the East-West conflict, sexuality, gender relations, minority identities, social history, political reality, provincial reality, the hopelessness of the individual, and alienation were establishing themselves at the same time.

The modernization of literature

Over the past thirty years literature has taken on the adventure of further developing modernization, which began in the "early Republican phase" around 1900.

The period 1900-1930 was the getting-acquainted phase that explored definitions of society and formulations of its problems; 1940-1960 saw the emergence of a literary idea that asked the question of not only what should be told and why, but how should it be narrated.

The phase after the 1970s focused on social development as a dominant theme, but also extended its attention to the world outside Turkey. International events received even greater attention, and writers experimented in how to shape their view of their own society.

In addition to the idea of holding up a mirror to society, the belief arose that literature could comprehend and depict life.

This era produced the concept of the "new writer" in Turkish literature. New prominent writers no longer concerned themselves solely with their own texts, but viewed life from many different perspectives and could write about it with even greater self-awareness.

Feridun Andaç

© Qantara.de 2007

Translation from the German by Nancy Joyce

Qantara.de

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