Turkish Foreign Ministry becomes of lonely men

Koray Çalışkan koray.caliskan@radikal.com.tr

A coup d’état took place in Egypt. All right. Coups are bad. All right to that also. In the first place, Turkey did what it had to do in principle. However, even Hamas, the Palestinian organization al-Ikhwan, that is the Muslim Brotherhood, is more realistic in this subject now. Even the Egyptian al-Ikhwan is trying to understand where it made a mistake. How did the whole society unite against them; they are searching for the reasons. They are considering how common ground could be found with the regime.

In such a period, instead of exploiting diplomacy to the end, Turkey has started an uncalled for fight with Egypt, which accommodates half of the population of the Arab world. With rude contempt, relations were blown apart. Other than us, no other country that has a Muslim majority population, any Arab country nor any Western country has opted for this negative path. In the end, our ambassador was expelled from Egypt.

Thus, in the region, all together with Armenia, Egypt, Syria and Israel we are left with no ambassadors in four countries. This unnecessary toughness does not help al-Ikhwan, Egypt, Turkey or the region. In order to defend the notion that a success criteria exists in diplomacy, you need to have diplomatic relations. Period.

Meanwhile, Iran has achieved a very important success. Uranium is good only when it is enriched. Uranium in its natural state has 0.7 percent of the U235 used in nuclear activities. Without the isotope enrichment, uranium cannot be used in nuclear activities.

For the uranium to be used in nuclear reactors, it has to be enriched. 3 percent enrichment is adequate for a reactor. Uranium enriched over 20 percent can be used in nuclear weapons. In countries such as Israel, China, the United States, United Kingdom and Russia, there is uranium enriched 80 percent and above.

According to the deal struck with Iran, this country will enrich uranium as much as it needs but to a maximum of 5 percent. In other words, Iran’s nuclear program is accepted by the international community with the prerequisite that it is produced for energy only. There is only one reason for this: The Western world led by the U.S. could not prevent Iran’s nuclear program; it said, “Then, let us at least manage it.”

 Iran gave the green light to the West’s controls. In return for that, an embargo worth $1 billion has been lifted for each month. In the long term, the entire embargo will be lifted. Iran will be able to produce its own nuclear technology and if it is able to hide it (Israel has no doubts in that) will also have nuclear weapons.

The chemical weapons agreement with Syria has also been signed. This is also an achievement of the Iran-Russia cooperation. The Western world does not trust the al-Qaida led al-Ikhwan and militant Islamist politics. Moreover, they can even draw reactionary regimes such as Saudi Arabia to their own side.

While all of these developments are taking place, the Justice and Development Party led government is trying to become the spokesperson of al-Ikhwan. It is making diplomacy equations with zero gains in the Middle East. It must be because the diplomatic feet have been numbed for not having taken a walk for such a long time that it cannot even take a few simple steps.

Turkey, a country which is ahead of the game in the Middle East with its huge potential, with its experience of operating democratic institutions, with its cultural ties, economic power and development potential, is more and more becoming “Alone.” (The Turkish film “Issız Adam” which means the lonely man.)

Turkey has the flour, the butter, the sugar and it is repeatedly asking “What was the name of that dessert?”

Let me say it: Both in Arabic and in Turkish, it is called “halva.” Its recipe is simple. Its equivalent in diplomacy is sweet talk and intelligence.

*Koray Çalışkan is a columnist for daily Radikal in which this piece was published on Nov 26. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.