Give Turkey a break

Turkey has become somewhat of a practicing target for criticism as of late.  For some politicians and political writers in the U.S and Europe, criticizing Turkey has become a hoppy, while for others it has become more of a passion. The critics have blamed Turkey for not doing enough to fight ISIS and stop jihadi fighters from moving between the Middle East and Europe; for straying away from the path of democracy; and for putting freedom of the press under siege. Does all this criticism have merit?  Or, are the American and Europeans looking for a scapegoat for their failed policies in the areas of immigration and combatting terrorism? The reality may be more of the latter than the former.

Turkey is not intentionally allowing the movement of jihadi fighters across its boarder. We must appreciate that Turkey shares more than 500 miles boarder with Syria and sealing the boarder is more easily said than done. If you don’t believe me then just ask the U.S how effective it has been protecting its border with Mexica. In addition, Turkey unlike Donald Trump does not have the luxury of building a wall and asking ISIS and Bashar Assad to pay for it. On the opposite side, international organizations and humanitarian aid groups are asking the Turkish government to open its boarders for the Syrian refuges who are escaping the chaos and carnage in Syria. So this is obviously a case of damn if you do (open the boarders) and damn if you don’t. Rather than putting Turkey in this impossible proposition it would be more productive if western security forces kept better track of would be foreign fighters and improved the level of intelligence sharing with their Turkish counterparts. 

Since the beginning of 2016, Turkey has suffered from four major terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS and the left wing Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). To accuse a country that has been the primary target of terrorist organizations from both the right and the left of not being sincere in fighting terrorism is laughably at best. It is the sincerity of the U.S that should be under question. The U.S is openly supporting the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and an extension of the PKK. The PKK itself is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S, EU, and Turkey. Turkey is right in its stance that we can’t talk about good terrorists vs. bad terrorist; that all terrorism is bad whether it comes from the right or the left; and that a terrorist organization can’t attain any degree of legitimacy just because it is fighting ISIS.

When it comes to freedom of the press, Turkey has received more than its fair share of criticism. Sure, the freedom of press in Turkey is not perfect and there is room for improvement, but to portray the Turkish press being under siege is an over blown exaggeration. There are no shortages in critical media outlets in Turkey freely expressing their opinions. In fact, almost half of the press in Turkey is considered opposition press or press that often holds negative and critical views of the government.

Turkey has been pursuing a foreign policy that is more independent and which does not follow the western play book by letter. This has fueled anger against Turkey in some U.S and European foreign policy circles who now react to Turkey emotionally and irrationally.  But let’s not forget that Turkey is still a strategic ally of the U.S, remains a NATO member with the second largest standing military force in the alliance, and is an accession talks with the EU. Also, let’s not forget that the Turkish government and Erdogan deserve credit for the political, economic and social reforms they enacted and especially for succeeding in reconciling Islam with democracy, for developing a liberalized market economy, and for taking the military out of political life.

The relation between Turkey and its western allies is like a marriage going through difficult times; however, the relation should not end in divorce, the relation is still workable and may benefit from some marriage counseling. This is better than sustaining the attacks on and criticism of Turkey that only hurts western interest on the long run as it only feeds Turkeys’ feelings of mistrust, suspicion and even resentment towards the West.

Fadi Abdullah Farasin is a researcher at the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), a subsidiary of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).