The parallel's bewildered, the German sees himself

Last week, Der Spiegel's online edition reported that Germany has for years been listening in on Turkey, that is, on a NATO country like itself. However you look at it, this was the picture of an out-and-out scandal. It was also a snapshot of Germany, as a state and as a government, being caught red-handed.

Germany's reactions when it emerged not long ago that it had been spied on by the US are still fresh in memory. After statements that friends listening in on one another was unacceptable, the matter was closed.

Why was it closed so quickly? Whether there were other issues in the depths of the affair, we could not tell, but the question of what sanction Germany could have imposed on the US from the moment it had this information went on record as a problem to be approached in terms of international law and the balances of realpolitik.

Before the tension of that episode had even subsided, it emerged that Germany itself had been listening in on Turkey, and, as it later turned out, on 80 other countries as well. At that point Germany was left with no right to complain about it to anyone, the US above all. From the moment the affair came to light, Merkel's reaction amounted to nothing beyond a kind of resignation along the lines of "these things happen, it is in the nature of intelligence." The fact that she did not say "I can explain" and then try to invent excuses that would have made her look even more ridiculous in a situation where everything was out in the open was in truth a display not of her strength but of her embarrassment.

Following the allegations widely reflected in the German and Turkish media, this country's ambassador in Ankara was summoned to our Foreign Ministry on 18 August, and our reaction, views and expectations regarding the allegations were conveyed. In that context, it was stated that if the allegations were true, such activities, which we strongly condemn, must be stopped, and that we expected an official and satisfactory explanation on the matter.

Subsequently, the "then" Foreign Minister, Mr. Davutoğlu, conveyed this expectation of ours in a telephone call the same day with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In that conversation the German side said it would ensure the matter was clarified and proposed a meeting between the heads of the two countries' intelligence agencies. In this framework, we expect the relevant German official to come to our country in the coming days to hold the necessary contacts and give the necessary explanations.

In other words, Turkey's follow-up and reaction on the matter is not over; we expect the German government to take the necessary steps.

Germany is already in a defensive position toward us because of these wiretaps. Who gets the idea, and from where, that we are keeping quiet because it has information on us?

All that has happened so far is what can reasonably be done at this stage, but evidently it has not satisfied our parallel ears. Judging by their reactions, they want equal treatment with the Germans. What they are getting at is: "You declared war on us because we listened in; are other people's Germans more valuable than we are, that you do not declare war on them?"

On a television program I took part in, after explaining what we in Turkey had done about this incident, I apparently said, "Should we now declare war on the Germans over this?" It turns out that this means we are treating Germany differently from the parallelists.

Our bewildered parallelist suddenly starts seeing himself as a German. Are they entitled to it and we are not?

You bewildered parallelist! The Germans listening in on us, trying to listen in, trying to learn our insides and outsides, is in the nature of being German. Just as it is in the nature of being French, American, Israeli, Russian.

They are other countries, other states. Because they appear to be friends, when we see this behavior toward us we hold them to account, we await their explanations, and if need be we look for ways to make them pay the price within the framework of international law. It is unheard of for one country to declare war on another because of this. Espionage activities did not stop during the Cold War years, and they have not now. Yet when such activities have come to light, they have only very rarely been counted as a cause for war (I think so, anyway; I cannot recall an example).

Yet according to our bewildered parallelists we should declare war on Germany too. But supposedly, because Germany holds critical information about Turkey, and especially the government, arising from these wiretaps, we do not dare to go after it.

It turns out the bewildered parallelist empathizes with the German spy. It is not even clear whether he is putting himself in the German's place or the German in his own, but with these outcries they do not even realize that they are confessing their essential relations with Turkey and their position. In their bewildered state, whenever they seize on whatever argument or material comes their way, the more they thrash about in the swamp they have sunk into, the deeper they sink. In this swamp they become German toward Turkey, French toward Turkey, Zionist toward Turkey, Russian toward Turkey.

Yet when all these countries carry out this wiretapping and espionage against Turkey, they ultimately damage the trust among friendly countries. They call it external security, they call it national interests; it is hard to explain to us and to the world, but they explain it very easily to their own peoples.

But you have no face to explain what you did to anyone. Let us remind you that when you listened in on the Prime Minister, the President, the Chief of the General Staff, the Undersecretary of the MİT and the ministers of this country, the name of that is treason against your own country, your nation, your homeland.

Best not to flounder any further in this affair, which sinks you deeper with every word.