Ideological Trends in the Context of Foreign Policy of Turkey Arestakes Simavoryan

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Arestakes Simavoryan. Ideological Trends in the Context of Foreign Policy of Turkey. Europe&Orient, Institut Tchobanian, In press, ”Brouillard Terroriste”: revue Europe&Orient: Revue géopolitique de l’Institut Tchobanian, pp.55-62. hal-03232994

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HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Public Domain ASIE MINEURE Ideological Trends in the Context of Foreign Policy of Turkey

Arestakes Simavoryan

In recent years when Th ere are various visions of Turkey’s future Turkish political elite in the “camps” of infl uential Turkish parties of Islamist orientation and due to this the discussions round the mul- gave preference in ti-polar, contrary ideologies (neo-Ottomanism, foreign policy to neo- neo-pan-Turkism, neo-Kemalism, Turkish Ottomanism (Neo- Eurasianism) continue and are refl ected in the Osmanlicilik), this social life in Turkey. Th ose new ideologies are ideology has gradually also important for the success of the parties in become an axis of the domestic political competition. domestic and foreign policy. Neo-Ottomanism In recent years when Turkish political elite of Islamist orientation gave preference in foreign policy to neo-Ottomanism (Neo-Osman- licilik), this ideology has gradually become an axis of domestic and foreign policy. Th e committed neo-Ottoman state propa- ganda has formed neo-Ottoman moods in dif- ferent strata of society. Public shows great interest in “Ottoman Republic” historical-fantastic A. Simavoryan feature fi lm which tells about Turkey under the Expert of the Armenian Ottoman sultan. Among the youth T-shirt with Studies Centre of the pictures of janissaries and “Th e Empire Stri- “Noravank” Foundation kes Back” inscriptions are widespread. Th e past Yerevan - Armenia is presented narrow-mindedly as the Pax Ot- toman “Golden Age” when peace, tranquility,

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prosperity and religious tolerance ruled During his address to the members over the Mediterranean Sea. “And such of the Justice and Development Party moods favour not accepting Turkey in November 2009 the Minister of Fo- into the European society” 1. reign Aff airs of Turkey stated that his In order to implement “big policy” country implements the policy of neo- the JDP uses many state structures Ottomanism. “Th ere is a heritage left which “educate” society in an Ottoman by the Ottoman Empire. We are called spirit. “neo-Ottomans”. Yes, we are “neo-Ot- In order to implement neo-Otto- tomans”. We are obliged to deal with manism, it is important to form ap- the neighbour countries and we even propriate moods in Muslim, and par- get to Africa. Great powers are wat- ticularly, Arab countries and in this ching it in bewilderment” 3, - he said. direction the purposeful policy is also Th en, Davutoglu clarifi ed that Tur- carried out. Th e ideology is exported key would not restrict itself to the im- to both Turkish Diaspora and Arab plementation of one idea, and it will be countries. Th e agreement between the followed by Turkey’s other ideologies of JDP and the senior educational council expansion: “Th e Ottoman Empire is a reached in January 2010 to carry out part of our history; Islam is one of the “neo-Ottoman” initiative, according elements of our culture. Th e Western to which students from Arab countries European orientation is our historical and particularly from Syria would enter experience, Turkism – the main mo- Turkish universities for free, was remar- tion” 4 – he mentioned. kable event. Th us, three main components are In our days the main architect of distinguished: Ottoman Empire – Ot- the geopolitical conception of neo- tomanism, which is interconnected Ottomanism is considered to be the with Islam; Turkism – the main ideo- Minister of Foreign Aff airs of Turkey logy of the historical self-identifi cation Ahmet Davutoglu. Th e main goals of and the simplest way to bring the Tur- this ideology are refl ected in his “Deep kic speaking nations into the fi eld of strategy”. But the roots of this ideology Ottomanism. go back to the former president of Tur- As we can see, the attempt of Tur- key Turgut Ozal, according to whom key to become a member of the EU is a Islam is the factor which unites the po- historical experience. But this does not pulation of the country and Muslims mean giving up on the western direc- on Balkans and only newly elaborated tion in their foreign policy, but it consi- ideology can unite them round the idea ders the western direction as the alter- of a common state2. Ozal did not men- native to it. Davutoglu thinks that the tion which ideology can handle those dependence of Turkey on the US and issues but he implied the aspiration of EU disturbed the balance of Turkey’s Turkey to return to the Ottomanism. foreign policy, aff ected its national and

