Turkey And Its Region

BY RAHIM ER
TURKIYE- The General Staff is currently hosting a two-day symposium on Mideast crises from the viewpoint of Turkey, NATO and the EU, with many Turkish and foreign guests in attendance. In his long opening speech, Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug analyzed almost all the issues on the agenda and took questions. Gen. Basbug’s presentation was general, but he also emphasized Turkey and its interests. The media should have covered his remarks properly, but it was focused on secularism and emphasized it, which was a great mistake. Basbug dealt with secularism straightforwardly, that is, there was no irony, no hints.
For a year now the US has put forth a concept called the Greater Middle East initiative. The world is discussing it like the blind man’s definition of an elephant. Its nature will be understood at the G-8 and NATO summits. Everybody guesses that it would extend the definition of the ‘Middle East’ to the ‘Greater Middle East,’ that is, a region extending from Morocco to the Great Wall of China. Once the Iron Curtain was an everyday term, but now it’s found only in encyclopedias. Maybe it will be the same for the Middle East as well. When a concept ends, such unexpected events as changing borders or the collapse of powers might follow. Turkey is at the center of this definition with its geography, history, culture and nation. It should have a determining role in the new structure. We shouldn’t forget that this symposium is being held just one month before the NATO summit. We belong to this geography and favor peace and oppose terrorism. Why is this region which lived in peace under Turks for 1,000 years now at each other’s throats? Whatever its name, the people of this region need Turks, and Turks need their own values.