BY HADI ULUENGIN
HURRIYET- Columnist Hadi Uluengin comments on possible Turkish troop deployment in Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
Let’s recall the famous saying of von Clausewitz, the greatest military strategist of all time: ‘It is of course well known that the only source of war is politics – the intercourse of governments and peoples. Thus, war is simply a continuation of politics through other means.’ Von Clausewitz’s definition of war should be understood in a wider sense. All kinds of military action, such as deploying navies in order to exert pressure on a rival state or sending police forces to a third country, should be included in this general understanding of war, since they share an unavoidably coercive nature. This also applies to any possible Turkish troop deployment in Iraq.
The history of the Ottoman Empire witnessed numerous instances of such a relationship between war and politics, and republican Turkey itself has seen at least two very remarkable incidents of the same nature. The first was on the eve of World War II, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk deployed troops near the southern Anatolian city of Hatay – then called Sancak, an overwhelmingly Turkish province under French mandate – and annexed it into Turkey without firing a single shot. The second occurred during the Korean War. Sending combat forces to Korea opened NATO’s gates to Turkey, integrating our country into the Western world. Von Clausewitz’s definition of war applies to these two incidents, which broadened Turkey’s horizons. And now we stand face to face with a similar situation.
The prospect of Turkish troop deployments in Iraq has this very same political nature. It has nothing to with invasion or conquest, nor with a secret design to gain a permanent foothold in the region. The Turkish military presence in Iraq would be an extension of our country’s political presence there. Troop deployment would not only contribute to the stability of Iraq and the Mideast, but also would constitute an opportunity to mend already weakened Turkish-US relations. Either ethical or not, we have a situation of realpolitik before us, and playing the three ‘see-hear-speak-no-evil’ monkeys would certainly hurt our country, and gravely. Our ‘ultra-legalist’ president’s obsession with a UN resolution is a wholly unreasonable attitude. International politics is no law course one teaches at school.
Of course, no one wants to see Turkish soldiers getting hurt in Iraq. But well, armies don’t exist just to pick daisies in the field, do they. Thus, there is no point in discussing the issue, if a temporary and provisional combat presence in Iraq would serve our country’s politics.
Moreover, looking through the general geostrategic perspective, leaving the US on its own and pushing it off to Europe would no doubt be detrimental for all humanity.
True, war is simply a continuation of politics through other means. And deploying troops in Iraq would be the continuation of Turkish foreign policy through those very same means.