BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH- Turkey is undergoing a strange process. During a time when people are retreating into themselves more and more each day due to their anti-Westernism, they're being ruled by a government whose openness is unprecedented in the history of the republic. Fortunately, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his team aren't being influenced by these winds, which might push Turkey into dangerous waters. As part of the government's policy to bring Turkey to the level that it deserves everywhere and on every continent, Erdogan and Foreign Minister Babacan attended the Second European-African Summit last weekend in Lisbon, where European Union Term President Portugal managed to bring together 53 African and 28 European countries.
The first European-African Summit was held in Cairo in 2000, also during Portugal's EU term presidency. It was decided there that these meetings would become regular, with the next one to be held in 2003. But this couldn't be done due to problems in Zimbabwe. At that time, dictator Robert Mugabe started to show his true face; he was arresting opponents and even having them murdered, seizing the property of whites, and using his racist xenophobic rhetoric to try to make people forget the skyrocketing unemployment (82 percent), hunger, and inflation (6,000 percant). But Portugal didn't give up, and finally managed to convene a second summit. So why is Portugal so interested in Africa? They claim `conscientious sensitivity,' but the actual reason is their bad conscience. Portugal was the first colonialist European country, and it ruined Africa. It started to do whatever it wanted on the West African coast as early as the 1300s. This was followed by the voyages of Vasco de Gama in 1497. As a result of these trips, Portugal carved out a monopoly in the African ivory and gold trade. And, importantly, it pioneered the slave trade. In the beginning, about 800 Africans were kidnapped and brought to Portugal to cover a shortage of workers. When it extended its colonial empire to the other side of Atlantic and also captured Brazil, hundreds of thousands of Africans were made slaves and brought there. Other colonial powers followed: Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.
When do you think slavery was banned? At the Berlin Congress of 1885. The Ottoman Empire attended that meeting as well due to its territory in Africa. One hundred and twenty-two years later, Turkey again set its hands on Africa as a European power. Africans have no problem with Turkey, but their message to other European countries is clear. They think that their oil, uranium and other minerals whetted the appetite of the Europeans, who don't want China or the US to have them instead. Africans also think that Europeans should first recognize the grave damage their colonialism caused. On the other hand, Europeans think that we should consider not the past, but the future. As in the case of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, they don't even apologize. The summit will be held on Friday and Saturday. Let's see if Sarkozy and German Prime Minister Angela Merkel will make their advice to Africa into criteria for them, and view the future in terms of their relationship with Turkey, or show more insincerity. We'll see.