Today, I would like to change the course of my “what is
happening in Turkey” articles from internal politics to an international
spectrum and put the spotlight on how recent developments are impacting
Turkey’s foreign relations as well as its image in the world community. Turkey
is facing a paradigm shift in its foreign relations. Once with an objective to
have a policy of zero problems with its neighbors, Turkey is now at a point
where there are no neighbors or former allies without a problem due to
Erdogan’s authoritarian practices and bellicose rhetoric over massive
corruption and bribery scandal.
Turkey already has a negative image in the international
arena concerning its records of freedom of expression, government corruption,
freedom of press, and human rights. As I was writing thIS article, The European
Parliament (AP) approved a blistering report on March 12, 2014 criticizing
Turkey for impediments in the areas of “fundamental freedoms, independence of
the judiciary, freedom of expression and others.” EP’s report came following
the recent developments in Turkey with regard to Erdogan’s and his government’s
involvement in high-level corruption, money laundering with Iran, tender fraud
at massive scales, the immediate removal of the police officers and public
prosecutors in charge of the investigations, and passing of new laws aiming at
obstructing the investigations just to name a few. It is ironic that AK Party
owed its initial success 12 years ago to its party program that prioritized the
fight against corruption. This strategy proved successful when they got the majority
votes at a turbulent time when the oligarchy was trying to close AK Party down.
Erdogan’s authoritarian practices and angry rhetoric are not
only polarizing people in Turkey, but also causing conflicts with other
governments. Unfortunately, this is not just limited to the European Union
(EU), which has expectations for further democratic reforms from Turkey as a
candidate to join the Union. As a reaction to the graft probe, Erdogan didn’t
lose time to blame internal and external circles to be behind the “plot” and
named Israel, the United States, and Germany for orchestrating a “judicial
coup” against his government and he accused the Hizmet movement without
evidence for being part of the efforts. He even directly targeted the US
ambassador Ricciardone accusing him of engagement in the actions and threatened
him publicly to send him back. Following his remarks, the pro-government media
(turns out majority secretly owned by Erdogan himself) orchestrated verbal
attacks on the ambassador.
Erdogan’s accusations and outcry was an attempt to divert
attention from probes, manipulate public opinion and keep his blind followers
intact. This was the main reason as to why he resorted to a nationalistic
rhetoric at the outset and blamed “foreign powers” and “interest lobbies” for
plotting a “coup” against his government referring to probe investigations.
This wasn’t the only time Erdogan used such rhetoric against foreign states.
When GEZI protests took place just a couple months before graft probes in
December, Erdogan had once again blamed internal and external circles for being
behind the protests.
When his support base and the pro-AKP media started
resonating with the same message all across the board and supported his
attempts to reshuffle the judiciary, it was time for Erdogan to send the
Foreign Minister, Davutoglu, to the United States of America in an effort to
make up and visited Germany to meet with Angela Merkel for the same reason.
However, these image-saving trips did not bring about any changes to
already-broken relationships. Erdogan had already created tensions with the
European Union and the United States when he discredited the EU a little while
ago in his speeches, threatened to join the Shanghai Five rather than the EU,
and decided to purchase missile defense systems from China despite
criticism.
The leaked wiretaps also indicated that Erdogan and his
close circle have involved with money laundering and gold smuggling with Iran
in an effort to break sanctions over Iran. There is now new evidence that
Erdogan ordered the Intelligence Agency to smuggle weapons into Syria and
developed relationships with Al-Qaeda, which disturbs the United States of
America to a great extent. Erdogan defended the Iranian businessman Reza
Zerrab, who bribed the ministers and their sons, when he was arrested and had
him released shortly after by putting pressure on the judiciary and making the
‘necessary’ amendments to the law. He then paid a visit to Iran where he called
Iran “his second home.”
His support for Iran confused many in the Middle East. The
majority of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa are Muslim
countries with primarily Sunni populations who have historical tensions with
Shiite Iran. Yet another confusion was that although Erdogan openly condemned
the bloodshed the Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad is inflicting on his own
people, he developed these strong economic and political ties with Iran and
Russia which proactively supported Assad regime against the West and other
Sunni countries mainly Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This destroyed not only Turkey’s
image among Muslim communities but also Erdogan’s very own image as a
charismatic, Muslim leader who initially won a dramatic victory against the
oligarchy with people’s support 12 years ago.
I believe Erdogan’s biggest mistake came into play when he
couldn’t control his anger and ordered Turkish ambassadors to “tell the truth”
abroad that Hizmet movement, the only and the most influential religious,
non-political social group who didn’t commit to Erdogan’s way, is part of the
“judicial coup” against his government in collaboration with “foreign interest
lobbies.” Most ambassadors expressed displeasure over such request because this
unprofessional attitude would coincide with the traditions of a democratic and
powerful country with a long history.
According to recent news, Erdogan also called the officials
of foreign countries himself in an effort to have them close the private
schools operated by the Hizmet movement in their countries. No country has ever
paid attention to such a request as this is an obvious attempt to intervene
with their internal affairs. No democratic county in the world would close
schools operated by private and non-profit organizations because the leader of
their home country, who happens to be under investigation, wanted so.
Obama had stopped calling Erdogan for a long time until
recently due mainly to his engagement with Al-Qaeda . Turns out, Erdogan also
called President Obama about a week ago and told him that “he has to take the
necessary stance” against the Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gulen, who
currently resides in the USA. Erdogan complained about the Hizmet movement and
asked Obama to turn in Gulen to him! Erdogan later told the public that Obama
“got his message!”. However, in a recent briefing, the White House clearly said
“the response attributed to President Obama with regard to Mr. Gulen is not
accurate.” It is not hard to realize that this third world country image
Erdogan depicts tarnishes Turkey’s image in the international forum as a strong
and respected country.
In my conclusion, once seen as a role model for emerging
democracies in the Middle East, the recent tumultuous developments surrounding
graft probes against PM Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party have
the potential to lead to a reassessment of Turkey’s role as a leading figure in
the region. Such an image can, in turn,
inflict irreparable damage on the credibility of Turkey in the international
realm of politics unless the Turkish people stop the nonsense at the ballot box
and hold everyone responsible
accountable.
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