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February 5, 2009
Is Tayyip Erdoğan The New Nasser?
[Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News]
Last Thursday night, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan suddenly became the focus of all the news channels in the country. The reason was that he had stormed the diplomatic scene at a World Economic Forum panel in Davos by accusing Israeli President Shimon Peres for "killing people," and reminding the biblical commandment, "Thou shall not kill."
This was not just breaking news to the media, but also music to the ears of millions of Turks who were deeply touched by the recent bloodshed that Israel caused in the Gaza Strip. Some of them even hit the streets in order to welcome Erdoğan, who had decided to come to Istanbul right away after the tense debate. Thousands of cars headed toward the Atatürk airport in the middle of the night in order to welcome "the conqueror of Davos."
'Turkey Is Proud of You'
I personally had a more mundane problem at that very moment. In order to catch my 5 a.m. flight, I had left home at a quite reasonable time, 2.30 a.m. But the traffic to the airport was completely locked because of the amazing number of cars destined toward it. So, after leaving the taxi at the start of the long river of vehicles, I had to walk on the highway for about two kilometers, my hands on my luggage and my eyes on the crowd. When Erdoğan finally stepped out of the terminal, while I just walking into it, thousands applauded him and started to chant, "Turkey is proud of you!"
Apparently it was not just Turkey, but also the whole Arab or even the greater Muslim world, in which Mr. Erdoğan gained a powerful sympathy by his stance against Israeli militarism.
Next day, his posters showed up on not only Turkish but also Arab streets as the hero of the downtrodden Palestinians. "Erdoğan proved once again," argued journalist Muhammed Nur, in Lebanon's Al-Sair, "that he is more Arab and human than most Arab rulers." The Iranians even said that he deserved a Nobel Prize.
Since then, a few commentators in the Turkish media have argued that Mr. Erdoğan can be turning into a hero for the Muslim Middle East in a way reminiscent of the late Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian leader who ruled his country for 15 years and fought against Israel two times.
It is an inflated similarity, though, I believe. First of all, no non-Arab leader can become such a central figure in the Arab world. Secondly, and more importantly, the rhetoric of Erdoğan, who opposes Israel's militarism, is fundamentally different from that of Nasser -- or of contemporary figures such as the Iranian President Ahmadinejad -- who oppose Israel's very right to exist.
And here lies a very interesting point which can make Mr. Erdoğan a really unique leader in the near history of the Middle East: For decades, there have been two types of political figures in the region: Those who became heroes by fighting or rallying against Israel, and those who were branded as "traitors" by making peace with her. Now, with Mr. Erdoğan, what we have is a third type of leader: A one who has become a hero for the masses by standing against the excessive policies of Israel, but who also calls for making peace with her.
Turkey's relations with Hamas is a good manifestation of the third way that Mr. Erdoğan follows. The first way is the way of the "international community:" Hamas is a terrorist organization which can't be negotiated with. Some Arab countries do speak to Hamas, but Hamas leaders don't trust these regimes which suppress their ideological brethren -- such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt -- in their internal scene.
Thus, Hamas trusts the representatives of the second way: that of Iran and Syria, who themselves are not at peace with Israel, and, in the latter case, even call for its destruction. But in its third way, the Turkey of Mr. Erdoğan has good contacts with Hamas, is trusted by the group, and tries to convince it to integrate into the peace process with Israel.
Turkey's Third Way
The bottom line is that Mr. Erdoğan, thankfully, is no Nasser who will fan the engines of radicalism in the Middle East. But his growing popularity among the once pro-Nasser "Arab street," can be an asset for peace in the region, if it can be utilized by Turkish and foreign policy makers.
In others words, if the stalled Middle East peace process will be revitalized by the new American administration -- something that President Obama seems to be dedicated for -- Mr. Erdoğan can help this process by filling the gap between popularity and moderation. That is something that Mr. George Mitchell, the new U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, might like to note.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at February 5, 2009 1:47 PM
Mustafa,
I would like to draw your attention to two factual errors in your article:
1. President of Iran has never called for the destruction of the jewish state per se. He has said that the current REGIME will fade from the pages of history. In fact Iran is home to the largest jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel#.22Wiped_off_the_map.22_or_.22Vanish_from_the_pages_of_time.22_translation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5367892.stm
2. Hosni Mubarak's regime not only suppresses The Muslim Brotherhood, but helps Israel in its blockade of Gaza:
- Rafah crossing remains closed despite the sufferings of the Arab Palestinians;
- Egypt supplied israeli soldiers with food and other non-military necessities during the latest israeli aggression;
- Egypt sells natural gas to israel at below-market prices while the Arab Palestinians in Gaza have neither homes left nor heat and electricity.
