It's Time To Choose

We keep discussing about the person who will govern Turkey.
In many other countries, people instead discuss about the "team" that will govern the country. Ahead of the presidential election, the press is full of comments about who might be elected president in August and who might become the next prime minister, but we rarely read detailed discussions about the kind of Turkey the next president will represent in the international scene.

Especially at a time when the foreign press is full of serious allegations about Turkey, we need to engage in a thorough discussion about Turkey's role in the world. An American journalist recently claimed that Turkey provided Syrian Islamist opposition group the al-Nusra Front with Sarin gas. This group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States so this is a way of claiming that Turkey, a NATO ally, is supporting dangerous terrorist organizations. Nevertheless, everyone knows that if Turkey had helped some groups in Syria, every single allied country would have been informed in advance about what Turkey was doing. Who knows, maybe our allies first turned a blind eye to what is happening and later decided to reveal this in order to push Turkey into a corner.

Related to this allegation is the reform of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). It has always conducted operations in Turkey and abroad, but now Parliament will change the laws in order to make MIT more accountable. However, while becoming more accountable, MIT will also become more dependent on the executive branch. One must be very careful when reorganizing MIT, as intelligence is something done in close cooperation with one's allies. No country shares too much information about its intelligence activities, but one can't hide everything from their allies all the time, either. When you try to do that, you run the risk of being exposed by someone like Edward Snowden, or through wiretapping or newspaper articles.

One wonders why no one is trying to reform the army's intelligence services as well and why we are talking only about MIT. It's not like MIT is working alone everywhere and the army is uninterested in what is going on in Syria or other neighboring countries. No one should pretend that the armed forces knew nothing about MIT's assistance to opposition groups in Syria.

International developments are pushing Turkey to make a choice. It seems as though Western powers would like to see Turkey join the axis formed by Egypt-Israel and Saudi Arabia. However, Ankara can't do that quickly because the evolution of the political crises in Egypt and Syria are being used in domestic political debates in Turkey. Turkish decision-makers aren't able to radically change their rhetoric right now, as the presidential election is approaching.

There are two options: Either the present team will change Turkey's foreign policy direction or a new team will do so. This "new team" does not definitely have to come from the opposition. That is why Turkish decision-makers' messages towards the foreign world are currently of the utmost importance.

The global balance of power is changing, rivalries are becoming more violent and competition continues. It seems as though Russia will do anything possible to prevent the partition of Syria and the West will have to accept continuing with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if they want to keep Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in power. In other words, the scenario of having "moderate" Islamic governments in the east Mediterranean is already in the waste bin. Those who still want to act according to old scenarios are destined to lose. Turkey's main problem, though, is what to do about Russia as the axis it is being asked to join is anti-Russian.

To determine who is going to be president or how MIT will function will not be enough to run the country from now on. More radical choices will be needed.

BERIL DEDEOĞLU (Cihan/Today's Zaman)