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Shooting ourselves in the foot
Friday, May 20, 2005
OPINIONS
TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
Yusuf KANLI
Compromise culture constitutes the backbone of international
understanding. Head-on collisions, confrontations, the banging of
shoes or fists on the desk and otherwise maintaining a stubborn
mentality are invalid and unpopular patterns of behavior.
Sticking to a stubborn "oxi" ("no" in Greek) policy on Cyprus,
insisting on a hard-line "my way for peace" intransigency, drawing
"red lines" in northern Iraq, dividing the world into "those who are
with us and those who are against us" camps or threatening to issue
reciprocal parliamentary resolutions of condemnation may all appear
to be wise moves bearing fruit in the short run.
They could very well be effective in the short run, but such behavior
is incompatible with the general mindset of present-day societies
and could backfire, making a bad situation worse.
No more room for stubbornness:
The new "Mr. Intransigent" of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, was very
happy in the aftermath of an April 24, 2004 referendum when, at his
urging, Greek Cypriots voted an overwhelming "oxi" to a U.N.-led
peace plan, thus killing the plan despite massive approval for it in
a simultaneous Turkish Cypriot referendum.
Over the past year Papadopoulos has been quite successful in
blocking all European Union, as well as other, initiatives to ease
the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. His strategy
appeared to be successful.
However, he has earned the new Mr. Intransigent title and the antipathy
of the international community. He is starting to see the bitter
reality that he cannot avoid a compromise settlement forever.
New Cyprus talks are in the pipeline. Exploratory talks have already
started. Papadopoulos is entering this new round at a disadvantage
no matter how much he struggles. When the talks begin, he will be
plainly told that torpedoing this new attempt will be very costly to
his people.
Pink lines:
The red lines Turkey drew in northern Iraq went pink and later
disappeared. Ankara is now realizing it would have been more to its
advantage had it toned down the rhetoric, avoided antagonizing age-old
allies and prevented suspicion about its objectives. Thank God there
have been efforts by Ankara to mend fences, at least with Washington
and the new Baghdad government.
But we are pulling ourselves into yet another state of adamancy and
trying to shoot ourselves in the foot. We should seize upon increasing
international sympathy for our position regarding Armenian genocide
allegations.
Of course, this country cannot be happy to see the Parliament of
Poland or any other friendly nation adopt resolutions condemning
Turkey for allegedly having staged a brutal act against humanity in
the first quarter of the last century.
It's inappropriate for any political body to decide on something
that purportedly occurred 90 years ago and of which there are
conflicting accounts. Supporting one position would mean condemning
the other. Rather than making political decisions on the issue,
historians must be allowed to shed light on what really happened and
how such immense human tragedies took place.
But, for God's sake, what would be the meaning of Turkey retaliating
against Poland by adopting a resolution in Parliament condemning
the Polish role in the Holocaust? Or the point of adopting similar
resolutions against 14 other states that have passed similar
legislative resolutions or parliamentary decisions -- considering that
those 15 countries are showing growing support for Turkey's call for
an objective examination of what happened 90 years ago.
We should avoid shooting ourselves in the foot.
-----------
Copyright 2005, Turkish Daily News. This article is redistributed with
permission for personal use of Groong readers. No part of this article
may be reproduced, further distributed or archived without the prior
permission of the publisher. Contact Turkish Daily News Online at
http://www.TurkishDailyNews.com for details.
Friday, May 20, 2005
OPINIONS
TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
Yusuf KANLI
Compromise culture constitutes the backbone of international
understanding. Head-on collisions, confrontations, the banging of
shoes or fists on the desk and otherwise maintaining a stubborn
mentality are invalid and unpopular patterns of behavior.
Sticking to a stubborn "oxi" ("no" in Greek) policy on Cyprus,
insisting on a hard-line "my way for peace" intransigency, drawing
"red lines" in northern Iraq, dividing the world into "those who are
with us and those who are against us" camps or threatening to issue
reciprocal parliamentary resolutions of condemnation may all appear
to be wise moves bearing fruit in the short run.
They could very well be effective in the short run, but such behavior
is incompatible with the general mindset of present-day societies
and could backfire, making a bad situation worse.
No more room for stubbornness:
The new "Mr. Intransigent" of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, was very
happy in the aftermath of an April 24, 2004 referendum when, at his
urging, Greek Cypriots voted an overwhelming "oxi" to a U.N.-led
peace plan, thus killing the plan despite massive approval for it in
a simultaneous Turkish Cypriot referendum.
Over the past year Papadopoulos has been quite successful in
blocking all European Union, as well as other, initiatives to ease
the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. His strategy
appeared to be successful.
However, he has earned the new Mr. Intransigent title and the antipathy
of the international community. He is starting to see the bitter
reality that he cannot avoid a compromise settlement forever.
New Cyprus talks are in the pipeline. Exploratory talks have already
started. Papadopoulos is entering this new round at a disadvantage
no matter how much he struggles. When the talks begin, he will be
plainly told that torpedoing this new attempt will be very costly to
his people.
Pink lines:
The red lines Turkey drew in northern Iraq went pink and later
disappeared. Ankara is now realizing it would have been more to its
advantage had it toned down the rhetoric, avoided antagonizing age-old
allies and prevented suspicion about its objectives. Thank God there
have been efforts by Ankara to mend fences, at least with Washington
and the new Baghdad government.
But we are pulling ourselves into yet another state of adamancy and
trying to shoot ourselves in the foot. We should seize upon increasing
international sympathy for our position regarding Armenian genocide
allegations.
Of course, this country cannot be happy to see the Parliament of
Poland or any other friendly nation adopt resolutions condemning
Turkey for allegedly having staged a brutal act against humanity in
the first quarter of the last century.
It's inappropriate for any political body to decide on something
that purportedly occurred 90 years ago and of which there are
conflicting accounts. Supporting one position would mean condemning
the other. Rather than making political decisions on the issue,
historians must be allowed to shed light on what really happened and
how such immense human tragedies took place.
But, for God's sake, what would be the meaning of Turkey retaliating
against Poland by adopting a resolution in Parliament condemning
the Polish role in the Holocaust? Or the point of adopting similar
resolutions against 14 other states that have passed similar
legislative resolutions or parliamentary decisions -- considering that
those 15 countries are showing growing support for Turkey's call for
an objective examination of what happened 90 years ago.
We should avoid shooting ourselves in the foot.
-----------
Copyright 2005, Turkish Daily News. This article is redistributed with
permission for personal use of Groong readers. No part of this article
may be reproduced, further distributed or archived without the prior
permission of the publisher. Contact Turkish Daily News Online at
http://www.TurkishDailyNews.com for details.