Türkiye as a Stabilizing Power in an Age of Turmoil

Fahrettin Altun

• Publisher: Academica Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781680537598
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Geopolitics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

More than three decades after the Cold War, international institutions have yet to cope with pressing problems, emerging challenges, and regional and international conflicts. Against the backdrop of an unraveling international order, deepening humanitarian crises, and an uptick in violence, Turkey, under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership, has advocated international cooperation to find solutions. At the same time, the country has adopted a more proactive foreign policy with an eye toward ending long-standing international disputes while avoiding the trap of unilateralism. Written by Turkey’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, this book offers a concise yet detailed analysis of Turkish foreign policy within the context of civil wars, humanitarian tragedies, and the structural changes taking place in Turkey’s neighborhood. Highlighting the historical origins of contemporary problems and the destabilizing effect of unresolved conflicts, the author provides valuable insights into Turkish perspectives on the situation in Cyprus, the Syrian Civil War, the future of Iraq, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the Arab Spring, and the Libyan conflict. Finally, Türkiye as a Stabilizing Power in an Age of Turmoil explains why the country has called for the reform of international organizations, such as the United Nations and NATO, and sheds light on the ways in which Turkey has responded to fresh challenges, including the rise of populism and far-right extremism.

CHAPTER ONETHE FAILURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

The capacity to deal with human suffering can reinforce the confidence and trust nations place in the international system. The principal architects of the liberal world order following the end of World War II aimed to prevent wars and provide hope to people in need. They claimed to establish a world order that would facilitate these objectives. Institutions were established to ease the suffering of people and international conventions of laws were signed to protect human dignity. The architects of these institutions had hoped that two world wars within a span of less than three decades should not become a cycle, given the widespread destruction of property, the massive casualties, and the millions of displaced people, many of whom had to endure lifelong physical and psychological traumas. “Never again” became an aspirational mantra in the efforts to preclude the outbreak of another global war and massive human suffering.

The optimism in the post-World War II days turned out to be short lived, as new conflicts erupted and hostilities emerged anew in areas already scarred by war. The emergence of a Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States significantly hurt the emerging optimism of preventing another major conflict in the international system. The intensification of ideological rivalry and the rising arms race between two superpowers changed the atmosphere of the entire world. To top it all, the two Cold War superpowers launched proxy wars in developing states. People there suffered from the intense fighting between the two ideological groups. Large sections of societies in these countries became refugees while the conflicts destabilized neighboring countries and, in some instances, the whole region. Civil wars along ideological lines spread like wildfire. In the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli wars generated a humanitarian tragedy that has yet to be acknowledged universally. The lands of Palestinians were occupied by the Israeli state, precluding Palestinians from living with dignity and forcing them to flee to neighboring countries. Millions have had to spend their lives in refugee camps while the Israeli state has built illegal settlements on their lands. In short, every war inadvertently causes displaced people, refugees, and tragedies that are manifested in painful memories and traumas decades after the hot war has ended. Meanwhile, international organizations and NGOs established to assist displaced citizens and refugees fell short of their founding principles, while committed aid workers could not receive sufficient resources and endorsements from the respective governments in affected areas to provide humanitarian services. When the war in Afghanistan created, one of the world’s gravest humanitarian disasters, international observers in media and political and diplomatic circles were more attentive to the military outcome of the Soviet-Afghan war than to immediately responding to the dire conditions in the refugee camps. The war created a major destabilizing impact on the neighboring countries and exported insecurity in the region. However, the international community was, once again, not willing to pay attention and spare serious efforts to handle these challenges.

The end of the Cold War did not reshape this dynamic. In the early 1990s, the optimism and hope in yet another triumph of the liberal international world order proved to be as short lived as in the 1940s. Many had projected a world without major wars and without human suffering. There were even those who claimed that the end of the Cold War was the “end of history.” The stable moment broke quickly with civil wars popping up all over, emphasizing how earlier optimism was mere wishful thinking. There was no preparation at the state, regional, or international levels on how to resolve a fresh wave of humanitarian crises, including large numbers of refugees - the most since the end of World War II. The international community acted as if paralyzed when it encountered the worst humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. The Bosnian War was a prime example. In the midst of Europe and at the height of dreams of a liberal world order, a humanitarian tragedy took place in Bosnia, an ethnic cleansing followed by a massive refugee flow across the continent. Subsequent conflicts in the 1990s affecting Somalia, Rwanda, and in Eastern and Southern Europe were also met by the international community’s inaction. The world essentially shied away from efforts to ease the humanitarian suffering exacerbated by civil wars.

Moving into the 21st century, the international community did not seem to absorb the lessons from the humanitarian disasters in the decade after the end of the Cold War. Instead of establishing mechanisms and strengthening institutions for promoting the protection of vulnerable and oppressed groups, the international community relied on ad hoc solutions with the expectation that these crises would eventually disappear. The growing numbers of refugees, their living conditions, their lives and status did not constitute a priority for the international community. Xenophobia and Islamophobia in Western countries, which targeted the most vulnerable groups, namely refugees and asylum seekers from Asia and the Middle East, aggravated the refugee dilemma. States sought not only to lower the quotas of refugees from Muslim countries, but went to the extreme of trying to implement an outright ban by contending that migration constituted a national security threat. Ethnic and religious profiling of Muslims made it more difficult for them to travel abroad or seek sanctuary from civil wars, proxy conflicts, and persecution by autocratic regimes. In the first decade of the new millennium, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan produced humanitarian crises on a scale that became difficult to manage logistically, as the numbers of internally displaced people in these conflicts reached levels not seen since World War II. The Watson Institute estimated that by 2020, 9.2 million Iraqis were internally displaced or became refugees abroad. In the case of Afghanistan, affected by more than 40 years of conflicts and invasions first by the former Soviet Union and then the U.S., there are “currently more than 2.6 million registered refugees in the world from Afghanistan - more than one in ten of all refugees, and the second highest number after Syria.”⁶ The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the capture of its territories by the Taliban forces generated a new wave of refugees in the summer of 2021. Humanitarian organizations are expecting to see up to six million new Afghan refugees in this new period.

