BY SERDAR TURGUT
AKSAM- Before the US invasion of Iraq, some columnists who misunderstood the domestic debate accused me and other columnists who favored Turkish help for the operation of being pro-American. However, I did an analysis of US policies so that they could understand the issue, and concluded that sometimes it was right to cooperate with the bad guys.
A British statesman – I think it was Lord Palmerston – once said that Britain has no sworn enemies or perpetual friends, but it does have perpetual and sworn interests. Back then I was trying to say that Turkey also should adopt this principle, but some columnists didn’t understand this, because they thought that Turkey should have sworn enemies.
However, while advocating Turkish forces going to Iraq with the US, I argued that this would serve Turkey’s sworn and perpetual interests. If Turkey has a firm stance on Iraq, we wouldn’t face the danger of a PKK resurrection or brazen attacks like the recent deadly one in Mosul.
One has to see this: ‘It is not Europe which determines Turkey’s future, but Mosul.’ With the game in Mosul, ‘only Turkey’s sworn interests are being attacked.’ Europe, which many in Turkey now praise, would do nothing but support those who attack Turkey’s interests in Mosul.
It’s also a monumental failure that Turkey has suffered more causalities in Iraq than the countries which joined the coalition forces and that it risked all of its interests in the region by not entering the country.
Great states are distinguished by their ability to know and defend their sworn and perpetual interests in every circumstance. US policies are explained by US President George W. Bush’s aggressiveness. Some 150 years ago the doctrine of America’s ‘Manifest Destiny’ laid out how the US, as a ‘great state,’ must work to preserve its perpetual interests, and every US president without exception has to act in accordance with this doctrine.
Turkey also had a ‘Manifest Destiny.’ Ataturk tried to explain this to the people and wanted Turkey to fulfill the requirements to become a great state, but instead it acted as if its sworn enemies are its destiny. Maybe it’s impossible to make some people grasp what I’m trying to explain, but perhaps just one of them could.