The Future is Bright, the Future is Turquoise
The current developments around Turkey force the country to be a leading soft power in the region and it seems that it is only Turkey that can stop her rise to prominence and no one else. It is high time for Turkish bureaucrats - military and otherwise - who have the vision to capture this big picture and "convince" other remaining philistine isolationists. The Ergenekon trial and the recent surreptitious coup attempts of the generals as documented in Adm. Özden Örnek's memoirs show that there is an affluent conservatist oligarchic section in society that desperately desires to preserve their undeserved status in the country and they are acutely aware of the fact that the global village needs a Turkey that is proactive and internationally dynamic. That is the reason why these normally ultra-Westophile oligarchic Turks have decided to be isolationist and even anti-Western. They have learned the hard way that the Western and regional interests require an open, more democratic, more transparent and thus more powerful internationally active Turkey. After the most recent global economic turmoil, the need for such a Turkey will multiply and I think that after the crisis Turkey will comparatively be more powerful so that she will play such a role more effectively.
President Barack Obama has declared his plans of US withdrawal from Iraq and we all know that there will be an enormous power vacuum and chaos after the US leaves the country if precautions are not taken. And we now learn that our Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Hasan Iğsiz was in Baghdad a few days ago to discuss a possible Turkish role in educating the Iraqi army and helping it with logistics. We already know that the Kurdish autonomous region's economy and infrastructure projects are heavily dominated by Turkish firms and the Turkish generals have left their old positions to espouse a possible protective role in that part of the world. Moreover, Turkey's peace-facilitating, building and protecting role in other parts of the Middle East will also be needed in these post-Davos days. I only hope that our generals will be as much respected as our diplomats in harmoniously playing these roles. I believe a poll will show that this is what the majority of people in Turkey would like to see.
A beautiful neo-Ottoman mind with a peaceful coexistence mission through education, dialogue, mutually beneficial economic and military relations and diplomacy to achieve not only regional harmony but also to establish high human rights standards is what we and the region need. Faith-based movements such as Gülen and others have already started playing positive roles as much as they can, but it is crystal clear that there are many items in the above list that only states can deal with. Given the current situation in the Middle East, I know that this looks like a very distant future prospect if not absolutely utopian. But, if humans and even societies and states do not have lofty ideals, what is the worth of living?
Keeping the above picture in mind, when we look at the debates, conflicts and fights in Turkey, we see how narrow-minded many of the Turkish elite are. It is so obvious that they do not care for anything but their little selfish worlds that they think are eternal. If only they left the Turkish people alone. Their worldly possessions acquired thus far could be left to them, but greed and vanity do not stop them from undermining Turkey's prospects. We are especially upset with certain segments of the military and politician-generals, but believe me they are the most naive and abused part of the oligarchy, though not innocent. They are still not aware how easy it is to manipulate them. If I were them I would ask former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök.
If Turkey wants to wake up to a bright and beautiful turquoise morning, she should stop - with absolute transparency - the pseudo-intelligentsia, who cannot even be considered "men of letters," and the ever-greedy Istanbul tycoons.
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