Turkey suffers from loss of memory while calling for fair memory

We have to congratulate those who have come up with the concept of “fair memory.”

These two words were meant to be uttered by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu at a speech he was going to deliver at the historic signing of protocols that will pave the way for the normalization of relations between Armenian and Turkey. He could not deliver his speech because the contents of both his and that of his Armenian colleague created a crisis that risked delaying the signing ceremony. The crisis was overcome by canceling the speeches. But according to the text made available to the press, Davutoğlu was going to call for the two nations to set aside their conflict of memories and reach a fair memory in order to find true historic facts. In other words, he was going to call for an exercise for an objective reality of the past, not an exaggerated or distorted one.

Whether he was the one to come up with the concept of “fair memory” or whether it was the Foreign Ministry’s bureaucracy is not known to me. Yet, as the head of the Turkish diplomacy, the ownership of the concept belongs to him and to his government. Which means that the concept of fair memory should not only be valid for the Armenian question but for all foreign policy issues.

Fair memory on history of relations with Syria

In this respect, if we should make recourse to our memory, we should remember that Syria, with which we enjoy “excellent relations,” used to be one of our main enemies. That was barely 10 years ago, not a long time span to forget about the realities. We can remember the realities if, of course, we have “fair memory”!

Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, used to live in Syria. We can obviously remember that, only if we do not suffer from amnesia! PKK militants used to find safe haven in Syria.

No one is suggesting that Turkey should remain stuck in the past and refrain from improving its relations with an old foe. On the contrary, positive engagement – even with foes – is one of the main pillars of Turkish foreign policy. Yet as Syria had not changed its policy of providing a safe haven to the PKK despite Turkey’s positive engagement policy, it was only the threat of using military force that finally led the regime in Damascus to send Öcalan away. It was the right decision, and the reward was increased cooperation with a NATO ally at a time Syria when suffered isolation from Western powers.

From the days where Turkish soldiers went to the Syrian border in preparation for an armed conflict to the days where half a dozen Turkish ministers crossed the Syrian border with their colleagues to sign an agreement to abolish the visa regulation is an endeavor not to be underestimated.

Suffering from amnesia on Israel

Yet let’s not forget how Turkey came to this point and those who have directly or indirectly contributed to this process.

Turkey was able to threaten Syria that it would use military force only after it gained political and economic confidence and became self-sustaining in military and intelligence issues. One of the key tools in the fight against terrorism is intelligence sharing. One of Turkey’s main allies in this respect used to be (it is questionable if it still is) Israel. It is a known secret that after Öcalan left Syria under pressure from Ankara, Turkey was able to track him down also thanks to the cooperation of Israeli intelligence. How else can you explain the attacks by the PKK against Israeli diplomatic missions in Europe after Öcalan was captured and brought back to Turkey? We can only remember this if, of course, we are not suffering from a loss of memory!

Turkish-Israeli cooperation on military fields have also contributed to Turkey’s increasing military strength. This is not to say that Israel has done all this without getting anything in return. Yet when I recalled the contributions of Israel as far as intelligence sharing is concerned to a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, he told me that the PKK terrorism will soon end and as Turkish intelligence is getting better and better Turkey will not need Israel’s contribution anyway. I hope the shortsighted view of this person who is dealing actually with foreign diplomacy is not endorsed by the government.

No one can condone Israel’s policies. But perhaps it is the traditional policy of positive engagement rather than contention that will convince the Israeli government of changing its policies, which have reached a point of committing crimes against humanity