#2.12 PERSPECTIVES Political analysis and commentary from Turkey FEATURE ARTICLES: MIDDLE EAST and TURKEY DEMOCRACY INTerNATioNAL POLITicS ECOLOGY “What they care about is money” Shifting foreign policy dynamics in the Pesticides and food safety in the era Aksu Bora wake of the “Arab Spring” of global warming Page 49 Soli Özel Bülent Şık Page 58 Page 30 TURKEY REPRESENTATION Content Editor’s note 3 ■ Feature articles: Middle East and Turkey Turkey’s Middle Eastern Policy and the “New Geography”, Sedat Aybar 4 Does the Syrian crisis imply the end of the Turkish dream in the Middle East, Bayram Balcı 9 Beware of Hatay’s climate of peace, Nidal Özdemir 16 Syrians set sail for self-government, İlhan Tanır 20 Turkey’s policy on the Kurdish problem and regional developments, Sezgin Tanrıkulu 24 The impact of the crisis in Syria on the economy of Southeast Anatolia, Şah İsmail Bedirhanoğlu 28 ■ Ecology Pesticides and food safety in the era of global warming, Bülent Şık 30 Which is more dangerous: nuclear lies or radiation, Özgür Gürbüz 33 Climate change: Is a “U-turn” possible? Önder Algedik 37 ■ Democracy KCK cases and the judiciary mechanism, Fikret İlkiz 41 The new constitution, Rıza Mahmut Türmen 46 “What they care about is money”, Aksu Bora 49 How can I know why, Şanar Yurdatapan 53 Our revolt is written in the Taurus mountains, Pervin Savran 54 ■ Culture Art: Backyard of the government, Tayfun Serttaş 55 ■ International Politics Shifting foreign policy dynamics in the wake of the “Arab Spring”, Soli Özel 58 ■ News from Hbs 62 Heinrich Böll Stiftung – Turkey Representation The Heinrich Böll Stiftung, associated with the German Green Party, is a legally autonomous and intellectually open political foundation. Our foremost task is civic education in Germany and abroad with the aim of promoting informed democratic opinion, socio-political commitment and mutual understanding. In addition the Heinrich Böll Stiftung supports artistic and cultural as well as scholarly projects, and co-operation in the development field. The political values of ecology, democracy, gender democracy, solidarity and nonviolence are our chief points of reference. Heinrich Böll’s belief in and promotion of citizen participation in politics is the model for the foundation’s work. Editor in chief: Dr. Ulrike Dufner; editorial team: Özgür Gürbüz, Semahat Sevim, Yonca Verdioglu; Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey Representation, Inönü Cad. Haci Hanim Sok. No. 10/12, Gümüssuyu Istanbul; Telephone: +90-212-249 15 54 Fax: +90-212- 245 04 30 email: [email protected] web: www.tr.boell.org Editor: Kathleen Hamilton Translation: Esin Aslan, Defne Orhun, Metin Susan, Sungur Savran, Yaman Aksu Print Production: Farika Tasarım Date: October 2012 Printing House: Özgün Basim Tanitim San. Tic. Ltd. Şti., Yeşilce Mah. Aytekin Sok. No:21, Otosanayi - Seyrantepe - Istanbul, Tel: +90-212-280 00 09 Perspectives – Political analyses and commentary from Turkey will appear quarterly and distributed for free. For subscription please send your request by email to [email protected] The magazine and each article can be downloaded from our webpage www.tr.boell.org ■ Ecology ■ Democracy ■ Culture ■ International Politics ■ News from Hbs Editor’s note he first issue of “Perspectives” got it with its interests that are of course, influenced mostly very positive responses and by the developments. reactions. Especially readers outside of In this issue, we will not only analyze the Turkey but also from within were very shift in foreign policy and the impact of the enthusiastic about the attempt to provide “Arab spring” but also shed some light on the Tprofound analysis on developments of Turkey. very recent developments in Syria from within. Many readers agreed with us on the need of such Finally, we will draw your attention on the impact information. Critical voices were also raised; the of the crisis – especially in Syria – on the eastern Turkey Representation of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung part of Turkey, Antakya and the Kurdish regions. should deal with the “deep state” in Germany This is also to understand the close interrelation instead of the “deep state” in Turkey. Immediately of Turkey’s foreign policy and internal politics. after launching the first issue, we could observe Internal problems of Turkey related to democracy, an increase in the number of articles especially freedom of religion, etc. are reflected in its foreign on the internet that defame our association or policy. The reaction of Turkey concerning the myself as accusing to be part of the German establishment of an autonomous Kurdish entity deep state or enemy of Turkey. We consider such in Syria is symptomatic. Turkey fears a spillover articles as a somehow “Pavlovian response” to effect. Without having any serious policy for the any critic – be it from within or without of Turkey. Kurdish issue inside Turkey, the government seems We would appreciate a criticism about the articles to show panic reactions due to the development in and views expressed in