Turkey and Jordan debate Turkey as role model in Mideast

Turkey and Jordan are debating whether Turkey might be a real role model for Mideast countries. Turkish and Jordanian deputies, politicians, analysts and experts gathered together on Thursday at the Turkey-Jordan Media Forum held in Istanbul under the auspices of Turkey's Journalists and Writers Foundation to discuss Turkey and Jordan's economic, political and socio-cultural influence in the region. Ali Bulac, a columnist from the Zaman daily, Turkey's highest-circulation newspaper, said in a speech at the forum that there is no such term as a "Turkish model," rather a "Turkish experience," adding, "Turkish experience should be thought over." Asked by Hasan Altal, managing editor of Jordan's al-Liwa newspaper, why coups d'état in Turkey did not lead to a Turkish Spring like the Arab Spring in the Mideast in early 2011, Bulac replied, "Turkey can never host a ‘spring' similar to the Arab one." Referring to the three Islamic sects -- namely, Shiite, Sunni and Khawarij -- Bulac noted that Turkey uses the Sunni one as a model for its politics. "Turkey's political authority walks on eggshells and acts with deliberation." Commenting on Turkey's regional power and role model in the Mideast, Bulac underlined the proactive and effective foreign policy based on Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's "zero problems with neighbors" since 2002. Bulac also cited Davutoglu's "multi-dimensional foreign policy," adding that Turkey does not intend to break from NATO. "Turkey just changed the instruments of its Western policy," he said.

"Turkey's relations with other global players aim to be complementary, not in competition. Such a policy views Turkey's strategic relationship with the United States through the two countries' bilateral strategic ties and through NATO. It considers its EU membership process, its good neighborhood policy with Russia. … This means that good relations with Russia are not an alternative to relations with the EU. Nor is the model partnership with the US a rival partnership against Russia," Davutoglu noted in his article titled "Turkey's Zero-Problems Foreign Policy" published in May 2010 in Foreign Policy magazine. Semir Habashneh, a former Jordanian interior minister, commented in his speech on Syrian developments and Turkey's Syrian policy. Praising Turkey's Syrian policy in the region, Habashneh said: "Turkey is taking a positive step to stop the Assad regime. Turkey protects Syrians and should continue to work to force the Assad regime to sit at the negotiating table." He added, "If the embattled Assad regime is not paralyzed, it will go on to have a negative impact in the region, and Turkey will be the first country to be affected."