He is one of the key leaders in the Middle East, whom I found to be frank and forthcoming in an hour-long interview in which he tackled a range of topics — from Syria to Islamophobia and violent Muslim protests against the West.
| Abdullah Gul, president of Turkey and his wife |
Abdullah Gul, president of Turkey, heads a prosperous moderate Muslim democracy when much of the Middle East is roiled by popular revolts against dictatorships and for better economic conditions.
His nation of 75 million, a long-standing NATO member, has emerged as an essential American and European ally in a turbulent region. And for the past 20 months, it has been the front-line state against neighbouring Syria, a former ally.
As Bashar Assad continues killing tens of thousands, about 150,000 Syrian refugees have crossed into Turkey, which has spent $300 million caring for them.
Syrian planes have bombed areas along the Turkish border. Syrian shells have landed inside Turkey. That prompted Turkey to ask NATO to set up Patriot batteries to intercept ballistic missiles, of which Syria is said to have several hundred.
I asked Gul — at his 110-acre presidential compound in Ankara, the Turkish capital — about the chances of war breaking out.
“It’s very unlikely that Syria would directly target Turkey. They wouldn’t dare do it. But madness might prevail,” he says through an interpreter.
“We have calculated all the scenarios and put contingency plans in place. Turkey has no intention of going into Syria but if our interests are undermined, we’ll take all the necessary steps.”
Is Turkey “harmed” by the fact that Assad may prompt his secessionist Syrian Kurds to help secessionist Kurds in Turkey, especially the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a designated terrorist organization?
“If any terrorist organization tries to make use of this situation near the Turkish border by creating a safe haven for them, we will not hesitate.
“We will not permit the formation of any such haven. We will stop it . . . If there’s any undesired actions, there’ll be an instant response.”
Such statements are unusual for the holder of a largely ceremonial post in a parliamentary democracy. But Gul, 62, is a veteran politician, co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party, with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
As foreign minister (2003-07), Gul spearheaded Turkey’s unsuccessful bid to join the European Union. Most Turks have soured on the idea, given European resistance, and Turkey’s economy booming and Europe’s tanking.
But it’s a quest that Gul still advocates as essential to keeping Turkey on the path to European liberal standards. At the same time, he’s pained by the West’s Islamophobia.
“It’s the same as anti-Semitism,” he said.
“It reminds us that while the West has high levels of education and income, it has diseases that are not easily curable. The diseases of the East, mainly illiteracy and poverty, are easier to fix than the diseases of the West, such as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
“Islamophobia poses particular risks in today’s globalized world. It can be costly as well as a menace to world peace, increase risks to the lives of ordinary people and complicate the world political situation.
“Just like the world tackled anti-Semitism, we need to take measures to contain anti-Islamism.”
Gul mentioned the recent short anti-Muhammad film made in the U.S. by a member of the radicalized Egyptian Coptic Christian diaspora and funded by a fundamentalist Christian.
“When we look at the people behind the film and their background, we can see which groups and people they were associated with. This speaks for itself. They are full of hate for Muslims and Islam
“I believe in freedom of speech but I also believe that this discourse of hate, and incitement to hate and violence should in no way be considered part of free speech. If we don’t curb it, it will only lead to graver problems.
“The western world has troops in Afghanistan and is very much engaged in the Middle East. On the other hand, it permits deliberate acts of hate that create security issues, and innocent people from both sides suffer.”
What does he think of the violent protests in parts of the Muslim world against insults to Islam, the Qur’an and Muhammad?
“Islamophobic needling provocations will happen again. They are deliberate. But they must be ignored. The Muslim world should not react in the way it has.”
Gul’s wife Hayrunisa wears the hijab. That caused uproar in 2007 when he ran for the presidency. The then powerful army hinted at a coup, the generals having historically considered themselves as guardians of an authoritarian sectarianism that proscribed any display of religion in the official sphere. They could not conceive of a hijabi living in the presidential palace.
Since then, the army has been brought under civilian control. Rather than crowing, he graciously applauded the generals for moving with the times.
As part of his “evolution, not revolution” philosophy, Gul and his wife never did move into the presidential compound. She stayed out of the generals’ hair. But her presence on state occasions, even military parades, has since become routine.
I asked Gul why the hijab became such a potent symbol.
He got animated.
“Those who see the hijab as a symbol are misled and misinformed.
“I don’t think women and girls wear it just a symbol. They are not part of a militia; they are not political fighters who would use the hijab as a uniform. They wear it as part of their faith.”
I tell him that he may have misunderstood the question. I was not implying, as some Islamophobes do, that the hijab is a symbol of political assertion, perhaps even Islamic militancy. Rather I was asking why he thinks the hijab is opposed both by authoritarian regimes, such as the past one in Turkey, and also democratic governments in Germany and France that have banned it in schools.
Gul stuck to his formulation:
“In Turkey, the hijab was never a symbol of resistance or an instrument of struggle. Rather it’s a matter of personal choice. You will see some members of the same family wear it and others not. It is an individual preference and very democratic. It’s the government bans on the hijab that were rigid and undemocratic.”
I show Gul a clipping from the Toronto Star, a story of a man being convicted last year in a Brampton court for pulling a woman’s niqab in a Mississauga mall.
“That’s democracy and pluralism in action,” Gul said with a smile.
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