|
“… as a Turk, I am European in Brussels, or Iraqi in Baghdad, Bosnian in Sarajevo, or Samarkandi in Central Asia. And these are not conflicting identities. If you want to contribute to regional and global peace, you have to speak from within.
Ahmet Davutoglu to Foreign Policy Magazine
In the summer of 2005, the streets of Baghdad, one of the greatest and ancient cities that civilization has ever known, was spilled with the crimson of human blood. Two years earlier, the U.S. had swiftly and successfully toppled the country’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, but the war on terror was not going according to plan. Sectarian violence between the followers of Islam’s two important branches, Sunni and Shia, had already reached a flashpoint, threatening to tear the social fabric that knitted Iraq. With time running out, America scrambled to hold the great nation as one and sought to bring the two warring communities together through meetings and dialogue.
In one such meeting, a bespectacled man with a thin silvery mustache from neighboring Turkey addressed a restive Iraqi crowd. He started by recounting the greatness and grandeur of Baghdad. “Baghdad has been at the center of civilizations for centuries. It was (at the center) in the 10th century. It was in the 16th century. It was in the 18th century,” he said. “Now, even the streets are being divided; the houses are being divided between Sunnis and Shiites. Your ancestors gave you the great Baghdad. Now which type of Baghdad are you planning to give to your grandsons?” he finished. Roused by this speech, a frail elderly Iraqi rose and addressed the competing factions “we have to listen to this gentleman because he speaks like a Baghdadi." The gentleman that the old Iraqi was referring to was a Turkish diplomat called Ahmet Davutoglu, who later ascended to the post of Turkey’s Foreign Minister.
In a world where foreign policy and diplomacy has taken an increasingly Machiavellian turn, bordering on unbridled self-centeredness, Davutoglu has brought in empathy. And this empathy has lent enormous weight to Davutoglu’s words; when he speaks even the most unwavering of leaders lends an ear. Today some warring countries demand Turkey’s role as an interlocutor to engage in dialogue. Even the U.S. dials Turkey to send sensitive messages to the Middle East. As a democracy, Turkey serves as the guiding light to many citizens who toil under autocracies in neighboring countries. Turkey’s rising profile in the Middle East can be mostly credited to the country’s economic rise. But some of the credit for Turkey’s ‘soft power’ image certainly goes to Davutoglu’s uncanny diplomatic skills.
Using these gifts, Davutoglu is trying to engineer for Turkey a ‘zero problems’ policy with its neighbors. And that certainly is ambitious given Turkey’s geography, which is unique, strategic and challenging all at the same time. Turkey has one foot in Europe and the other in Asia. A significant portion of Turkey’s population is devoutly Islamic yet the state and its institutions are steadfastly secular and democratic. Turkey’s neighborhood is made up of some of the U.S.’s staunchest allies and uncompromising adversaries. Such conditions would make the job of conducting Turkey’s foreign policy a daunting job for any foreign minister, but for Davutoglu it is the most natural thing to do.
Born to a shoe-making family in Konya, Davutoglu’s cerebral ways and a penchant for philosophy took him to some of the most distinguished universities in Turkey, where he acquired degrees in political science, economics and international relations. The greater part of his working career before he joined politics was spent in academia. During this time, in the early 2000s, he penned the book “Strategic Depth”, his seminal work on the agenda of Turkey’s international relations.
When the country’s popular Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Davutoglu to put his thoughts on international relations into action, Davutoglu gladly accepted the challenge by becoming Turkey’s foreign minister in 2009.
“…the brilliance of Davutoglu’s statecraft arises from his insistence on this blending
of knowledge with principle. The global scene would be more humane and less
violent if the Davutoglu approach to foreign policy became more widespread.”
- Richard Falk, a former International Relations scholar
at the Princeton University on Foreign Policy Journal
Turkey’s new foreign minister conducts his mission in style by combining personal charm with an imaginative foreign policy. As a case in point, in 2009, when Haris Silajdzic, the leader of Muslim-dominated Bosnia refused to accept the apology of the Christian-dominated Serbia for the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnians, Davutoglu offered to help broker an agreement. Flying back and forth between the capital cities of both the nations several times, he chose the right words and diplomats to seal the deal. During the final stages of the truce, Silajdzic nervously finished packet after packet of cigarettes, fretting over whether to accept the terms. Davutoglu, a pious Muslim who shuns smoking, made an exception that moment and shared a smoke with Silajdzic to show Turkish solidarity with Bosnia. Silajdzic accepted the apology and hands were shaken. More recently, Davutoglu’s principled approach to democracy has been lauded, highlighted by Turkey’s stance as one of the first countries to ask Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Davutoglu has his detractors though. Citing him as an academic with no knowledge of politics, they shout him down as “Utopian”. In recent times Davutoglu’s ‘zero problem with neighbors’ has come under immense strain. Lately, Turkey has moved closer to Iran despite the reservations of the U.S., Turkey’s traditional ally. The country has also been squabbling with Israel, a country with which it traditionally has had a good relationship. Turkey’s entry into the European Union has also hit a wall. Nonetheless, under Davutoglu, Turkey has made progress in its relationship with Greece and the Kurds and he has initiated a committed dialogue with Armenia and Cyprus. Turkey is considered an important Western ally in the Middle East to address the civil unrest in Syria and the problems in Iraq.
In an interview to the Financial Times, Davutoglu said for many decades Turkey was viewed by the international community as “a man with strong muscles, an empty stomach, a small brain and a shaky heart” referring to his country’s limited participation in international affairs. Now that Davutoglu has embarked on his self-confident path to increase the sphere of Turkey’s influence, accolades have followed. Davutoglu often draws comparison with the influential American diplomat Henry Kissinger. Foreign Policy has listed him seventh on the list of its Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2011, citing him as “being the brains behind Turkey’s global reawakening”.
When asked about his favorite philosophers, Davutoglu readily points out to the Greek thinker, Plato. Given the animosity that usually prevails between Turks and Greeks over territorial issues, a Turkish foreign minister citing a Greek philosopher would be unthinkable to many Turks, and equally, to many Greeks. In an interview to the Foreign Policy magazine he said of Plato: “For us, he is not only a Greek thinker; he is our thinker, because if you read the works of Ottoman scholars of the 16th century, all of the Greek scholars were addressed as ‘our masters’”. It is apparent that Davutoglu’s worldview makes him open to worthy ideas even if it comes from competing cultures. And it is that openess that makes it possible for Davutoglu to build bridges as well.
Image Credit: U.S. Department of State
|