Turkey seeks role in Mideast

By Jeremy Brigham

Turkey is a rising economic and political player in the world. In the Aug. 23-30 Newsweek, Turkey is ranked 10th in the world for quality of life, and 10th overall among populous nations of more than 50 million.

Why has Turkey so emerged in recent years? For more than half a century after Turkey proclaimed itself in 1923, it struggled for internal coherence as a secular country in an Islamic region. The Ottoman Empire, out of which Turkey emerged after World War I, had struggled with its identity for more than a century as it encountered the rising European powers, especially the United Kingdom, France and Russia.

During the mid-

19th century, it declared that people were equal citizens, regardless of religion. This countered a long-standing Muslim practice that non-Muslims, e.g., Christians and Jews, though respected as “people of the Book - the Bible,” were second-class to Muslims.

In the late 19th century, when the Ottomans suffered loss of territory to Russia and to Balkan States, there was a resurgence of Islamic identity with growing persecution of Christians. During this time, Jews migrated from the Ukraine and other Eastern European countries to Palestine, a relatively insignificant area for the Ottomans, who were more concerned with losing their Balkan regions in southeastern Europe, and with Russia seeking to regain Constantinople.

When Turkey became a new country, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk proclaimed a secular government. Religion and state would be separated. However, Turkishness became the national identity. This put pressure on the Kurds,

20 percent of the population, who had their own language, history, and identity, though they were also Sunni Muslims.

In the early 2000s, leadership arose that was more responsive to Muslim values and practices. Turkey also was seeking membership in the European Union, but as the years unfolded after 9/11, negative attitudes toward Muslims grew in Europe. By 2005, Turks became disenchanted with the goal of joining the European Union. Since then, Turkey has turned more toward its potential for regional leadership, seeking to open its borders with its neighbors - Syria, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lebanon - and to develop relations with Russia, Israel and the Persian Gulf countries.

Relations with Israel have become problematic with Israel's late May attack on the flotilla of Turkish activists bringing aid to Gaza, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists.

Jeremy Brigham, adjunct instructor, has taught a course on the Middle East at Kirkwood Community College since 2003. Comments: brighamjeremy@q.com