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regional interests, that is why they have Bulgaria (taking into consideration the to stand up for the Ottoman heritage. percentage of Muslim population in According to the analysts, in the fo- that countries) 6. reign policy neo-Ottomanism will be According to a number of studies, based on several principles: the leadership in Ankara will use the so- 1. Turkey is not playing a role of called integration corridors as a mean the “younger brother” of the US and to implement the policy of “neo-Otto- NATO, because this country is consi- manism”, and it will begin from Turkey. dered one of the main components of It should be based on the Turkish “soft the security of Central Asia and region. power” which has two main elements: From this the ideas of “OSCE” crea- economic might and the experience of tion in the Caucasus and undertaking democracy. mediatory functions in the Middle East Th ere are three known corridors: ensues. 1. Turkey-Syria-Lebanon-Jordan- 2. One should not think that Egypt, which later will include Israel “neo-Ottomanism” constitute menace and Palestine territories (fi rst corridor). to the West and Russia. 2. Iraq and the countries of the 3. “Neo-Ottomanism” has no ag- Persian Gulf (second corridor). gressive sides5. 3. Iran and Pakistan (third corri- According to another opinion neo- dor) 7. Ottomanism has three underlined Th e third corridor is especially re- functions: markable because it includes both the 1. To come to terms on the do- postulates of pan-Turkism and Eura- mestic issues inside the country and sianism. On the one hand Turkey will with the Muslim world (Middle East, aspire to involve Iran and Pakistan, as Balkans, North Africa). Not to position well as Afghanistan into the sphere of itself against the countries of those re- its infl uence and on the other hand the gions from the imperialistic positions. post-Soviet Turkic world – Central Asia Th e soft and balanced policy of brin- and Azerbaijan. ging the countries, which constituted In the opinion of the director of the part of the Ottoman Empire, into the Centre for the International Relations fi eld of “Ottomanism”. and Strategic Studies Sinan Ogan, Tur- 2. Turkey must carry out very ac- key is the only country which can lay a tive diplomatic and economic policy claim to modernize the Near and Mid- in order to become a key actor in the dle East and is able to “reconcile” the region. region with the West. It is obvious that 3. Th e policy of “neo-Ottomanism” Turkey not only aims to restore the bor- will allow Turkey to “snatch” from the ders of the Ottoman Empire but also to West Muslim Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, obtain the energy resources and infras- even mainly Christian Macedonia and tructure, transportation junctions, ban-

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king and communication networks in derate Islamists is an American elabo- the region, which will turn the country ration and its author is the well-known into the geopolitical super power8. neocon Paul Wolfovitz10. It is not a mere Th e ambitions to become a geopoli- chance that this new policy of Turkey is tical super power are also clearly reﬂ ec- backed by the American neocons too. ted in the January 8, 2010 address of According to the estimations of the A. Davutoglu during his meeting with experts of the leading Turkish analytical the diplomatic corps of Turkey. He centers this ideology is imposed on the particularly said that the goal of Tur- Turkish political elite by the US. It is key was obtaining the role of not only believed that it has been elaborated by a regional but of a global power which the US and “think tanks” and it pur- was promoted by its unique geographic sue long-term aims: to rule region, and position, history and diplomatic expe- particularly Arab world, through the rience9. mediator country, in this case through Th is model of foreign policy adop- Turkey. In this aspect “neo-Ottoma- ted by Turkey is just being implemen- nism” has common ties with the well- ted. Th us, taking into the assumption known US “Great Middle East” pro- the claims to three regions (Middle ject. East, Balkans, and North Africa) and Davutoglu does not hide that the the peculiarities of political, econo- roots of the ideology and the term mic and other factors, it is diﬃ cult to “neo-Ottomanism” originated in the predict whether the preference will be US and that his vision of Turkey’s futu- given to the military force or to the di- re is partially based on some postulates plomacy. It is obvious that “open” di- of George Freedman’s work11. plomacy cannot help Turkey, because Th e encouragement of the ideology Arab world will never refuse the inde- by the US pursues other aim too, i.e. pendence it obtained, thus, Turkey have to neutralize Turkey’s national and Ke- to carry out “silent” diplomacy using malist powers because the US does not all the possible leverages. Th ough Syria want to see this country as a strong na- and Palestine, taking into consideration state12. Besides, it is more advanta- tion Israeli factor, may express political geous for the US to see its ally Turkey will to join Turkey. Th e policy carried in a role of the “leader” of the Muslim out by Turkey in regard to other Arab world instead of Iran. countries, which have passive stance on the Israeli issue and rich oil resources, Th e Islamic stronghold of neo-Otto- may bring to the collision with Anglo- manism American powers. So Turkey has many Islam cannot be separated from the of problems in those issues. ideology of neo-Ottomanism. Th e Is- Th ere are also evidences that the lamic factor (İslamcılık) plays a role of Justice and Development Party of mo- consolidating power, because Muslim

