Turgut Özal Twenty Years After: the Man and the Politician

COMMENTARY TURGUT ÖZAL TWENTY YEARS AFTER: THE MAN AND THE POLITICIAN

Turgut Özal Twenty Years After: The Man and the Politician

CENGİZ ÇANDAR*

ABSTRACT Whether Turgut Özal was a good politician remains up for debate. However, there is no question that he indeed was (and is) a significant historical persona. He guided his country into the twenty-first century. When Özal suddenly passed away in 1993, he had already led Turkey to the next century, even though the twenty-first century would technically begin only seven years later.

mong the numerous com- political skills. In particular, he held mentaries published following in high regard Sultan Abdulhamid II, ATurgut Özal’s death, it was the an Ottoman sultan of the last period following remark that struck me the of the Empire of equally high caliber. hardest: “Turgut Bey was not a good I remember his expressed admiration politician. For he was a good man.” for Mehmed the Conqueror, Selim I, Suleiman the Magnificient, Murad II This was the most striking assessment and Bayezid II, whom he would refer to me because it was his qualities as a to with a facial expression overshad- good man that marked me in our fre- owed by a sense of inadequacy and quent encounters over the final two modesty: “What kind of men were years of his life. Turgut Özal was an they? How did they rule over such extremely courageous man, who did vast lands and such a diverse popu- not seem to posess the supposedly lation? Look at us, and look at them!” * Journalist, indispensable qualities of any good and a former adviser to politician: ruthlessness and the killing The people he talked about were rul- President instinct. ers with absolute power, great might Turgut Özal and enough fortitude to send their Insight Turkey He admired the Ottoman sultans of siblings and even sons to their deaths Vol. 15 / No. 2 / the Empire’s classical period for their for “the well-being of the state,” while 2013, pp. 27-36

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AA / Hasan Aydın

Turgut Özal felt he was the product Doğan in a rather harsh manner. Lat- of a country restricted by the na- er developments proved Doğan right. tion-state ideology of the past century and a multi-party democracy. Following Özal’s death, Taha Akyol He had a different set of qualities. He and I had hosted Hüsnü Doğan at a could not resemble them. He was the television show where he spoke very kind of man who was compassionate highly of the late President. When toward people, devoid of wrath, quick Taha Akyol referred to the aforemen- to forget his rage, and good-hearted. tioned dispute and asked him spe- Turgut Özal was a good man. cifically what he thought about the matter, Doğan looked down for a few I was glad to see that my impression seconds, and offered a brief response of him was accurate when Hüsnü following a brief moment of silence: Doğan, Özal’s beloved cousin, who “Turgut Özal was a good man!” also served as a cabinet member in multiple governments, told me about the following instance: A Monumental Figure

At some point, Turgut Özal and Whether that good man was also a Hüsnü Doğan had a falling out. good politician remains up for de- When the two supported opposite bate. However, there is no question candidates for the Motherland Party’s that he indeed was (and is) a signifi- provincial offices in Istanbul during cant historical persona. For me, Özal the split that eventually led Mesut Yıl- was the most important figure in the maz to become Chairman and Prime Republic’s history after (or along- Minister, Özal had criticized Hüsnü side, for that matter) Mustafa Kemal

