Turkey Awaits Its Hero Obama

I have just returned from a eight day visit to Turkey last week and I can confirm that, for anyone who may still question it, Barack Obama, as is true in probably most countries around the world, is now considered in Turkey to be the virtual "president" of our planet. The latest polling data in that nation shows that, among its populace of some 70 million people, Obama is by far the most popular leader on the globe. But Obama's considerable sway will not necessarily translate into his persuading Turkish government to share all of his concerns when he arrives in the country in the next few days.

It is true that Obama will be visiting a nation that is a strong member of NATO, and that he will be meeting with a Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the Justice and Development party, a moderate Muslim political grouping who, among other things, sees the US as his strongest ally and is trying to engineer Turkey's entry into the European Union. Second, Obama will be attending and speaking at the UN's Alliance of Civilizations conference in Istanbul which is seeking to bring together the world's religions and engage in peaceful intercultural dialogues.

But Obama must be careful about a number of things. First, he is going to be under some misimpression if he thinks that he is visiting his first "Muslim" nation as president -- which some in the American media have represented as the purpose of his visit. Most Turks thinks of their country as a secular one, not a religious one. They may be a Muslim-majority state, but they are tolerant of all creeds and faiths, and are not driven by religious dictates. In short, they do not want to be seen as representative of any Islamic movement.

Second, Obama will be mistaken, too, if he thinks he can convince the Turkish government to buy into his anti-Iranian policy. Iran is Turkey's next door neighbor and, after many fierce battles through the centuries, they have long resolved their differences peacefully and have lived companionably with one another for hundreds of years. The Turks have no desire or intention of upsetting that arrangement.

Third, though this issue is unlikely to come up, Obama will find that this country is not yet ready to deal with the issue of the Armenian disappearances in 1915-1916 during the final days of the Ottoman empire. This is a matter which the US Congress periodically attempts to pass resolutions on, denouncing Turkey.

Fourth, the Turks still remain very upset over not being admitted to the European Union and about the anti-Muslim sentiment of many of the EU members. They resent, in particular, that a former Communist country like Bulgaria, which is poor and backward, has gotten into the EU and they have not, after decades of trying.

Fifth, the Turks see themselves as primarily peacemakers -- along the lines advocated by their founder, Mustapha Kemal Ataturk. In their complicated neighborhood, they are trying to bring together Israelis and Syrians, Pakistanis and Afghans, Sunnis and Shiites, etc. Finally, sixth, they are concerned about some militant Kurds in Iraq who are fighting to carve out a Kurdish nation in Turkey. But none of these are major issues likely to disrupt an enduring US-Turkish relationship.

Comments

[ApolloSpeaks]

THE GREAT HEROIC OBAMA

Turkey awaits its hero? Is Obama an authentic hero with heroic accomplishments? If so what are these accomplishments? Give me examples of his heroic deeds. List them for me one by one. I want to know them. I want to see them. I want to believe. Or could he be an inauthentic hero? A fantasy hero of make believe? A hero with no substance or basis in reality? An idealization of an unheroic man, a man who wears the mask of greatness, who ran for president against the real thing, whose mask was able to beat him? In short, is Obama a fictitious hero, an illusion of the leftist brain, the product of mythology, who in his own insightful, disenchanting words is "an empty slate on which others write their wishes, hopes and dreams."

[mitaka]

Hey, smart pants! Why don't you start your own political career and try to become the 45th US president in 8 years? When the time is up and you are sworn in, you can report back here and we will duly declare you the new Hero.

[FearlessFreep]

The Turks "are concerned about some militant Kurds in Iraq who are fighting to carve out a Kurdish nation in Turkey." And the Kurds are concerned about the Turkish state that's fighting to hold onto Kurdistan.

"Peacemakers" my granny!

[nyoped]

Those lands have belonged to Turks since 1080s. It's been almost a thousand years -get over it. Do you want all countries to go back to their 1080 borders or do you claim 'divine right' to a certain piece of land?

[mitaka]

One wouldn't have to go back so far in history. If United States were to recede to its 1800 borders, it would be less than half of its current size (its westernmost city as Chicago).

[Craig Calvin Jones]

Interesting that it takes this visit to get any attention to the key part of the world. Much to chew on here, and much relevant history that deserves study and consideration.

I found it interesting (and a bit tedious, yes) to use web based language translations programs to view other sources of news. True, there are English languages news sites in Turkey, France, etc, but the news page for their internal consumption is different. I have found this true for the Arabic languages news sites as well.

For those interested, go the the bottom of pages such as google news, then pick a country. Let it load and copy the URL. Stick it in the tranlsate-a-web page option at the Language Tools page off of the google home page. You must be patient but I think this first-source information and the different views are worth it. With luck you can find some reader forums and replies that are bluntly honest. (Plus you can even find some interesting recipes.)