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world and fi rst of all the Arab countries is pan-Turkism in its new interpreta- of the Middle East and North Africa are tion – neo-pan-Turkism. For the US regarded as the main ideological “tar- pan-Turkism was a powerful tool used get”. Th is all is also directed against the against the USSR. But after the collapse policy of Israel. As the latest develop- of the later when the attempts of Tur- ments in Turkish-Israeli relations come key to unite Turkic speaking nations to prove, the fi rst steps to implement were put on more realistic plane this that policy are taken in order to please caused the concern of the US. Howe- Muslim world. ver, the American political circles still Later on it will include Balkan coun- use the pan-Turkic (Uyghur) factor di- tries – Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia and recting it mainly against China, which Bulgaria – after which, according to can compete with the US today. the neo-Ottomans, Istanbul have to Th e main purpose of the pan-Tur- become a center of neo-caliphate (Neo- kists is to unite all the Turkic speaking Halifelik) for the whole Muslim world. nations in one common state, without Within the framework of this ideo- taking into consideration their geogra- logy the JDP, such groups as Army of phic sparseness and cultural diff eren- Allah, soldiers of Allah and the warriors ces. of Islamic revolution work. In order to bring this ideology into Th e militaries of Kemalist orienta- life, the consolidation of the Turkic eth- tion and oppositional Republican Peo- nos from China to the Adriatic Sea is ple’s Party scorn this initiative. In their considered a primary aim. Signifi cance opinion the incumbent administration is also attached to the economic factor has adopted ambitious and unrealistic which gives more underlined nature to project which will alienate Turkey from that consolidation because the oil re- the republican principles of Ataturk. At serves of the Central Asia – the “Turan the same time, the other issue which oil”, is a way to solve the energy pro- bothers Kemalists is the “Kurdish is- blems of Turkey. sue” because in case of implementation Th ere are many controversies of the principles of neo-Ottomanism between neo-Ottomans and neo-pan- Kurds, like all other Muslims, will ob- Turkists because for the later the main tain wide cultural independence. point is the ethnic factor which uni- In fact, neo-Ottomanism is an ideo- tes Turkic speaking nations and not logical substantiation of the multi-cul- the religious one (Semitic Arabs, Bal- tural society. In this aspect it is opposed kan Muslims). Even in case of such a to Kemalism which tends to the homo- controversy neo-Ottomans consider geneity of the Turkish state. pan-Turkism as an alternative way, the factor which follows Ottomanism and Neo-Pan-Turkism supplements it and their fi nal goal will Th e next ideology which is revived be a Turkish Eurasianism.