If not treason what else such actions of Mubarakâs regime can be called?!
No surprises that Recep Tayyip Erdoganâs words against the apartheid regime caused such a popular support throughout the World.
South Africaâs apartheid regime was widely condemned by conscious people around the World, although the West, and israel particularly, assisted and supported the white minorityâs racist regime. People didnât care about what the West will think!
As a Muslim, alhamdulillah, I say that Iâm concerned about what Allah the Almighty will think about my silence when israeli atrocities were taking place!
The israeli apartheid regime has gone even crueler in its treatment of human beings. Life of the Palestinians in Gaza is worse than it used to be for blacks in SA and approaching the standards of the Warsaw ghetto!
Today we know that although there were conscious people who warned the SEC of the $50 bln Medoff fraud, the US stock exchange regulator did not take actions.
So should those people who were warning the SEC be ashamed of their words or should israel err.. SEC be held accountable for its failure?!
Posted by: Behruz Himo at February 5, 2009 5:40 PM
I think Erdogan could have been much more effective in Davos if he had actually addressed Peres's question of what "would you do if bombs were landing on Istanbul." He could have said something like: "I would not respond by bombing schools and hospitals and I would not continue my imprisonment of 1.5 million people by controlling their land borders, sea and air space.
Instead he ended up quoting sentences from the Torah about Thou shall not kill.
Posted by: Mestin at February 6, 2009 6:38 AM
Mestin,
Erdogan doing so might not have been so effecting as you suggest since he does indeed âcontinue his imprisonment of â 3 million people â by controlling the land borders â of Armenia.
See here for the effects of the blockade are not so different than that of Palestine :
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E0DE1631F935A25757C0A962958260&n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/Armenia
Posted by: Taken at February 6, 2009 10:28 PM
Kinda funny that the Prime Minister of a country with a human rights record as atrocious as Turkey should have the temerity (or sheer dumb stupidity) to try and lecture other leaders on the morality of politics.
People in glass houses etc etc, methinks.
Laughable man, laughable nation.
Posted by: Arj at February 7, 2009 5:14 PM
Taken,
Please don't say nonsense - Turkiye neither occupies Armenia nor encircles that country to be able to impose blockade on Armenia.
There is a thing called a geographical map you can refer to: Armenia borders Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkiye.
How on Earth somebody can compare the plight of the Palestinians with the life of people in Armenia in 1994!!!
Posted by: Behruz Himo at February 7, 2009 6:26 PM
"First of all, no non-Arab leader can become such a central figure in the Arab world."
Not necessarily true Mustafa. First, Nasser has many, many detractors in the Arab World, being a socialist dictator, and associated with the defeat of 1967. Second, the desync between Arab rulers and their people is one of the widest on this planet, so they're easy to compete with. My anecdotal evidence when it comes to Erdogan is that currently, on the overall "popularity contest" among Arabs, is only rivaled by Nasrallah's.
Islam is an important layer of Arab identity, even more so today than a few decades ago. For many, it's the most important one. Given Arab borders have little legitimacy (depending on the country, 60 to 80% of Arabs think they should be removed one way or another), their identity is also quite dynamic. Then, the anti-Turkish/Ottoman rhetoric of most Arab nationalists has faded or completely disappeared for some time already. That leaves a lot of room for the ethnic variable to be insignificant and a leader like Erdogan to be considered a "local" one.
Posted by: Chahine at February 7, 2009 7:51 PM
Let's not forget that only a couple of weeks before Davos it was Erdogan who blocked the Turkish Parliament trying to pass a resolution that would criticize Israil during the Gaza aggresion (on a timely manner). Obviously Erdogan wanted to turn the suffering of Palestinians to his own one-man-show. What he did at Davos was a very 'late' reaction at best, cheap political trick at worst.
Posted by: nyoped at February 7, 2009 11:26 PM
I really wonder how many "islamic" Sevket Sureyya will emerge out of this Davos-2009 :)
Posted by: Murat Aygen at February 8, 2009 11:24 AM
Turkey closed its border with Armenia, and it remains closes to this day. This is referred to by everyone as the blockade of Armenia, you can just google it, it even has its own Wikipedia page.
This crippled the economy of Armenia, driving thousands into poverty, led to an exile of nearly 500 000 people from Armenia (which in the minds of many Armenians is the goal of the policy), and has contributed to Armenian women being trafficked. The situation has improved little since 1994.
Posted by: Taken at February 8, 2009 5:38 PM
The first victim of the "Davos rebuke" has become clear: namely the international affairs supplement "Strateji" of the "semi-official" daily Cumhuriyet. "Let us see what God can do, whatever He does is beautiful."
Posted by: Librarian at February 16, 2009 11:06 AM