Mehmet Ozkan is Visiting International Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. <a href="/profile/MehmetOzkan">Click here for detailed profile.</a>
In more than three decades, ever since the Islamic-oriented National Order Party was formed in 1969, Turkish politics has been analysed by many in terms of two straitjacketed views: Islamists trying to capture power on the one hand, and on the other hand the secularists or the state elite, with the help of the military, struggling to keep the country’s political orientation towards the West to protect Turkey as a secular state. This image of Turkey has created some confusion among strategic analysts abroad in understanding Turkey and its policies.
The Iranian nuclear stand-off is still a major issue in global politics. From international players like the European Union, the United States and the United Nations, to individual states, almost each country has its own stake in the issue. However, the recent deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil has not only changed the nature of the issue, but also the discussion itself. The deal has changed the nature because the one-sided dialogue between the international community and Iran is no longer relevant.
From a broader perspective, the referendum and the debates around it should be seen as the latest example of the domestic transformation of Turkish politics especially since the AKP came to power in 2002.
What will define the future of Turkey-India relations in not Cyprus or Pakistan, but the stress on mutual strengthening of their economies and providing an environment for greater understanding of each other.
In international conflict resolution, there is a term called ‘disaster diplomacy’, which explains how a disaster in one country may open new ways of interaction and how it brings a new perspective to persisting issues.
If India is indeed interested in being a ‘rule-maker’ in a multilateral world, alternative approaches to persisting problems is the basic component of it.
The ongoing Indo-US partnership talks are interesting considering the international systemic developments, and seen from the outside is an odd development happening at the heart of rising powers in global politics.
Like NAM, neither the IBSA nor any other forum will be permanent or best, though they are just one step in hopefully a direction to find a better and just global political order.
The Ghost of September 12 in Turkey
From a broader perspective, the referendum and the debates around it should be seen as the latest example of the domestic transformation of Turkish politics especially since the AKP came to power in 2002.