28 Insight Turkey TURGUT ÖZAL TWENTY YEARS AFTER: THE MAN AND THE POLITICIAN

passed away in 1993, he had already Early in the 1980s, led Turkey to the next century, even though the twenty-first century he was one of the would technically begin only seven rare people that years later. could foresee the It was Özal’s strong foresight that Soviet Union’s established him as an extraordinary approaching demise historic figure. Early in the 1980s, he was one of the rare people that and began to forge could foresee the Soviet Union’s ap- a vision for the proaching demise and began to forge future based on that a vision for the future based on that prediction. Özal voiced this opin- prediction ion in a careful yet comprehensive manner. Özal’s contemporaries, who were intent on viewing him as a clas- sic right-wing politician, did not Atatürk. I voiced this claim by de- heed his words by attributed them to fining Özal as “the man who carried Özal’s anti-communist or anti-Soviet Turkey from the twentieth and into bias deeply rooted in his dislike of the the twenty-first century.” In that re- Left. Turgut Özal, however, was not a gard, he was, indeed, a monumental man to let himself be boxed into con- figure. ventional categories and qualified as leftist or rightist. It was his visionary History’s periodization in school nature –rightfully attributed to him- textbooks differs from its compart- that allowed Özal to predict the So- mentalization by world-renowned viet Union’s demise. For him, In the and influential historians –one of post-Brezhnev period, following the whom was the late Eric Hobsbawm. short-lived tenures of Yuri Andropov For the textbooks the twentieth cen- and Konstantin Chernenko, Mikhail tury starts by January 1st, 1900 and Gorbachev’s rise to power and adop- ends on midnight of December 31st, tion of perestroika and glasnost as well 1999. According to latter, however, it as developments in Eastern Europe – was the Great War in 1914 that closed the Soviet Union’s historic sphere of the nineteenth century and start- influence- signalled the fated disinte- ed the twentieth century. Similarly, gration of the regime and its socialist the twentieth century ended in 1989 model. Before long, the Berlin Wall when the Berlin Wall fell and thus fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union bringing to an end the Cold War. ceased to exist a year later.

It was in this sense that Turgut Özal Turgut Özal’s accurate understand- guided his country into the twen- ing on the new stage in world history, ty-first century. When he suddenly globalization, and its various dynam-

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ics and indications fueled his gift of where he received his high school ed- swift foresight. It is quite probable ucation. Briefly after graduating from that Özal, a trained engineer who Istanbul Technical University as an has become aware of the broader and electrical engineer, he entered into state service and joined the first class of Turkish engineers that travelled to Özal’s dream was to establish the United States for an internship. a Turkic World among the Özal used the following words when former Soviet republics he described to me how the Manhat- posessing Turkic cultural, tan skyline made him feel when he first set foot in New York along with a linguistic and historical group of his colleagues: “The contrast commonalities and to present between the poverty and underdevel- opment of the country we came from Turkey as a pole of attraction and the view before our eyes led me alongside Azerbaijan to contemplate what have they done to succeed and what we have not. What gave them superiority over us? larger world outside of Turkey by the At the moment, questions popped up early 1950s had a major part in shap- in my mind regarding the validity of ing his own sharp outlook. such proverbs as “a Turk is worthy of the whole world.” Turgut Bey –this was how those close to him referred to him- represent- ed a curious synthesis between his A Man of Distinct Qualities and bonds with tradition and his union Personality with modernity. What fundamentally distinguished Özal from his former One of Turgut Özal’s most striking boss and political archrival, Süley- qualities was to inquire and search man Demirel, was his urban middle endlessly. Knowing that I was an ac- class background. While Demirel – tivist during the left-wing student re- also an alumnus of Istanbul Techni- volts of 1968, he would constantly ask cal University whom Özal viewed as me about that period and particularly an older brother- was a rich villager, enjoy listening to my stories. He also Özal was born into a family of civil used to draw my attention to his cre- servants. Having been born in a rel- dentials as somewhat of a “rebel” and atively urban setting in Malatya, he take pride in his leading role in pro- resided in various small towns like tests during Field Marshal Fevzi Çak- Bilecik-Söğüt and Silifke during his mak’s funeral in 1948. father’s service. He spent his early adulthood in provincial centers like That is to say: by the 1990s, left- Mardin and Konya, where he fin- wing and right-wing politics did ished middle school, and in Kayseri not mean much to Turgut Özal. His