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Th us Turkism as ideology has never the author’s characteristic, the most suff ered regress and it can be used in important structural peculiarity of the case of the unpredictable changes in the Turkish Eurasianism is the struggle of region. Th e vivid example is the last war Russia and Turkey against the West. in Iraq when nationalist powers, inclu- As a result of such a struggle Eurasian ding ultra-nationalist generals, provi- conglomeration of Slavonic and Turkic ded propagandist and military help to nations should be formed. It turns out the Iraqi Turkmen. that Turkish Eurasianism is a project Th e adherents of the ideology of which counterbalances Western domi- pan-Turkism are the National Move- nance13. ment Party, the ultra-nationalist wing Th e pluralism of the opinions about of the militaries, semi-militarized radi- the Turkish Eurasianism is not only far cal nationalist group “Grey Wolfs”. from disclosing the essence of this ideology but it tangles the points of view Turkish Eurasianism and complicates the forecasts. Never- Th e ideology of Eurasianism and theless, Turkish Eurasianism has seve- interest in it on state level are compa- ral directions, approaches to which are ratively new phenomenon. It generally expressed in diff erent ways by diff erent diff ers from the Russian Eurasianism in Turkish parties. Due to this all, contro- the elaboration of the concepts of which versies between political powers are co- great role has been played by N. S. Tru- ming forward and impede forming of betsky, P. N. Savitsky, G. V. Florovsky. common logic. Th e later believed that Russia with its JDP ruling party – Some postula- historical and cultural specifi city can be tes of the Eurasianism get the approval a core of Eurasia, thus stressing culture of neo-Ottomans but the approaches of the Asian-Turkic world, and this, in diff er sharply. A. Davutoglu, who dis- its turn has to play against the West. In closed his vision on the way to Eurasia our days this ideology was developed at the meeting of the Foreign Econo- by A. Dugin. But Turkish Eurasianism mic Relations Board (Dış Ekonomik today has other tendencies. İlişkiler Kurulu (DEİK) (February 5, Sener Akturk, the American resear- 2010) is in the avant-garde of this ap- cher of Turkish descent, thinks that it proach too. Davutoglu off ers to create aims to reconcile two former empi- Eurasian Union which will be able to res – Turkish and Russian. According create strong economic fi eld. Accor- to the author, Turkish Eurasianism, ding to him Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway together with pan-Turkism and neo- should become interlink connecting Ottomanism, has turned into one of Central and East Asia. Th e railway the components of self-consciousness going from Islamabad to Istanbul (east- of the contemporary Turkish intel- west intersection) gives wide opportu- lectual landscape. In accordance with nities for the regional economic coope-

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ration14. within this ideology – Kemalist Eura- Turkish analytics suppose that “crea- sianism. Kemalist Eurasianism makes tion” of the Eurasian Union is a chal- a sharp turn from the western values lenge to the European Union. In rea- to the east, which is already deviation lity, it is not known how the things will from the postulates of Kemal Ataturk. go in this direction because there is no Th e representatives of this trend clear reaction of the Asian countries on fi nd it important to create “Great Eura- the proposal to create Eurasian Union. sian Space” which may include China, Davutoglu’s statement may have ano- Russia, Turkey and Iran16, and this, in ther subtext: coming out with such a perspective, may contribute to the crea- proposal may be regarded as an attempt tion of a new military alliance which, to create some structure which will be undoubtedly, will be directed against alternative to the European Union the US. Th is group does not receive against the background of the possible proper approval of the fervent Kema- failure to enter the European Union. lists and gradually split the later. Nationalist powers – Ultra-na- Th e arrests of the high-ranking mi- tionalist and right-of-centre political litaries in recent months by the order and military powers fi nd that the main of the government were partially target goal of the Eurasianism should be esta- policy directed on the one hand against blishing close relations with Turkic sta- anti-neo-Ottomans and radical natio- tes of Transcaucasia and Central Asia. nalists and on the other hand against Th is, in its turn, will provide grounds the oppositional power – RPP, which is for advancement of Turkey in those supported by the later, in order to wea- directions in future. In short, in na- ken it. tionalist circles the basic postulates of Th e idea of Eurasianism, in fact, Eurasianism are based on the idea of embraced Turkish parties with diff erent Turkism and they do not off er anything ideologies – both “moderate Islamists” new. Of course, here we speak about and left oppositionists – Marxist-So- not the Eurasian (economic and etc.) cialists (Türkiye İşçi Partisi – Worker’s union but about the Turkic union. Party of Turkey is in close relations with Liberal powers – In the opinion of the activists of the Russian Eurasian the political powers of liberal orienta- movement17 and receives rather great tion15, the axis of the ideology should assistance from the US), and even na- be turning Turkey into the bridge tional and confessional minorities (Ale- connecting Europe and Asia which will vies). bring to creation of the common eco- At the same time, Turkish high-ran- nomic fi eld. king militaries, some intellectual circles Kemalist powers – Kemalists have (the most “outstanding” representati- rather interesting formulations and as a ves of “think tanks” – Ali Sahin18, Su- result new sub-trend has been formed leyman Sensoy19) are also interested in

