Naming the new relationship with the UAE

The new phase of relations with the United Arab Emirates, which has been experienced recently and which last week reached an important stage with the visit to Turkey of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, needs to be named correctly. That this phase has come after an enmity that lasted at least ten years and in which the two sides faced each other on almost many fronts must of course be accounted for.

After all, since the Arab Spring process, wherever Turkey set foot, especially in the Middle East, it ran into

the UAE. And of course the reverse is also true: in many places where the UAE was involved and pursued its own policy, it likewise ran into Turkey. What kind of international heat was there that melted the ice so quickly and brought the Prince all the way to Turkey?

Yes, it is precisely here that one should begin; that is, this is the first striking aspect of this appearance of rapprochement. It is Muhammad bin Zayed who came to Turkey himself, having previously sent his brother Tahnun bin Nahyan.

In return, there was a grumbling, as if in this rapprochement after so much cold-war relationship Turkey had abandoned all its claims and made great concessions from its stance. It is very telling that these grumblings come, moreover, from those who for years have been saying that Turkey has been made to quarrel with everyone. In fact, if they were truly sincere in what they said, the development should be exactly as they wanted. Perhaps one would have expected them to say, upon this development, "we have reached the point we were talking about; it was even late." Of course there is no lateness, nor is that exactly what they say. But if they wished, they also had opportunities to assess the present situation politically in this way, and they did not favor it, because in that case there is a risk, for themselves, of "admitting" that the government is doing at least one thing right at the moment.

Truly, that Turkey has recently opened a new page with the UAE does not mean that it has abandoned either its old policy or the value-based principled policy it has pursued so far. Besides, there are other alternatives between such a rapprochement and enmity.

It should first be noted that the real initiative in the new rapprochement process came from the UAE side. And also that, in the face of this initiative or request, no bargaining over any principled stance was opened by Turkey. Besides, there is no question of Turkey agreeing in any way to the opening of such a bargaining chapter.

Having noted these two points, it was of course unthinkable for Turkey to reject such a request, in the name of opening the political process that has been blocked in the Middle East for ten years and of opening new dialogue channels between countries. Besides, on whichever front the UAE and Turkey have faced each other so far, it has been Turkey's word that prevailed. In Qatar, Libya, Syria, Somalia and of course in Turkey's own internal affairs. Therefore there is, and can be, no such thing in the matter as Turkey bowing to the UAE.

Politics by its nature is the human search for change in this world. It is trying to change the world by intervening in it in line with a certain goal, principle, value. For this purpose, trying to change people by persuading them, trying to change the world by developing it. Therefore, in essence, being an actor of change. But an inevitable effect of trying to change is that one is oneself changed. There is no mortal who exists only by changing, and who has completed this life without letting any of the change touch him; there cannot be. Philosophers who define the human being as a political being (homo-academicus) arrive at these reflections by taking this human reality into account.

Especially in international relations, the waves of this change can give rise to different opportunities both for defending your principles better and for general interests. Politics is a field in which the ability to make use of these opportunities without losing your claims is measured, evaluated and priced.

Ending somehow the, so to speak, unnamed cold war of ten years between the UAE and Turkey has the potential to create new openings for Turkey, for the Islamic world and for the UAE alike. For a better, more just world, one must remind of the responsibility of seeking a more honorable, freer world especially for Muslims whose dignity is habitually trampled, whose freedoms are restricted and whose blood is shed. For this, it is in no way necessary for Turkey to give up its own principles and stance.

Even wars and enmities between countries do not have to last until the Day of Judgment. In essence wars are temporary; what is fundamental is the establishment of peace and the maintenance of a climate of peace.

To see Turkey's coming together again with the UAE after ten years on the basis of common interests as Turkey's having understood that the politics of values it has pursued until now is empty would require ignoring the source of the great moral gains it has collected from the politics of values until now.

Turkey was able to make a difference because it put forward an equation alternative to the international relations order that places values and interests entirely in opposition to each other.

There is no such thing as the politics you put forward in the name of values inevitably losing. When values become identified with a country's stance and existence, there is a separate value they constitute, and this value also yields what is called "interest."