There had been a cabinet reshuffle in Türkiye, and I had written a two-part article about it. What I drew attention to in the article was Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoğlu’s appointment as Türkiye’s Foreign Minister…
The reason I am bringing up this article now, which I published in two parts on May 5 and 8, 2009, under the title “The Region’s Old-New Leader,” is that the issues I drew attention to back then are now being discussed both in Türkiye and in the Arab world…
I will assess this discussion through my article mentioned above, titled “The Region’s Old-New Leader.” And in the end, we will all arrive at a point…
Most recently, Abdulbari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Kuds El Arabi and one of the Arab world’s influential and experienced journalists, has made some very serious observations and assessments regarding the issues I highlighted in my article “The Region’s Old-New Leader.” Atwan says, “…People have now begun to understand that we Arabs were deceived by the West. They told us to revolt against the Ottoman Empire and promised us independence in return. But what happened afterward? They gave us neither modernity nor independence. Instead, they gave us mandates, occupation, and Palestine to the Jews. People now say, ‘Yes, we did something very wrong by rising up against the Ottomans. We were used by the West.’ This exploitation is part of a situation that also encompasses the ‘Greater Middle East Project,’ whose initial draft was adopted by the US Congress in 1957. In my article titled ‘The Region’s Old-New Leader,’ I said the following on this subject: ‘According to the documents, the Greater Middle East represents a region stretching from Morocco and Mauritania in the west to Central Asia and Mongolia in the east, and from the Caucasus and Türkiye in the north to the Arab world and Somalia in the south.
According to this project, the US has formulated a comprehensive transformation strategy for the “Islamic geography” encompassing the political, legal, information/education, economic, social, and security dimensions of the countries in the region, and aims to bring about long-term change in these areas.
The public perception of the GME is actually quite different from the official approach outlined above! What people living in the regions named above—including Türkiye—understand by the GME is this: the US strategy to seize the wealth of these regions, which are rich in underground resources!’
It is undoubtedly very important that Arabs understand this, but there must be a reason why they have come to understand it! The fact that this awareness is being widely discussed these days stems from Türkiye’s new approach to foreign policy. Abdulbari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Kuds El Arabi, interprets this approach as follows: ‘Türkiye is now emerging as a regional superpower. This new regional superpower needs a sphere of influence, new markets, good relations with its neighbors, and greater influence over politics in this part of the world. Just as the US built an empire, Türkiye too can be an empire—but through its economic power, political role, and popularity. Türkiye can now become the new leader of the Middle East without forming governments in Middle Eastern countries as it did five centuries ago.’
I drew attention to this situation, which is being discussed these days in Türkiye and the Arab world, on May 5, and said: ‘The fact that Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoğlu—who has managed Turkish foreign affairs from outside the cabinet, particularly as an expert on the Middle East, and has been seen as a shadow foreign minister—now takes the seat of Foreign Minister seems likely to reinforce what Türkiye’s role in the region should be in the future.
This step also contains a serious message to both the EU and the US. Türkiye is sending the US a stronger and more legitimate message that “we attach importance to the region,” while telling the EU that “Türkiye will be a country whose word carries weight and that is influential in its region.”
Atwan is not the only one speaking about this. Analyses about Türkiye published in the Arab media generally say that Türkiye has finally returned to its true identity and natural sphere of influence, and that this offers hope for the region’s democratization and modernization. They say that its stance on Gaza has made Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan one of the most popular leaders in the region.
In my article published on May 5, I said the following: ‘It has been understood, albeit belatedly, by the US itself that it has not been able to—and cannot—establish dominance in the region by using the argument of “peace and democracy” while making the region more deprived of peace and further removed from democracy.
Türkiye has understood this even better. So what is the message given to Obama in Türkiye?
“Only Türkiye’s leadership in the region is possible. History shows this.”’
In conclusion, I said this back then, and I say it today. And, in fact, I am no longer the only one saying it: ‘I believe it would be a futile undertaking to try to explain how successful Türkiye, as the region’s “old-new” leader, might be in making issues such as the “Armenian Issue,” the “Cyprus Issue,” and the “Israel-Palestine Issue,” among others, cease to be problems on its own terms.’ Until Tuesday, I hope…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be courteous in traffic!
Note: The interview with Atwan was taken from ntvmsnbc.