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Турецкой Республики в 2010 году, http:// those processes. And at the same time, www.iimes.ru/rus/stat/2010/24-01-10.htm. all three main ideologies are propagated 10 Գագիկ Տեր-Հարու թյու նյան, ՀՀ in the society on a necessary level and – Թու րքիա հարաբերու թյու նների համատեքստը, http://noravank.com/eng/ for this purpose the most eff ective le- articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=3462 verages are Turkey’s “think tanks”, state 11 Nur Batur, ‘Yeni Osmanlılar sözü iyi universities. niyetli değil’, Sabah gazetesi, 04.12.2009. 12 Soner Yalçın, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri It is not a mere chance that on neden New York aydınlarının hedefi nde, March 2-3, 2010, Eurasian sympo- Hürriyet gazetesi, 19.10. 2008. sium, which included well-known 13 Sener Akturk, “Counter-Hegemonic Visions and Reconciliation through the Past: Turkish researchers, representatives of The Case of Turkish Eurasianism”, Ab Impe- think tanks, political fi gures, militaries rio, 2004/4, pp. 207-238. and offi cials, was held at the Ankara 14 İbrahim Karagül, Davutoğlu, Avrasya Birliği, ‘kaos kuşağı’, Yeni Şafak, 05.02. University. Th e following issues were 2010. on the agenda: Eurasianism as Turkey’s 15 Such approaches are characteristic of De- current foreign policy direction; the mocratic Party (Demokrat Partisi) and other powers of the liveral orientation. strategic importance of Eurasia; issues 16 Эмель Акчали, Мехмет Перинчек, regarding regional security; issues of «Кемалистское евразийство: новый the economic development and ways политический дискурс в Турции», http://www.warandpeace.ru/ru/analysis/ out of the global crisis as well as other view/42088/. issues concerning the history and other 17 The leader of Workers’ Party of Turkey aspects of Eurasianism which have been Dogu Perincek who was arrested in connec- tion with the “Ergenekon” case, is a member left beyond the fi eld of view of the Tur- of the Eurasianist movement and he has kish intelligentsia. strong ties with A. Dugin. 18 Ali Sahin is a chairman of Centre for Stra- tegic Studies of South Asia (Güney Stratejik 1 Laure Marchand, La Turquie saisie par Araştırmalar Merkezi) established in 2004. l’«ottomania», LE FIGARO, 07.01.2010. The centre studies all the spheres concerning 2 Neo Osmanlı Geri mi Dönüyor?, http:// the countries of that region. www.farklitarih.com/2009/06/neo-osmanl-m- 19 Suleyman Senoy is a head of Turkish donuyor.html. Asian Centre for Strategic Studies (Türk 3 Erhan Seven, Sarkozy gittiği her yerde bizi Asya Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi) which görecek, Yeni Şafak, 24.11.2009. is of high account. In February 2010 this cen- 4 Nur Batur, ‘Yeni Osmanlılar sözü iyi niyetli tre held conference devoted to the coopera- değil’, Sabah gazetesi, 04.12.2009: tion and security of the Asian countries where 5 Валерий Петров, Новая внешняя the issues of the economic and political политика Турции, http://www.islamnews.ru/ role of Asia in 21st century were discussed. news-21431.html: This was the third conference in which the 6 Ömer Taşpınar, Neo-Ottomanism and Ke- ambassadors of the Asian countries (Russia, malist foreign policy, http://www.todaysza- China, Afghanistan, Japan and Central Asian man.com/tz-web/columnists-153882-neo-ot- countries) participated and where the issue of tomanism-and-kemalist-foreign-policy.html. possibilities of the Eurasian geopolitics was 7 Илья Герман, Турция идет на восток, discussed with the prospect of cooperation Эксперт, #26, с.66, 2009. http://www.expert. with Turkey. ru/printissues/expert/2009/26/turciya_idet_ na_vostok/#print. source : http://noravank.am/eng/articles/de- 8 Ibid: tail.php?ELEMENT_ID=5013 9 Свистунова И.А., Внешняя политика

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