Libre Magazine

On the 11th of June, I have an honor to attend an event with Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu, Chief Foreign Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey, held by Mr. Laxton MP (UK) and the Henry Jackson Society. Dr. Davutoglu, in his speech, emphasized the historical geography of Turkey as well as the future global vision of Turkish foreign policy. There were a couple of points which I was personally interested in: the balance between security and freedom, and geopolitics beyond ethnicity or religion.

First, Dr. Davutoglu sees the necessity of balance between security and freedom. Without security, freedom becomes anarchy, and without freedom, security becomes an authoritarian regime. As the Western society tends to outweigh freedom over security, I believe that it is important to note that there is a freedom to chose security over freedom. In other words, while the basic human rights must be observed under any circumstances, some other rights (such as freedom of travel in the conflict zones) can be limited. It is difficult to say, however, where the border line between security and freedom would be.

Second, Dr. Davutoglu calls caution on the geopolitical characteristics of Turkey. In the past twenty years, there are three civil conflicts which led to foreign intervention: former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Yugoslavia was the small Balkan; 6 republics, 5 nations, 4 languages, 3 religions, and 2 alphabets coexisted under 1 government. Afghanistan is the small Central Asia, and Iraq is the small Middle East in the similar sense. All three countries hold ethnic and religious minorities of the region within its relatively small territory. Thus, Dr. Davutoglu emphasizes, Turkey must be careful: Turkey has all the characteristics of the Balkan, Central Asia and the Middle East. There are more Albanians, for example, in Turkey than in Albania. Yet, Dr. Davutoglu is optimistic. He recalls our memory and asks since when Turks and Kurds have fought each other in the name of ethnic discrimination. After all, they fought the war of liberation together. So, why not today?

Turkey today is very active in International Relations. It is an observer of the African Union and many other non-European organizations. While many conflicts from Kosovo to Iran are directly related to Turkish interests, Turkish current government believes that other issues such as Sudan is indirectly related to Turkey. This notion has already been the major understanding of the world in European nations, and in this regard, Turkey became more European. On the other hand, Turkey today is the only country which has a nice relationship with variety of countries beyond religious and cultural differences: Greece, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon… the list seems not exhausting. Turkey is, thus, in very unique position to hold people together under the balance of freedom and security.

It is easy to say that Turkey is still in the process of modernization pointing out the differences between Turkey and say France. Nonetheless, in the last election, a woman in jail who was accused to have a relationship with PKK (a radical Kurdish secessionist party) was elected as a Member of Parliament. That is, Dr. Davutoglu emphasizes, “the strength of Turkish democracy.” I must agree with him that since the age of Ottoman Empire, Turks and Turkish polity have been generous to religious and ethnic minorities. Although I also believe that Turkish authorities today ignore some political freedom (at least comparing against the Anglo-Saxon Standard), it is still fair to say that Turkey has strength to embrace democracy in the region and brings cooperation in the three decade-long problematic regions: the Balkan, Central Asia, and the Middle East.