Sleepwalking Towards a
Change of Axis
Posted
on February 10, 2021 by Ali Tuygan
February 10, 2021
In December 2009, the communique[i] issued at the end of the Damascus meeting of
the “Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” referred to
a “strategic partnership”, at the time a fashionable
label for Turkey’s close external relationships. It mentioned common threats
and challenges confronting the two countries.
A year later, Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu, in remarks to the press
with his Syrian counterpart in Latakia, underlined that the exemplary relations
between Syria and Turkey was serving as a model for regional partnerships and
that the two countries were aiming at total economic integration with
neighbors.
And, two years later, it dawned upon Turkey’s ruling Justice and
Development Party (JDP) government that Assad was a dictator. Thus, aspiring to
bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Damascus the government grabbed the
leading role in the regime change project in Syria. Ankara joined hands with
the US, other Western countries, and Gulf states to oust President Assad from
power. Forgotten were the common threats and total economic integration. Mr.
Assad metamorphosed from a friend into “the enemy of his own people”. He called
this reversal of policy a betrayal.
A decade later, Gulf states with the exception of Qatar are our
adversaries. Relations with Western allies with whom we partnered in Syria are
at their lowest point in decades. We now have a PYD/YPG problem. Moreover, we
have put thousands of Turkish troops in harm’s way in Syria, and Syria
responded by sending five million refugees to Turkey. Troops will come back at
some point but a vast majority of the refugees will stay.
In the context of JDP’s decade-long erratic foreign policy, none of this comes
as a surprise. I used the adjective erratic because in addition to upending
our “strategic partnership” with Damascus, we also
shot down a Russian military plane, then engaged in bellicose language only to
apologize soon after; we ran to Brussels for NATO support against Moscow and
then bought Russian S-400s which became an obstacle to improved relations with
Washington.
What is more than surprising is that we Turks have
almost forgotten about our Syria challenge. Except a few dedicated observers
who continue to report on developments there, no one seems to care. The current
situation is taken for granted. How we got here is no longer an issue. Most of
our former partners in the regime change project have left the area. Some
apparently concluded that the alternative to the regime would either be the
Islamic State or at best Muslim Brotherhood. However, we share and will
continue to share a 910-kilometer border with Syria.
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Our obliviousness too is partly due to the pandemic and
our economic decline. But it can also be explained by JDP’s success at “agenda
games”. Whenever, a topic appears to push the government in a corner, the
government changes the national agenda and drags the opposition in a different,
mostly futile debate. And in foreign policy, the main opposition almost always
remains trapped by government’s nationalist public discourse. It tries hard to
be one step ahead of the government in daring our Western allies.
This not to say that those allies are above criticism. The mess they
created in Libya and Syria has led only to destruction and loss of innocent
lives. Those who were extending great hospitality to Qaddafi in their capitals
suddenly became his enemies in a dramatic reversal of policy. But it is wrong
to brush aside all criticism as groundless. We need to look at the mirror and
make a sober analysis of what is fair and what is not. Our reaction to foreign
governments’ criticism, to European Court of Human Rights decisions cannot
always be defiance. Even global adversaries address one another in diplomatic
language. A case in point are the public statements by Moscow and Washington.
Their language is neither a sign of weakness nor lack of determination but
reflects a desire to keep channels open.
More importantly, we cannot afford to ignore the relationship between cause and effect.
At present, we are waiting to see how Ankara’s relationship with the Biden
White House would evolve. Yet, the government felt no inhibition to use
disproportionate force to suppress Boğaziçi University student protests. At
present the West is watching the demonstrations in Belarus, Hong Kong, and
Myanmar. Turkish government’s reaction to Boğaziçi protests risks our being put
in the same category and defies President Biden’s emphasis on democracy. It is
self-defeating.
Is disregard for the right of peaceful protest an indication that the list
of issues with Washington is far too long and we have given up reviving our
partnership? Is the government’s constant emphasis on an emerging world order a
harbinger of fundamental change in our foreign and security policy? If so, is
anyone aware of what lies ahead? Does anyone care? Is transactional cooperation
with the West decidedly becoming the only option?
Turkey’s democratic decline and our ideologically inspired foreign policy
have created an overarching problem of chemistry with the West. We may
accommodate each other here and there but the ground has shifted and we are
more likely to remain adversaries than partners in the foreseeable future.
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[i] http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye—suriye-ydsik-1_-toplantisi-ortak-bildirisi_-22-23-aralik_-sam.en.mfa
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