The Turkish Conundrum: East, West or Both?

The Turkish Conundrum: East, West or both?

Turkey-that great nation or, it may not be far- fetched to assert, civilization state- is in the midst of a churn. The world is watching what direction the country will take. Turkey’s trajectory and direction will have global repercussions and reverberations. Condemned to a somewhat middle power status and beholden to the West on account of its top down modernization, Turkey may however be just on the cusp of being an important player in world and regional politics. This top down modernization may not have been all too salubrious for the Turkish state and nation. (Forced, coercive modernizations never are).

It led to what Huntington called a cleft country and a divided nation and society unsure of its moorings and identity. Politically, it led to a system which was a kind of a hybrid between authoritarianism and democracy. In terms of its international orientation, Turkey remained wedded to its hope(vain) of accession to the European Union. Cumulatively, all this had all sorts of consequences and ramifications for the Turkish nation and polity. In sum, the self –confidence of Turks ebbed and the county remained mired in a morass of its own making.

This , however, is now changing. Turkey is reaching out to its erstwhile antagonists with whom it remained estranged for years-the Arabs and is also reaching out to the Muslim world. This is very good. But it begs the question as what Turkey’s overall orientation should be? Should it hitch its wagon with the Arab Muslim and non -Arab Muslim world and jettison its relations with the west? Is this what the look East policy would mean? Or should Turkey choose the middle path and reorient itself in a direction wherein it becomes a real and not merely rhetorical bridge between Islam and the West?

These are very important and critical questions to which Turkey must have a substantive response. By way of aiding and helping Turkey to arrive at a response, it is the authors view that Turkey should and must choose the middle path. Why?

This is because the Muslim world cannot afford to be isolated and it needs a viable model and approach that synthesizes modernity with Islam. And it is only Turkey that can provide this model. The confidence in this assertion is premised on history , Turkey’s painful tryst with modernity, experience and its current experiment with integrating modernity with Islam that is in accord with the nature and temper of the Turkish people.

Historically, Turkey was the centre of gravity of the Islamic world for a long time and it left its imprimatur on the Islamic world and psyche. The rupture which took place after the eruption of Arab nationalism and political decay in Turkey has had deleterious consequences-both for Turkey and the world of Islam. The world of Islam lost a compass and , frankly speaking, lost its way. The consequences are for all to see. And Turkey retreated into itself caught in a modernizing impulse that was essentially alien to it.

However, to repeat, this is changing. This should not mean that Turkey jettison the political capital and other salubrious effects that its post caliphal orientation has had. While Turkey should drop its European Union obsession, it must not turn away from the West. The vain hope of accession in to the EU has been rather humiliating and, honestly speaking, instead of being helpful has divided and alienated the Turks further. Turkey, must summon its collective will, introspect and say NO to the Europeans. It must then turn its efforts and gaze to the west that is further afield- the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

This approach must be complemented by a vigorous and substantive , ‘ Look East’ policy wherein Turkey asserts itself in the Arab Muslim East in an idiom that is not informed by historical memory or baggage. This new approach could mean expanded trade and economic relations with the Arab Muslim states and a graduable education and initiation of these states into modernity- democracy, the integration of reason with faith and other related aspects. Or, in other words, Turkey must evolve and devise a model and template of modernity that reflects its essence and integrates it with the salubrious aspects of the West’s modernity.

It is this evolved paradigm that may be taken up and emulated by others in the Muslim world. Nad it will also allow Turkey to be open to the west; not Europe though. Turkey is at a very delicate and sensitive moment of its history. It is essential and exigent that Turkey gets it right. The trajectory of the Muslim world may well be contingent on the path that Turkey adopts. We wish it all the best.