Turkey faces threat of radical nationalism

By Kaan Durukan
Published: January 12 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 12 2007 02:00
From Mr Kaan Durukan.

Sir, As a student of the Middle East and Islamic civilisations, with a specific interest in the history of the Ottoman empire and modern Turkey, my home country, I found Vincent Boland's recent analysis pretty comprehensive and useful ("Why Turks are growing disillusioned with Europe", January 3). I just want to add - or occasionally underline - a few points.

In the first place, Mr Boland is right to detect the rise of a new type of nationalism in Turkey, triggered by the rapidly changing nature of the relationships with the west, the US and the European Union in particular. The threat is not the "Islamisation" of Turkey. In the worst-case scenario, if the European Union project fails for Turkey - or there is some crisis in

the process - the danger is not necessarily the rise of a radical Islam, but the domination of a radical nationalism.

For most Turks nationalism is the lowest common denominator of their identity regardless of social status, economic power or political affiliations. The foundations of this historical phenomenon lie in the glorious imperial past of Ottoman centuries, the total absence of a colonial rule (comparable only to China, Japan, Iran and Russia in this respect) and, most of all, the successful war of independence fought under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s.

Under these circumstances, if Turkey feels humiliated by some additional criteria not applied by the EU to some other past/present candidates or if the calendar of admission becomes subject to significant changes or ambiguities, this crucial element of national pride may put an end to the process and the European Union may face a xenophobic neighbour instead of a collaborative partner.

Second, there are frequent references to the value systems that define Europe in the course of history, the most notable being Graeco-Roman origins, the Judaeo-Christian heritage, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. One wonders if the principle of pacta sunt servanda, simply "to keep promises", which was around through all these centuries, is still an integral part of European political culture.

Referring to a legal agreement, the European Union quite rightly asks Turkey to recognise Cyprus like all the other member states (although the admission of the country in 2004 is an enigma, considering the extremely controversial situation of the island between Turkey, Greece and southern and northern sectors). But the EU seems to neglect the fact that the isolation of Turkish northern Cyprus, which voted for a viable solution with the support of the EU, US and the UN, still continues.

Kaan Durukan,

University of Wisconsin-Madison,

Madison, WI 53706, US

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007