TURCO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE IN DISARRAY

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-eibner041403.asp ^ | 14 April 2003 | John Eibner

[Doctor13]

Crises can be blessings in disguise if they expose long-cherished but dangerous illusions. First, the Iraqi crisis revealed that "Old Europe" had only been in hibernation during the Cold War years. Now Washington has made another sobering discovery: "Old Turkey," too, is alive and well. Turkey's last-minute obstruction of U.S. war efforts and its own threats to invade northern Iraq have "stunned" senior American policymakers - most notably the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller. After all, President Bush had just placed a $30 billion aid package on the table in return for Turkey's cooperation in opening the vital northern front in Iraq. Moreover, only a few months ago, the president expended valuable political capital in Europe by openly campaigning in favor of Turkey's unsuccessful bid to join the EU.

While lobbying for the Turks, Bush's message to distrustful European colleagues included three key points, which have been trumpeted with precision by successive administrations: 1) Turkey was a reliable NATO ally against the Soviet threat; 2) Turkey is a secular Muslim democracy - a model for the rest of the Islamic world; and 3) Ankara has developed intimate security relations with Israel to counter the shared threat from Syria and Iraq. All three points contain large grains of truth. But they also overlook important realities.

Turkey's relations with the West have historically been characterized by ideologically driven enmity, dating back to the jihads of the Seljuk and Ottoman conquerors of Christian Anatolia and southeastern Europe. Open hostility has been tempered only by either Turkish military defeat, or the need for short-term tactical alliances. In the First World War, Turkey proclaimed a jihad and allied itself with Germany against the United States and its allies. In 1941, Ankara signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany on the eve of Hitler's invasion of Russia.

Turkey is no Western-style democracy. The country's limited liberal reform is not primarily the result of indigenous political development. Rather, Western pressure has led to the grafting of liberal institutions onto an essentially autocratic system. The power structure of the Turkish state bears a striking resemblance to other unstable Islamic allies of the United States, especially Pakistan. Ever since military strongman Kemal Ataturk founded the modern Turkish republic in 1923, real power has been wielded by generals.

The dominant strain in Ankara's official ideology is an intolerant nationalism based primarily upon Turkic ethnicity. The Islamic tradition of the Caliphate also permeates Turkey's political culture. The election of two Islamist governments within the past ten years - including that of the current prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan - points to a dangerous revival of sharia-inspired political Islam.

The consequences of this potent Turco-Islamic cocktail have been lethal for once-thriving non-Turkic and non-Muslim communities. Over 1.5 million Armenian and Aramaic-speaking Christians perished during the state-sponsored genocide of 1915-16. The founding of the present, "secular" republic was accompanied by the brutal expulsion of 1.25 million Greek Christians between 1923 and 1930.

Ankara's war against Turkey's last remaining significant ethnic minority - the Kurds - continued through the post-World War II era and is still ongoing. The effort to suppress the Kurds has been accompanied by the same kind of atrocities that have landed Slobodan Milosevic and his comrades in the dock on charges of crimes against humanity. Today, the Kurdish language and political parties remain suppressed.

Thirty years ago, Ankara's generals ordered the invasion, occupation, and colonization of northern Cyprus. Two hundred thousand Greek Christians were driven from their homes; their churches were looted, turned into mosques, or destroyed. At the end of 2002, Turkey torpedoed U.N. efforts to reunite the divided island and end its military occupation. Despite Ankara's consistent denials, Turkey has been most the persistent ethnic cleanser of the past century.

Turkey's widely celebrated "secularism" has successfully created a firewall protecting the military elite from the domination of religious leaders. But it has not brought with it freedom of religion. The state supports Islamic institutions, but severely restricts the free expression of the Christian faith, to which a tiny remnant still clings. Both threats and acts of violence are indispensable instruments in the state control of religious life.

Just as Turkey has failed to turn the corner politically, it has also failed economically. Turkey's fragile economy is crumbling - notwithstanding great strides in integration with the global economy. Repayment of a staggering $93 billion of a $145 billion national debt is due this year. Economic collapse is no far-fetched nightmare in the present gloomy global climate. These facts need to be repeated. America's foreign-policy establishment has largely been duped into believing its own spin about Turkey's reliability as an ally. How else can one explain Sen. Rockefeller's bewilderment? The Cold War is over. It's time for Washington to switch off the outdated autopilot that has been guiding America's policy toward Turkey since the end of World War II.

A continued alliance with Turkey is highly desirable, but dependence is dangerous. The United States needs to be prepared for the possibility that "Old Europe" and "Old Turkey" will ultimately combine against the "New World." Perhaps the former subject nations of the Ottoman Empire - nations that have been historically blighted by Turkish massacres, deportations, and enslavement - may prove to be more reliable allies than Turkey. Among these are the democracies of southeastern Europe. The strongest alliances, after all, are those in which common strategic and economic interests are underscored by common values.

To ignore not only Turkey's past, but also its present, is to invite further surprises.

- John Eibner is director of human rights, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) .

[Hans]

The Turks could have proven themselves in a most
honorable way - they failed. There will be other
times and chances.

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[Cyber Liberty]

Sounds like "They're on our side, unless they aren't, then they aren't on our side unless they are" writ long.

[strela]

I thought this article was about the very fine goalie for the Dallas Stars hockey team. I'm relieved that first appearances don't always hold up.

[curmudgeonII]

I must admit that I've been gravely dissapointed by the action of Turkey during this Iraq affair. I have the distinct impression that the current Turkish administration was trying to hold up the U.S. to get every financial benefit possible - - it didn't work.

[onedoug]

Any comments?

[UncleSamUSA]

I think this is a very useful summary of what Turkey is all about, both historically and at present, and it should serve both as instruction and as a warning.

Many of us were blissfully unaware of Turkey before the events of the last few months, and we tended to just believe the standard line that Turkey is just like Kansas except it has Muslims not Christians. But it was believed to be a secular, democratic enclave amidst the intolerant Arab-Muslim world, and as such could be depended on to continue its tradition of being an ally to the US.

Well, we were 100% wrong about that. Turkey is not a Kansas-like democracy, and it is riddled with the same anti-American hatred as Iraq or Syria. Its politicians care more about mollifying Saddam or Chiraq than about accepting US aid.

We may all have vastly overrated just what a "Model" Turkey is toward some kind of democratic state, and it points out the true challenges of trying to make Iraq democratic as well.

[dfwgator]

I thought this article was about the very fine goalie for the Dallas Stars hockey team. I'm relieved that first appearances don't always hold up.

Unfortunately in last night's game, Turco was very much in disarray.

[mrsmith]

We didn't need the Fourth ID in the north.
The Fourth performed their role of keeping the northern Iraqi units pinned down without even getting off their ships.
Turkey saved us a bunch of money, and probably some lives lost to accidents.

They're going to be real good friends with us and the new Iraq as oil flows through the Turkey pipeline.

[ARCADIA]

I suspect Turkey will eventually come around. The real problem is France, not Turkey. IIRC France placed alot of pressure on Turkey to derail the US efforts. They went so far as to threathen to hold up Turkey's entry into the EU, to keep turkey from siding with us.

Just as our troops did during the war, we must focus on the real enemy, and fight the political war with precision weapondry.

[Defiant]

Has anyone seen a_Turk lately?

[TheCrusader]

Why does America give a rat's tail about any Islamic country anyway? Their emotions are less predictable than the weather in New England. They like us, they hate us, they don't care. It's time to spend our time, energy and resources on drilling our OWN oil in Alaska and finding viable alternatives to oil. Once we've accomplished that, then just write the Muslims off our "things to care about" list and let them kill each other off. Saddam and the Taliban did a better job of that then we ever could. And if they attack us again then we can do the LGMD, (laser guided MOAB dance), on their heads into perpetuity. When America stops needing Arab oil they will fall back into medieval living conditions, without any viable economic base to bring them back.

[Amalie]

Agreed; these are rapidly adjusting times and a lot of decay is being revealed as change occurs. Turkey will likely prove itself to be a "trust but verify" type of partner, but they will not be stupid enough (I would hope not) to destroy thier economy. France needs to be treated as the non-entity, because it is. Its poison needs to be neutralized in the view of the entire world, and we need carefully mend fences elsewhere with nation states who matter. I do have a real problem with appeasing the Turks on the Kurds; history speaks for itself on Turkish dealings - BLOODY...

[caisson71]

Turkey now understands "cowboy logic" - I meant what I said and I won't say it twice.

[vollmond]

I thought this article was about the very fine goalie for the Dallas Stars hockey team. I'm relieved that first appearances don't always hold up.

Unfortunately in last night's game, Turco was very much in disarray.

Yeah, Turco-bad.

[mtnwmn]

Tell that to the "moderate" republicans!

[a_Turk]

>> Any comments?

Too many to list. Reading this in the National Review this morning was very disappointing. It's full of negative stuff that's either false or overblown. Oh well, some people we can never please, as you now too know oh so well.

[onedoug]

"...as you now too know oh so well."

Yeah, I guess we do. Odd that you seldom seemed so reticent to "list" such "negative stuff that's either false or overblown", before.

[Verginius Rufus]

I thought the failure to make a deal in Cyprus recently was primarily Rauf Dentash's fault. Were the authorities in Ankara happy or unhappy with his stubbornness?