In other parts o2f the world, conflicts generated waves of refugees and displaced people. According to figures provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in the Darfur conflict, Chad is already hosting more than 3600,000 refugees and in early 2021, another 100,000 were displaced, a difficult development given the ongoing pandemic. These massive waves of refugees put the host countries in an extremely difficult situation. None of the host countries were ready to host this massive influx of people from mostly adjacent countries and none received sufficient support from the international community to handle these humanitarian crises. At one point, host countries assumed that refugees would be temporary guests, that the conflicts from where they fled would end shortly, and they could decide either to return and repatriate. But, as in Afghanistan, the conflicts became protracted. Refugees in host countries became ever more stressed and tense, and these feelings were transmitted to the domestic population that demanded their governments adress the plight immediately. As conflicts became protracted, in addition to food and shelter, refugees required comprehensive healthcare facilities, education for their children, and job training options. Rare was the instance in which an international organization could meet such needs in a timely manner. Meanwhile, the numbers of refugees continued to proliferate, meaning that existing resources were overstretched and refueling an already problematic cycle.

In June 2021, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that there are 82.1 million “forcibly displaced people” around the world, representing more than one percent of the world’s total population. The figure is likely higher given that the reported UN figures only account for people registered under the mandate of the UNHCR and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The UN numbers break down into 48 million internally displaced people, 26.4 million refugees, 4.1 million asylum seekers, and 3.9 million Venezuelans displaced abroad. More than two-thirds of refugees come from just five countries with Myanmar (11 million) and Syria (6.7 million) comprising the largest portion. At the end of2020, Türkiye housed the largest number of refugees, with nearly 3.7 million people. Colombia is second with 1.7 million, including Venezuelans displaced abroad. The situation of forcibly displaced people is dire, particularly as there are 35 million children (under 18 years of age) who are at risk of hunger and starvation. According to the UNHCR, 80 percent of the displaced people under the UNHCR mandate are in countries and territories affected by acute food insecurity and malnutrition.⁷ They also lack medical care, and, in some instances, refugee camps have become the epicenter of not just the pandemic but also of other illnesses and diseases. There were concerning reports and studies conducted by non-governmental organizations focusing on the state of COVID-19 pandemic in the refugee camps. For instance, the International Rescue Committee reported that the refugees in camps in Syria, Greece, and Bangladesh faced a heightened risk of spread of COVID-19.⁸ In addition to its outcomes regarding the health of refugees, the outbreak also generated significant economic challenges for the administration of the refugee camps. In a report, Oxfam stated, “The pandemic also fueled hunger. Only half of the refugee households today have acceptable levels of food. Both refugee and host communities reported overwhelming difficulty to find sufficient or good quality food.”⁹

The UNHCR also tracks the destinations of displaced people. Some 73 percent of the refugees are hosted by neighboring countries. There is a pattern in these humanitarian crises where people do not have other choices but to seek shelter in one of the neighboring countries closest to the conflict zone - a pattern that has been difficult to break given the encompassing sensitive security and logistical challenges. In the meantime, refugees with educational and career training already in their portfolios and means to relocate have sought out other destinations to rebuild their lives economically. Some did not shy away from trying to relocate farther away from their homeland. But the majority have stayed at their first destination, hoping to return to their homes within a relatively short time. More often, however, people in wartorn countries have had no other choice but to stay in their homes. The host country’s willingness to extend the stay of individuals has burdened the economy along with adding political stress and testing the patience of public opinion. There are always politicians on the far right attempting to exploit the grievances of the host communities and inflame the tensions between refugees and citizens. They frame the refugees as scapegoats for the host country’s problems, putting the governing political party on the defensive, which can distract officials from attending to the crisis behind such political tensions. Furthermore, many host countries may not be well prepared to host large numbers of refugees in their countries, as the UNHCR figures indicate that 86 percent of the refugees are hosted in developing countries and the least developed countries house 27 percent of asylum seekers.

Refugee relief organizations struggle to honor their mission by providing food, shelter, and health care. International organizations have set up camps, for example, that without question address the immediate concerns of the individuals and their families, but those same camps also often fall short of the standards the humanitarian community considers as norms for adequate care and access to essential needs. Likewise, host countries, which already have strained economic resources, are faced with difficult options, especially if they are concerned about violence impeding relief assistance, domestic political resistance, and the poten...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter One: The Failure of the International Community in Humanitarian Assistance
• Chapter Two: The Failure of International Institutions
• Chapter Three: Persistent Conflicts around the World
• Chapter Four: The Rise of Far-Right Nationalism, Populism, and Islamophobia
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover