Turkey's worth and values

When we do not plant our feet firmly on the ground, when the reasons behind our actions do not rest on solid principled grounds, being blown about wherever the wind blows becomes inevitable. The stance and posture Türkiye displayed against the operations launched to reverse the conditions formed after the Arab Spring did not rest on random, simple calculations of interest. Türkiye's stance was an exceptional stance that no other country displayed, and this carried it toward an exceptional place among all the countries of the world.

If President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today can, on every platform and from the UN rostrum, say with his chest out "the world is bigger than five," he can say it thanks to the moral superiority produced by the moral stand he displayed in those processes.

It was of course not an unexpected approach, on the part of the opposition, to resort to an "Erdoğan U-turn" story over his handshake, just before the opening of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with Sisi, whom he had harshly criticized and broken relations with ten years ago for being a "coup plotter." It is not at all surprising that those who criticize him this time for shaking hands, though it is exactly what the circles that for years invited Erdoğan to reconcile with Sisi wanted, do so rather than rejoicing. The aim and style of the opposition in Türkiye is in any case not to propose alternative paths and policies that would truly open the country's way, but to oppose whatever is done.

Our word is addressed to those who, while saying let us sing the praises of Egypt's importance and power and of the importance of the rapprochement between the two countries because of the "handshake," try to bury almost the entire policy followed until now. Those who raise the noise of analyses in which the rhetoric that countries have no friendships and no principles, only interests, is churned out in abundance are supposedly analyses supporting Erdoğan. Yet by doing so they do not even realize that they are rendering meaningless the policy Türkiye has followed until now and all the stances it has displayed in the face of humanitarian issues, and that they are placing valuable Türkiye in line with the valueless imperialist world.

Is it not precisely the difference Türkiye displays from countries that think only of their interests, countries that exploit the world for their interests and plunge it into corruption, that makes Türkiye valuable? If a Türkiye that looked only to its interests in its foreign policy would be no different from Britain, France, the United States and Russia, the best practitioners of the "interests in foreign policy" theory, who have exploited the whole world to the marrow, what will Türkiye's value be? What is the value of a Türkiye that has squandered its values for the sake of its interests, that has become alienated from its essence and its values?

Between two countries there are bitter wars, they defeat each other or fail to, but sooner or later countries make peace and those who fought shake each other's hands. There is nothing in this. It is hard to shake hands with the one you fought, but in none of these peacemakings do the parties so easily give up the claims that had led them to fight beforehand. Once, at some point, the necessity of peace makes itself accepted by the parties, this peace can come about even if a situation that completely ends the disputes between them does not arise.

Moreover, we have not fought a war with Egypt, but Türkiye had a very valuable stance against the coup that took place there ten years ago, and because of this stance relations with Sisi were severed. In that event, Türkiye, by clearly setting its stance against coups, was not only right; it was doing what befitted it and what it had to do. To turn today's peace steps into a discourse of remorse over that rightful and noble stance means, to put it mildly, abandoning one's share of that nobility too.

Situations in which human rights and human dignity are trampled underfoot are unfortunately among the routines of the Islamic world. Here, Türkiye, whose leader shouts from the UN rostrum "the world is bigger than five," needs to be the pioneer of a discourse in which human rights, freedoms and dignity are exalted in the Islamic world. If it were not Türkiye, someone must certainly do this, but in the present situation there is no one else who can assume this role. Today the countries with the most human rights violations are unfortunately Islamic countries, and this is the greatest problem of the Islamic world. Türkiye chose from the beginning to be the pioneer of this policy. Perhaps with its style of politics it could not achieve the result it wanted. Severed and tense relations also prevent countries from exerting a positive influence on each other. But Türkiye can never step back from this value, from the policy of defending human dignity; if it does, it will have no difference from other countries.

Relations with Egypt had come to the point of rupture because of the clear stance Türkiye displayed against the coup. The time that has passed has made the current situation in Egypt stable as a de facto situation. However, as the severed relations of two countries that had not fought in the first place lasted longer, both new situations arose and both countries, and indirectly the whole Islamic world, began to suffer from these severed relations. It was precisely for this reason that I myself wrote exactly two years ago that a formula had to be found to somehow re-establish relations.

"Türkiye's rapprochement with Egypt on the agenda, or its improving relations to a certain level, does not require agreement on every issue either. Disputes will remain, may remain, on many issues in between. With which country that it has good relations with on some issues does Türkiye agree on everything? With the US? With Iran? With Israel or Russia?

Moreover, the need to improve relations "to a certain level" does not concern only Türkiye; both sides lose from the present situation. Yet, just as the regimes of the countries do not need to change in order to agree, they do not need to agree on any other issue either.

As is known, Egypt's agreement with Greece costs Egypt a loss of at least 20 thousand square kilometers. This is a great loss, and if this loss is caused by the lack of communication with Türkiye, even by hostility, we said that Türkiye should offer Egypt an opportunity to turn back from its own harm.

Türkiye, ultimately, independently of those who rule, is not the enemy of Egypt but its friend. But if the current situation causes both countries' peoples to lose, taking a step in the name of this friendship, living through all its difficulty and comprehending it, is a virtue.

Erdoğan is not giving up either his values or the causes that are the subject of dispute between them because he shook hands with Sisi or with Putin. Just as relations continue with Israel, with the US, even with many EU countries, although there are very deep subjects of quarrel with them."