Downfall of Pro-West Intelligentsia in Turkey

Since Erdoğan ended the old habit of the pro-West intelligentsia in Turkey, he has been portrayed as a sultan, and Turkey as an authoritarian state

In this country relations with the West were monopolized by a group of pro-West intelligentsia for decades. This group controlled the country’s relations first with France and Germany, then with the U.S. and U.K.

Relying on this monopoly, they obtained a wide realm of rule and privilege. They tried to design politics, the economy and society according to that. But one day the dynamics and balances changed and, as a result, they lost this monopoly. Naturally, they came to lose their rule and privileges. However, they could never accept or get over their defeat.

At first, they tried to mobilize the pro-West bloc in the country. They called the military to action, appealed for help from trade associations, tried to receive media support and even involved the judiciary in their struggle. They strived a great deal, but still could not achieve their goals. Then, they solely focused on the West.

They reported their own country to Europe and the U.S. They primarily complained that the ruling power of the country is not urban or secular enough.

Then, they mentioned the authoritarianism of the new government led by former prime minister and current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. And as a last resort they asked the U.S. to intervene in the country with a pro-mandatory spirit by arguing that Turkey deals with serious problems about human rights and freedom.

This circle, which we call the “non-national opposition” today, aspires to receive a word or a sign against Turkey from the mouths of U.S. authorities.

We lately witnessed how they struggled to sabotage Erdoğan’s Washington visit. And currently, they are engaging in lobbying to make the U.S. issue a decision against Turkey on the anniversary of the 1915 incidents.

However, for years they benefited from state funds on the grounds of their so-called lobbying against Armenian genocide claims in the U.S.

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The campaign run by this group with an aim to open space for themselves in domestic politics undermines Turkey’s national interests above all. The campaign also makes it difficult to discuss U.S.-Turkish relations on a healthy ground.

On one hand, we must pay attention to the internal contradictions of the U.S. and the faulty steps it takes due to those contradictions and foresee the costs of such steps for Turkey. On the other, we must always keep in mind why Turkey is an indispensable ally for the U.S.

President Erdoğan conducted negotiations in Washington with full awareness of this. He explicitly explained his arguments on the subjects Turkey and the U.S. diverge on. He made it clear why Turkey would not give up on those arguments.

He also pointed out the problems in the U.S.’s anti-DAESH fight . and he brought tangible offers to the table for an effective fight against DAESH.

Today, Turkey acts in cognizance of the prospect that ineffective U.S. Middle East policies. will be revised in the short run. The country strives to guarantee that its position in the new strategy is an ascribed one rather than being one that would be shaped by other apparatuses.

The most crucial factor is Turkey’s counterterrorism fight. Turkey seeks to demonstrate that it cannot be designed or subjugated by international power groups through the counterterror fight.

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara John Bass, issued a statement on April 7 in which underlined that the U.S. attaches importance to Turkey’s concerns about the Democratic Union Party (PYD), adding that the outlawed PKK must lay down its arms as immediately.

He also answered the question Turkey formerly directed to the U.S.: “How could the PKK obtain U.S.-made weapons?” According to Bass, it was verified that these weapons were from the stocks that the U.S. provided to Iraqi security forces.

Noteworthy, isn’t it?

[Daily Sabah, April 13, 2016]

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