30 Insight Turkey TURGUT ÖZAL TWENTY YEARS AFTER: THE MAN AND THE POLITICIAN

main concern were to innovate, to on June 4-7, 1992 manifested these change (both oneself and others), to ideals in their clearest form. Fur- challenge and break the taboos and thermore, Özal attributed particular therefore be unconventional, to have importance to this address as the the courage to revolt and to be skillful event marked his first public appear- at it. It was particularly this approach ance since his operation in Houston, that allowed him to have a working Texas. relationship with many people with different ideological backgrounds. In his historic speech that established While remaining loyal to their ideol- the framework for Turkey’s profile ogies, they also remained loyal to him for the century ahead, Özal point- and worked for him. Turgut Özal was ed out that “gates of divine favor” reminiscent of an intersection where had opened up before the country many different streets and roads met. that can only occur once in several His specific blend of leadership was centuries. unparalleled among his predecessors and remained unrivalled by any pol- Özal’s dream was to establish a Tur- itician that came to occupy either of kic World among the former Soviet his previous posts. republics posessing Turkic cultural, linguistic and historical commonali- As such, while his skills as a politi- ties and to present Turkey as a pole cian and statesman remain up for de- of attraction alongside Azerbaijan. bate, it is clear that Özal was a special breed of leader. He understood that the Cold War’s aftermath would inevitably create Turkey’s foreign policy unmistak- new independent entities in the Bal- ably reflects Turgut Özal’s views that kans and the Caucasus and empha- not only carried the country into the sized the importance of rekindling twenty-first century through reforms relations with these regions –in Tur- but also paved the way for its unques- key’s hinterland- and in the context tionable rise in the international are- of Turkey’s new geopolitics based on na during the first decade of the new their historic character as Ottoman century. territories.

This perspective inevitably called for A Dreaming Realist a new approach toward the Middle East –another former Ottoman do- As history affirmed Özal’s prediction main. According to Özal, the Cold that the Cold War would end short- War’s end and the Soviet Union’s ly after the Soviet Union’s demise, he disintegration presented the country embarked on an audatious attempt to with an opportunity to exert more in- design Turkey’s vision for the twen- fluence than ever over a wide geopo- ty-first century. His historic address litical area. In addition to the Balkans, to the 3rd Izmir Economic Congress the Middle East and the Caucasus,

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Özal envisaged a pivotal role for Tur- key in Central Asia, a region where the Turks had practically no connec- tions after a millenium of separation. He, therefore, argued that “the gates of divine favor” had opened up before his country in an extremely rare historic opportunity.

The Gulf Crisis that followed Sadd- am Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the US-led international coalition’s war against Iraq in January 1991 provided Özal with a brand new perspective on Turkey and the world. He foresaw that Saddam could not last in battle and the strong central Turgut Özal giving press conference at Çankaya. state in Iraq would be vulnerable and AA even face destruction. Iraq, an artifi- cial country, which the British sewed together by bringing together three former Ottoman provinces, Mosul, liance on independence and central Baghdad, and Basra would either planning in economy and inaction in disintegrate or restructure even if it foreign policy, Turkey reacted badly maintained its territorial integrity. to Özal’s leap forward during the Gulf Crisis. The eighth President of Turkey Either scenario would call for Tur- was now a man to whom Yıldırım Ak- key’s involvement. As early as the bulut, Chairman of the Motherland initial days of the Crisis, he told me Party and Prime Minister, and Mesut that the central government’s de- Yılmaz, Akbulut’s eventual successor, mise would create a power vacuum turned their backs to him. in Iraq and that politics, much like nature, would not tolerate vacuum. Even during this period of great He believed that Turkey had to in- isolation, Özal demonstrated his volve itself in order to prevent hostile iconoclasm and courage by tackling powers from filling that vacuum. This Turkey’s single greatest problem: the perspective embodied the reasoning Kurdish question. behind Turkey’s emerging proactive foreign policy in the face of the Gulf Crisis and the Gulf War. Forerunner of the Resolution of the Kurdish Issue Having resorted to the Kemalist principle of “Peace in the motherland, Turgut Özal believed in maintaining peace in the world” to conceal its re- close relations with the Kurds in or-

