BY DENIZ ULKE ARIBOGAN
AKSAM - Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu`s visit to Balkan countries has many historic aspects. This region, after years of falling outside Turkey`s Western orientation, is now in our sphere of interest again. Turkey`s interest in the region is not for reasons such as conflicts, humanitarian woes and identity problems, but strategic cooperation. So the approach of countries in the region is being shaped in a more positive way than in the past. Actually the Balkans are complementary to Turkey not only geographically, but also historically and culturally.
The Balkans are so familiar and close that historian Maria Todorova said, `Searching for Ottoman heritage in the Balkans is useless, because the Balkans are the Ottomans." Just like us, they are considered neither Western nor Eastern. They`re both inside and outside Europe. Their definition is different from the East, and they represent the other within the West. In short, they`re much like us. Both the Ottomans and Orthodox Christianity were involved in shaping national identities in the Balkans. The deterioration of religious integrity took place amid strengthening nationalist movements which revolted against the Ottomans.
While disintegrating Orthodox integrity, Balkan nationalism also created the image of an integral Muslim society. It`s so common in the Balkans that this society is called Turkish, no matter its origin. Turkishness has been identified with Muslims for hundreds of years. While the identities of the southern Ottoman regions disintegrated on the basis of religious sects and nationality, things happened differently in the Balkans. As Balkan Christians suppressed their religious identities and embraced their nationalities, Muslims suppressed their ethnic identities and stuck to Muslim glue under the name `Turk.`
The Balkan Orthodoxy breaking away from the empire and religious unity can be seen as a serious political and social trauma for their identities. The socialism that came later surpassed this trauma and thus the Balkan nations were also unable to mourn their losses, like us. The bloody settling of accounts which recently emerged is nothing but the return of a historical ghost. They`re still trying to exorcise this ghost, but apparently he won`t go easily. Turkey`s affinity for the region might strengthen Muslim-Turkish societies, but might also carry certain risks. We should make sure Turks in the region aren`t treated like a Trojan horse.
In the past, our ethnic approach towards the Soviet Union caused us to be excluded from the region and fueled our own domestic ethnic discomforts. We had to spend many years mending this. So the old nations of the region should be considered as a whole and an overall policy should be applied respectfully, excluding no one. A very sensitive foreign policy balance should be established, and we should remember that the Orthodox Christians are also former Ottomans.
Hundreds of years ago the Ottomans` historical approach was based on winning the Orthodox world. It has never been against them, but turned the Balkans into a real Ottoman territory thanks to its respect towards the people of every territory that it conquered. Now the issues of the Heybeliada Seminary and Patriarchate will probably come up again. We should be ready for this."