BY BULENT KENES
TODAY'S ZAMAN - Undoubtedly, the safest way to invalidate the efforts of those that pursue discord and subversion in the international arena is to engage in direct dialogue with the person you are addressing and make ineffective the ill-intention winds of lies that are blowing around.
That is exactly what Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan did on Monday. He spoke with US President Barack Obama at the White House for two hours, exceeding the amount of time that had been reserved for the meeting. Peace in the Middle East and economic issues, PKK terrorism, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine and Israel were discussed during the meeting. But from my perspective this meeting had a different dimension that made it distinct and more important than previous meetings. This important dimension is that the new conditions that are shaping relations between the two countries have been internalized by both sides and the new reality in Turkish-American relations has been accepted by the sides as well. The statement Erdogan and Obama delivered after the meeting was a revelation of this new situation.
This new reality shows that, contrary to the claims of some Turkish, Jewish or American writers under the influence of the Israeli lobby, Turkey under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has not shifted to an anti-Western, anti-American, neo-Ottoman, Islamist or econo-Islamist line.
The process underway is not Turkey's breaking off from the West. This new process, which is not being understood properly or is persistently being misrepresented by some people, strictly and solely consists of Turkey's late awakening to the post-Cold War reality. It consists of Turkey's delayed adoption of a new international relations system that enables every country to observe an independent and sovereign foreign policy in line with its respective interests even though the patron-client relation of the Cold War years, which Turkey has been experiencing till very recently, ended for all other countries exactly 20 years ago. I'm not going to focus on the complicated reasons for the delay in this article. But I will mention that the first and second Gulf Wars, PKK terrorism, the antidemocratic Feb. 28, 1997 process that tied Turkey's interests to Israel's interests in the Middle East, and the recent economic crisis had a major effect on it.
Now we're facing a brand-new Turkey. Today we're talking about a self-confident and dynamic Turkey where even medium-sized Anatolian companies are eyeing the world market and where Turkish youth and businessmen are pursuing business opportunities in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. This a Turkey that owes nothing to anti-democratic forces and special relationships developed with international actors and Israeli and US hawks. It is a Turkey governed by a government that gets it legitimacy and power solely from the people. If we absolutely had to place the foreign policy this new Turkey - a country that has not based its foreign policy on Western power centers nor turned its back on the West by turning its face to the East - is following on a certain axis, then everyone must know that this axis is nothing else but the 'Ankara axis.'
The foreign policy that this new, more democratic, more pluralistic, more libertarian and more self-confident Turkey is observing is nothing but what every honorable, independent and sovereign country is trying to do in a world that is being reshaped in the post-Cold War era. We're talking about a Turkey that is leading EU membership negotiations, is a member of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NATO and the G-20, has been elected a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council with the votes of a record-breaking 153 countries, had its candidate twice elected secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and has observer status in the Arab League and Africa Union.
This is a completely different Turkey - one that has solved problems one by one with neighbors which brought it to the brink of war in the near past, that has worked to gain the trust of regional countries, so much so that it was able to organize joint cabinet meetings with Syria and Iraq and now aims to develop similar meetings with other neighbors, including Greece and Russia. This is a country that has taken serious steps to solve the Kurdish problem, the Alevi problem and problems faced by religious minorities despite all obstacles. This new Turkey is a country that is no longer afraid of facing its painful past; it is not reluctant to do what is necessary to normalize relations with Armenia.
This is a country that has left not even a single taboo related to its past sins undiscussed. It is a country that stands at an unprecedented positive point on freedom of expression and the press. This is a Turkey that is questioning its dark past thanks to the Ergenekon investigation and that is showing courage to cleanse its armed forces, bureaucracy and judiciary of antidemocratic components. Perhaps guided pundits that work to serve the interests of Israel and neocons such as Soner Cagaptay may be disappointed at this, but the kind of Turkey we're talking about is a brand-new Turkey that creates peace, stability and great benefits for the West and East as well as for Muslims and non-Muslims. This is a Turkey that has already virtually implemented and reaped the fruits of policies that are similar to the hopeful goals of Obama that won him the Nobel Peace Prize even though they have yet to be implemented. Despite the so-called intellectuals' intense efforts to confuse world opinion via media channels made available by the Israeli lobby and that spread every kind of lie to defame Turkey and Turkish foreign policy, this is a Turkey that is read and understood properly by the US administration, which remains the sole superpower in the world.
This is a Turkey that is like a slap in the face to the 'murderers of truth,' who claim that Turkey is moving away from pro-Western Azerbaijan but don't mention that this distancing originated in Baku and not Ankara. They also intentionally overlook how the distancing in question is the cost of efforts to normalize relations with Armenia. This new Turkey is a country that no longer confines the assets it can offer to the development of international relations solely to its geostrategic location, region and military power. This does not exclude its relations with the US. From what we can tell from the statement issued after the Erdogan-Obama meeting, Turkey's pluralistic democracy, commitment to the rule of law, increased loyalty to individual rights and freedom and diplomatic capabilities, developed in line with its economic power and democratic political will, have also become major assets in bilateral relations.
In other words, Turkey no longer consists of just the combat power of its armed forces and its strategic location in the international arena. From the perspective of world peace and international stability, the new Turkey is very different from the way certain strategists are insistently trying to portray it. It is a dynamic, first-class country that is emerging with qualities of soft power that offer much greater and more positive contributions.