Turkish and French policies in the test of boycott and embargo

The embargo that Saudi Arabia (SA) has begun to apply to Turkish goods was soon overshadowed, in the Arab world, by the boycott that Muslim peoples launched in reaction to Macron over his Islamophobic rhetoric.

In fact, the echo the two campaigns have found both in their own countries and in the world also gives important signs about who has how much power or prestige among the peoples.

Note that the campaign SA launched against buying and selling Turkish goods is not a call for a boycott left to the conscience, judgment and will of the people. On the contrary, it operates as an unnamed embargo that turns into a direct ban and obstruction aimed at preventing Turkish companies' exports to the country.

The “boycott” call by Ajlan bin Abdulaziz al-Ajlan, President of the SA Council of Chambers of Commerce, and his leadership of “boycott Turkish products” campaigns on social media with the participation of people close to the Royal circle did not stop there. All companies doing business with Turkey were called one by one and warned by state officials to cut their ties. Those with investments in Turkey were asked to withdraw them, even at a loss to themselves. Everyone knows very well what the price is of opposing such a demand by the state in SA.

Suddenly, many SA companies were seen entering a race on social media to take a stance against Turkish products in solidarity with the Crown Prince. It is very well understood what kind of compulsion companies, especially those that have had good trade with Turkey for years, felt themselves under to make these declarations.

An important company that sends a celebratory message with an image of a mosque every Friday had, in its latest post, put a picture of the Sultanahmet Mosque under this celebratory message. Evidently, upon a warning, this post was not only removed in a rush, but it was announced that the post had been an oversight, and the company was forced to issue a statement apologizing to the King and his Crown Prince for it.

Those who know, know, and still guess today. Such a campaign is, above all, not one that the SA people could ever stomach. The SA people have a very deep and strong affection and respect both for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and for Turkey. Therefore, if these calls had remained at the level of a boycott, it is certain that no one would pay them any attention, and that there might even be a surge in demand for Turkish goods because of this boycott call. Precisely because this is known, the call was not left to the conscience and will of the people, and coercion was also resorted to.

The situation of those who have announced, one after another, their participation in the boycott against Turkey shows exactly the situation depicted by the late Jamal Khashoggi. “Freedom of expression in SA,” Khashoggi had said, “has been pulled far beyond the freedom to express what you think, to the level of the freedom not to be forced to say what you do not believe. That is, if you do not say what you think, nothing happens to you elsewhere, but here you are compelled to say what you do not believe. You have to speak against Qatar and endorse the justice of the siege. Despite all the human rights violations in Yemen, you are forced to praise the coalition's activities there. If you are silent, you are an enemy.” Just as everyone is now being forced to speak against Turkey and Erdoğan.

In contrast to this embargo, which does not sit well in people's hearts, Erdoğan's call against French goods finds an echo not only in Turkey but throughout the world and in SA too. The Saudi people cannot buy Turkish goods because the state has put a de facto embargo barrier in place and they cannot find them, but by boycotting French goods of their own will, they have in effect answered the embargo applied against Turkish goods.

Indeed, the SA people's demand for Turkish products is very high. The most important factor in this is the now indisputable quality of Turkish products. The boycotts that states apply against products of this quality are doomed to remain desperate campaigns. With their quality, beauty and appeal, Turkish products have today come to compete with European goods. That being so, the demands of peoples may perhaps be blocked temporarily by some obstacles, but such obstacles cannot resist the demands of peoples for long.

In Turkey, no one is forcing anyone to buy or not to buy the goods of others. That is why Erdoğan's call remains at the level of an extremely just, civil and democratic response, and even in this form it finds a strong echo throughout the Islamic world.

Because Erdoğan believes in and trusts his own rightness and the rightness of the Islamic world he represents. The masses all over the world who join the call he has made also increase his power of representation.

The rightness and representation on which Erdoğan rests are so strong that they compel French President Macron to back down.

Let us see whether the SA officials will draw the lessons they need from this difference displayed between boycott and embargo.