What Davutoğlu saw in the mirror of the Kaaba

MECCA

In the last ten days of Ramadan, especially toward the 27th day, Mecca turns into a throng of the Day of Gathering. We said that, on top of this crowd, the fact that the summit of the heads of state of the Islamic countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is convening precisely on this blessed day in Mecca, right next to the Kaaba, has an altogether different meaning. The items on the agenda are the situation of Muslims in Syria, Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan and other crisis regions. What can be done that would have a direct effect on these matters will be discussed. That the organization, currently chaired by the Turkish Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, is moving toward showing a readiness to intervene more effectively and efficiently in the problems of Muslims is in itself a major event. A distinct and meaningful message is bound to go out to the world from here. It is also bound that the effect of this message will first of all reach the Islamic countries that will attend the meeting. And that they will shake off the torpor that lies upon them and remember that they now exist as a power...

Meanwhile, that, in addition to the gathering of Muslim people from every part of the world in this blessed place on this special day, heads of state are participating at this level is, I think, a first. Heads of state may be obliged to mix with the people during the Umrah rites here more than they can in their own countries. They can come face to face with people from their own nations as well as address people from other nations. Meanwhile, there could be no more perfect occasion than this to test what kind of esteem they hold among their own peoples and among the world's Muslims.

I have seen many statesmen at this place before, and this time as well. Most perform their tawaf and sa'y amid a huge army of guards, in fact disturbing the people and attracting great antipathy. Some do these at the quietest hour possible, as far as they can without being seen by anyone. This has something to do with how much courage one has to face the people.

President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who are in Mecca these days on account of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting, also performed Umrah. Both of their tawaf and sa'y caused huge crowding and were the scene of great attention from Turkish citizens as well as from people all over the world.

I did not witness Ahmet Davutoglu's Umrah (which he performed together with President Gul), but I did witness one of his tawafs. After performing the dawn prayer at the Kaaba on the morning before the Night of Power, the panic and anxiety that the moment he decided, entirely unplanned, on a tawaf produced in his bodyguards was worth seeing. The minister had not been sleeping properly for days and had not slept at all that night either. He should have been tired, in fact unable to stand, he should have taken care of himself, and moreover there were not adequate protection measures; however much they tried, with pleading expressions on their faces, to dissuade him, it was in vain. The Professor had once made his intention for the tawaf. Together with his wife Sare hanim, his son and his daughter, immediately after the dawn prayer, before the heat of the day began, at the most crowded hour possible, a rather arduous tawaf amid the people was undertaken without any protection measures at all.

Both when entering the tawaf area and during the tawaf, the enthusiasm and affection shown by those who saw him made Professor Davutoglu forget all his tiredness. He turns away no one's outstretched hand, and nearly everyone asks him for a prayer. Not only Turkish citizens but Egyptians, Nigerians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Indians, Saudis, Sri Lankans, people of all nations recognize the Professor the moment they see him and run to his side. Some openly praise his stance especially on Syria and ask for more support. Finally, on the road as we returned to the hotel after the tawaf, a few Syrians we met showed their affection with the same enthusiasm, thanked him for their support on Syria, and demanded more.

In fact, what I witnessed was the most direct public opinion poll one could have, especially on Turkey's foreign policy. Moreover, a poll on a world scale, particularly on the scale of the Islamic world. Very clearly and distinctly, the foreign policy led by Davutoglu has found a special place in the hearts of the peoples of the Islamic world, and it is advancing. This road leads Turkey to what is absolutely right. The magnificent and blessed gathering that has taken place in the courtyard of the Kaaba is a witness to these events.

In fact, in the last ten days of Ramadan, the two hours each between the tarawih and night prayers performed at the Kaaba, and then between the night prayers and the dawn prayers, provide an incredibly beautiful and productive opportunity for people to mingle and converse with one another. These waits take place, especially on the roof of the Masjid al-Haram in the open air, just like a symposium. Meanwhile we address so many people of every nation that from these places alone you can directly read the pulse of the whole Islamic world. In the process you can see, with somewhat more real data, what response Turkey's foreign policy meets. That is why what we encountered during Davutoglu's tawaf does not surprise me at all. For the impressions we had gained from all the conversations we had held before pointed to this. Turkey's stance especially on Syria is met with complete appreciation, and it is expected to do even more. We are accumulating incredibly beautiful and moving anecdotes on this.

Faced with these scenes, the following question inevitably comes to mind. If Turkey's policy on Syria had really been otherwise, could Davutoglu or Abdullah Gul have moved so comfortably among the people at the Kaaba without any barrier between them and the people?

I can say with confidence that they absolutely could not have moved. They would either never have ventured to do so, or they would have been obliged, as many other countries' leaders do during the tawaf, to move with an army of guards at the cost of being cursed. Whatever benefit such a tawaf would be to them, that is.

Turkey's foreign policy, or its position vis-a-vis the Islamic world, has really been tested at the Kaaba with the most real and most direct data possible. Turkey, Abdullah Gul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoglu receive here, because of what they have done for the Islamic world, more blessings of prayer than anyone has been granted in recent times. There probably could be no greater measure than this.