32 Insight Turkey TURGUT ÖZAL TWENTY YEARS AFTER: THE MAN AND THE POLITICIAN

Government with Arbil as its capital, Özal took initial into the integration area for Turkey across the region. It was, therefore, steps toward Özal who laid the foundation for en- ending Turkey’s couraging developments in Turkey’s policy of denial and relations with the Kurds today. acknowledging the The initiation of a rapprochement Kurdish identity. with Iraqi Kurds could not have been possible if Turkey’s own Kurds Hopes for resolving were ignored or if the long-standing the Kurdish question “Kurdish policy” had not been radi- reached a historic cally transformed. As a matter of fact, Turgut Özal gradually tackled the high during his tenure existing policy on Turkey’s Kurdish population and turned the approach upside down. der to have a say in Iraq’s future. Not- Özal took initial steps toward ending withstanding the Gulf War’s outcome, Turkey’s policy of denial and acknowl- he was convinced that Iraq could not edging the Kurdish identity. Hopes revert to its pre-war status quo and that cut across the society in Turkey therefore deemed it necessary to de- for resolving the Kurdish question velop better relations not only with reached a historic high during his Turkmens but also with the Kurds. tenure. It was no coincidence that the As the Shia population would be nat- PKK nurtured hopes for a non-vio- urally open to Iranian influence and lent solution to the Kurdish question the Sunni Arabs would understand- by declaring its first-ever ceasefire on ably welcome members of the Arab March 16th, 1993. This was a result of world, Özal was confident that Tur- Özal’s by-proxy efforts through Jalal key was compelled to become closer Talabani. A month later, the organi- with the Kurds. zation declared an unconditional, in- definite extension of its ceasefire. Un- Talks between Turkey and the Iraqi fortunately, Özal passed away a day Kurdish leadership, including Ja- later, on April 17th, 1993. Shortly after lal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, his untimely death, the ceasefire end- eventually led the Patriotic Union of ed and Turkey witnessed the bloodi- Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Demo- est era in the history of the Kurdish cratic Party to establish contact offic- question. The country lost an entire es in Ankara, reflected Özal’s vision. decade. Still, Turgut Özal went down One of the greatest taboos of the Re- in history as the first President of public was undone at the hands of Turkey that wholeheartedly wanted Turgut Özal. The Özal-initiated ef- to resolve the Kurdish question, took forts turned the Kurdistan Regional risks even under the most unfavor-

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able circumstances, lit up the hope al order with the United States as its for peace and thereby became a be- sole superpower represented a “state loved political figure among Turkey’s of anomaly.” Turgut Bey expressed Kurdish population. what I meant by the “state of anomaly” in the jargon of mathematics: “I Turgut Bey’s approach to Kurds was refer to this as an unstable equilibri- not only driven by political objec- um. This cannot last indefinitely. I tives but also had humane motives. do not know whether this unstable In our private conversations, he once equilibrium shall survive for twenty, told me that Allah would hold him thirty, even fifty years or more, but I accountable for his actions regarding do know that it cannot last.” the resolution of the Kurdish question, because as the President of Tur- Although only about two decades have passed since his death, there is now talk of an emerging multipolar- Özal imagined Turkey to ity featuring China, probably as well be a pivotal player in the as India, the European Union and Russia, etc. gradually replacing the geopolitics of the Balkans- unipolarity that exist into today’s in- Caucasus axis as well as Russia ternational system. and the Black Sea region Turgut Özal’s command over the economy and globalization, open- key resolving this issue was laid upon mindedness and uninhibited focus his shoulders and his responsibility. on forging an influential and power- For him, the Kurdish question was ful country for the twenty-first centu- first and foremost a matter of human- ry allowed him to keep in mind that ity and conscience. the global economy’s center of gravi- ty would shift toward the Asia-Pacific The “good man” also had a remark- region. As such, he became the first able mathematical brain, which he Turkish statesman to visit Australia put to work in evaluating the emerg- and New Zealand. He had been to ing post-Cold War world. This new Japan and China on numerous occa- framework would see a unipolar in- sions. If it had not been for his un- ternational order’s replacement of timely death on April 17th, 1993, he a bipolar international system. The would have visited China again and only remaining superpower after the Indonesia. Soviet Union’s demise was the United States. I once told Turgut Bey that this Özal also imagined Turkey to be a unipolar setting was unprecedented pivotal player in the geopolitics of the since the Roman Empire and that Balkans-Caucasus axis as well as Rus- even Rome split into two in line with sia and the Black Sea region. The Or- the principle of dialectics. As such, I ganization of the Black Sea Economic posited that the unipolar internation- Cooperation’s establishment under