Here is an example from google news for Turkish, hope it links:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2Fnews%3Fned%3Dtr_tr&sl=tr&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Lulliloo]

Thanks very much for this excellent Link, Craig.

[justthefacts17]

A few years when I was in Turkey, Osama was the hero and now he's replaced
by Obama?

[FearlessFreep]

Turks can't spell =)

[nyoped]

We Turks can't spell English because we have always been an independent nation. Of course, you have to speak your master's language perfectly (or else?) Brent Scowcroft, an advisor, to Bush administration has explained this week how they utilized PKK (a terrorist organization) against other countries in the region -I assume you had taken the orders in English.

[VoiceOfModeration]

"Armenian disappearances in 1915-1916"

I wonder what could have happened to a few million Armenians who disappeared from their ancestral lands in a short period of time? I'm sure they all went on vacation and didn't want to come back.

This is what I call spineless reporting. Call it what it is - the Armenian Genocide.

[FearlessFreep]

Just like the Jewish disappearances in the early 1940s.

[GoodNews]

All I can think of when I hear "Turkey" is the movie "Midnight Express."

[mitaka]

Maybe you should finally start reading books, meeting foreigners, get a passport and go overseas... Hollywood produces entertainment, not education.

[plaidsportcoat]

"They may be a Muslim-majority state, but they are tolerant of all creeds and faiths, and are not driven by religious dictates."
Hey, come on now, who are you kidding? from 2002 bbc:
"In Turkey the official orthodoxy of the state is Kemalism - the secular nationalism introduced by Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, when he created the modern state in the 1920s.

But, although the state is secular, the people are overwhelmingly Muslim.

So the headscarf has become a HIGHLY CHARGED symbol of the collision between Kemalism and Islam.

Seventeen-year-old Zeliha was turned away by riot police when she tried to go to school in her headscarf.

So why does she not simply obey the state and leave the headscarf at home?

"I don't feel I have to comply with what the state says. This is my faith - and I want to live by my faith," Zeliha said. "

From March 2009:
"'Honor Killings' Have Morphed Into 'Honor Suicides' in Turkey"

[RofWH]

Turkey is weird in many ways. They still have laws that prevent free speech when it comes to criticizing the state, especially with respect to the Armenian issue. Prime Minister Erdogan's daughters had to go to college in the US because they could not wear the headscarf in a Turkish university. Here you wear whatever you want because we have constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. And we don't give a sh-t what you wear. Why the EUers are worried about Turkey joining is nothing but religious discrimination. Which is why I accept no criticism about America from Europeans (except for Guantanamo).

[JohnTy]

EU expansion has been pushed by those wishing to weaken it and prevent closer integration - particularly the UK. It has expanded far too quickly and has found it difficult/impossible to get unanimous agreement to reform its institutions. Whatever happened to the EU Constitution? In that situation it would not be sensible to admit Turkey.
Where does it stop? Iraq? Israel?

[Mildmannered]

for a different view on the Armenia -- see the writings of Prof. Justin McCarthy
University of Louisville.

[bayside]

Have to admit, its a good feeling to have respect again from other countries..

[Mildmannered]

I believe that Obama will neither attend nor speak at the Alliance of Civilizations gathering?

[Turquoise]

In President Obama, people in Turkey (Turks and Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians and all others as well) see that you can belong to two different backgrounds and still be "one nation". He is the ultimate example of reconciliation, conversation, reaching out to others, embracing the different. In him, we see how to build a more perfect union..

[nyoped]

Dude,
Turks and Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, etc have been living together almost a millennium -why would we see anything in Obama? We had elected a minority (kurd) and a female prime minister long before US had the stomach to consider an African-American for the highest office.

[ApolloSpeaks]

GLOBAL PRESIDENT? WORLD CITIZEN?

Global President? Of what? A United States of Humanity? There's no such thing. "Global President" has no more reality or meaning than the words "world citizen." I have yet to see a self-proclaimed world citizen produce 200 passports.

[Merckx]

You are a clever one aren't you?

[ApolloSpeaks]

I don't know how clever I am, but I do know this: how can someone logically say that he's a world citizen when there are totaliratian and authoritarian regimes in the world. If world citizenship means anything it can only be that the world citizen is a citizen of every nation, even the totalitarian ones where there are only subjects and masters and no citizens.

[justthefacts17]

He is ,he is

[henrywolff]

they love him as long as he just runs down the U.S. and doesn't ask them to do anything they don't want to do

President of the planet, indeed

what about being President of the U.S.?

[mg moore]

There were some places where this opinion piece flirted with coherence but , by and large, it was just more drum beating sycophantism.....

"Virtual President of the Planet"?

What a ridiculous assertion to make.

[joececchini]

"disappearances?" The term is "genocide".