the Perspectives but, we Syria. accept criticism only based on arguments, facts As a matter of fact, the third issue of and analysis and strongly dismiss any defamation, Perspectives will deal with the “Kurdish problem” against our organization or the authors. The more, or should we name it the “problem of Turkishness” a vivid debate and different views is a prerequisite or the “Turkish problem” – as is suggested by of democracy. Any attempt to criminalize or many intellectuals? threaten authors or organizations with critical views are considered anti-democratic, the same is valid for methods of censorship. In the name of the editorial team When preparing our second issue of Ulrike Dufner Perspectives, with a special attention on “Turkey and the Middle East”, we were well aware that the situation is changing with an incredible speed. From the very beginning, the HBSD was critical about the “zero problems” concept which was In 1259 BC, 15 years after propagated by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. the battle of Kadesh, the first written peace treaty in Already at that time, we as HBSD criticized, the world was signed. The that you cannot and should not attempt to be petograph at the walls of “everybody’s darling”. You should develop criteria the Karnak Temple in Egypt which guide your foreign policy, criteria based on resembles the war between the Hittites and Egyptians. democratic standards or international law. The government of Turkey was repeatedly announcing that Turkey hence is acting according its own interests – hereby suggesting it did not so before. In whose interest did Turkey then act? We also questioned if there was really a qualitative new foreign policy approach or if the “zero problems” policy was nothing more than a good PR strategy of the AKP government. From the retrospective, we think, our critics of the last years proved to be true. The AKP government had to realize that its so-called zero problems policy did not lead to create any further influence on the neighboring regimes. Secondly, as the articles in this issue clearly show, the AKP did also not have a strategy toward the – indeed – difficult situation in Syria. We can observe a shift in its policy and a lack of a consistent strategy. The more, we should describe Turkey’s foreign policy as slippery and draw attention to the regular attempts which are trying to readjust its policy and to align Heinrich Böll Stiftung 3 Turkey’s Middle Eastern Policy and the “New Geography” urkey’s strategic location at the juncture The Epistemological Foundations of Turkish of three continents has historically Foreign Policy in the “New Geography” been the major driving force behind During the Cold War, Turkish foreign policy was the design of her foreign policy. In formulated around NATO’s strategic framework, the era of globalisation, geography is broadly defined by the geographic perimeters of Tstill important, although it has a new meaning. the Western alliance. It is true that the collapse of Today, the “new geography” forming Turkish the Soviet Union and with it, the end of the Cold foreign policy goes beyond geographical space War, did not produce an international order that and encompasses easy access to faster travel, can settle international legal and political disputes expansive social media, the internet, multi through well-defined guidelines and mechanisms. channel TV, quick movement of people and Since then, the prevailing international system capital, increased awareness of the “world” by the reflects a set-up whereby disputes are resolved Turkish population and business community. In on an ad hoc basis. It is obvious that in such other words, the “new geography” partly relates a complicated and challenging world, Turkey’s to the economic sphere, partly to the political, traditional foreign policy of preserving the status social and cultural. Another parameter was added quo should change towards creating a new after the 9/11 attacks in New York, namely “the power axis in line with the “new international security”. However, this is different from the Cold environment”, at the centre of which lies the use War military concept of defence. The new type of of water and energy resources (İşeri and Dilek, “security” links discourse on defence to individual 2012). rights and liberties, effectively rendering them Turkey is on the crossroads for energy pivotal in international relations. resources and natural gas pipelines running from Hence, the new globalised set-up introduced Central Asia, Russia and Iran towards Europe a multi-layered social base for the analysis of (Aybar and Ozgoker, 2009). With the energy international relations, interplaying economic aspect of the “new geography”, Turkey gravitates with non-economic, political with cultural and more towards the US by extending its policy of religious. The parameters of the “new geography” strategic alliance towards a deeper economic necessitated winning the hearts and minds of the collaboration, particularly with regards to energy people in support of the policies pursued.