34 Insight Turkey TURGUT ÖZAL TWENTY YEARS AFTER: THE MAN AND THE POLITICIAN

the leadership of Turkey and the Rus- critiques and others who did not (or sian Federation to bring together all could not) understand him, Özal had countries in the Balkans and the Cau- quite different inclinations. In the casus was one of Özal’s projects. He summer of 1992, I visited him at his sought to create a NAFTA-like struc- holiday resort near Marmaris and ture with Turkey at its center and noticed a book on his desk. I could forge special relations with member not believe that he would read that states. Moreover, it is necessary to book. The book was titled Free Speech keep in mind that Özal, who designed in an Open Society and authored by a this entire mechanism, also played an Supreme Court justice. When I asked instrumental role in Turkey’s appli- him whether he was reading this cation to European Economic Com- book, he looked at me as if he was munity membership, as the country’s offended, retorted saying: “So what? Prime Minister in 1987. Are you one of those who believe that I only read Lucky Luke comics? Of All of this reflected Turgut Özal’s am- course I am reading it. This is an im- bition to transform Turkey into one portant issue!” of the top and most advanced countries of the twenty-first century and Following that encounter, we made make it into one of the world’s “rul- a pact. During his visits to foreign ing powers.” If we were to imagine countries, especially the United the unipolar international order as a States, I would buy him the same worldwide enterprise, Turkey desired books that I purchased for myself, as to be an Executive Board member at he was not in a position to visit book- an organizational setting where the stores. I actually did it. I even added United States would function as the a few more titles that I thought would CEO. Although economic progress benefit him more than myself. I could was rather important to achieve this not possibly imagine that he would goal, Turkey also needed to translate be able to go through two luggages its geopolitical value in a new world full of books. One night, when he was order into its politics to reach its on his computer at the Presidential goals for the twenty-first century. Palace, I was discreetly looking into the books on his study room’s shelves. Turgut Özal also believed that it was At that point, he got up to show me an impossible venture to become a which of the books I purchased he rich country, a strong society, and a had already read and those in the line great power without mobilizing the waiting to be read. creative energy of all citizens. All this required a functioning democ- Once with an intention of praising racy, an open society, and rule of him, I had remarked that his naivete law to safeguard these mechanisms. made it possible for him to impress Contrary to accusations of priori- members of the American elite fol- tizing economic development over lowing his address in his not-so-good democracy commonly voiced by his English during a luncheon with the

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dean of Harvard University’s John F. idly as ever. As a “good man” and a Kennedy School of Government and “kind-hearted person” whenever I other members of the American in- think of him. And, I have not ever tellectual elite. He objected to be de- forgotten him. scribed as “naïve.” As I tried to in vain to explain that the term meant During the final months of his life, “to have a good heart,” not a deficit Özal’s heart was filled with the trou- of intelligence, he was adamant and bles of the people of Bosnia. He would not be dissuaded. He made his deemed it a primary duty for the point in a more accurate description President of Turkey to do something of himself: “I am ‘candid,’” he told me, about the situation in Bosnia-Herze- “not naïve. I speak candidly. That is govina. However, this was not only to say, I do not hold back. Americans a political necessity but also a re- appreciate and value a candid man flection of his kind-hearted nature. even if they may not like what they Whenever the subject of Bosnia came hear from him.” up –which it did quite frequently at the time- tears would run down from He was right. Turgut Bey’s eyes.

He passed away twenty years ago Turgut Bey was a good man. A very and I remember Turgut Özal as viv- good man!

36 Insight Turkey