Former Turkish Prime Minister Tansu âiller Tackles Critics

By David P. Johnson Jr.

Despite its current economic and political problems, Turkey will eventually join the ranks of the world’s superpowers, Tansu âiller, former Turkish prime minister, said at an April 28 program sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Boston at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. “I believe we are going to be a superpower in the next century,” âiller said, adding that a cornerstone of Turkish policy is the need for military preparedness.

âiller cited disputes among her country’s neighbors including the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, continued strife in Georgia, and the potential for trouble along Turkey’s southern and eastern borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran. “These are names that make American audiences cringe,” âiller stated. “We live in a rough neighborhood and the only way to survive is to be strong and vigilant.”

Noting that many people in Central Asia speak Turkish dialects and share a cultural heritage with Turkey, âiller said increased trade and cooperation with the emerging nations of the former Soviet Union would be natural. While Turkey has longstanding ties to Asia, it is also a European democracy, âiller said, adding that Istanbul is the only major city in the world located on two continents. “This deep sense of history,” with traditions in both East and West, will allow Turkey to play a pivotal role, she predicted.

Turkey’s strong support of NATO has been amply demonstrated, she said. “Turkey provides NATO with the second largest fighting force after the U.S.,” and Turkish troops fought in Korea and in the Balkans, she noted. “We have done this throughout our history. We have fought for freedom.”

âiller discussed the domestic events which led to her forming a coalition government with the Islamic Welfare Party, which has since been banned by Turkey’s army. âiller said she received worldwide criticism for entering the coalition.

âiller, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Connecticut, explained that her economic program, designed to support free markets and privatize government-owned industries, had caused an increase in unemployment and other economic hardships. It was those economic issues, not a rise in religious fundamentalism, which brought the Welfare Party to power in the first place, she said.

“They came to power on an economic agenda, not a religious agenda,” âiller maintained, noting that Welfare was not able to deliver on the economic promises it had made during the election. “This promised dream could not be implemented,” âiller said.

Although the coalition has since been dissolved and the Welfare Party banned, âiller said that “Turkey is still in a political and economic stalemate.”

“More Democracy, not Less”

“The only cure for democracy’s weakness is more democracy, not less,” she maintained. “We are on the brink of a major political challenge. The current government is exhausted. Electoral reform is in limbo and efforts to move power away from Ankara are reversed,” she said.

In a possible reference to media allegations of financial impropriety on the part of herself and her husband, âiller warned that “We must guard against a new kind of media abuse. The media moguls have unlimited power to manipulate the economy for personal gain.”

âiller described Turkey as “an open economy” in need of further reforms. “We have not completed our privatization. We have a government that still owns too much, that is a burden on the private sector. We have not undertaken to modernize the government sector.”

Turning to human rights, âiller also questioned the legitimacy of the military’s ban on the Welfare Party. “I fear that under secular circles, government is adopting a rigid rule,” she said. Political parties should only be banned for committing acts of violence or illegality not for espousing “unpopular or controversial views.”

Nevertheless, she said, the military remains the most respected institution in Turkish society. “Our military plays a special role as the guardian of our democracy,”âiller explained.

Acknowledging that she faces a parliamentary investigation, âiller suggested that attacks on her are political. “All the parties are united in opposing one topic and that is me,” she said. “Perhaps I should be flattered, but I am not. I’m saddened by the downward spiral of our democracy.”

When a questioner in the audience asked about allegations of human rights abuses during her administration, âiller replied that reports on such charges yielded no evidence of wrongdoing.

In response to another question citing criticism of Turkey’s aggressive campaign against Kurdish guerrillas in southern Turkey, âiller remarked, “There have been some highly publicized problems regarding excessive force…I’m proud of our tolerance of peoples of different ethnic backgrounds and religions. We are the world’s only secular, Muslim democracy. This is an achievement. For more than a decade our people have been under attack from a vicious terrorist group, the PKK. We send teachers to Eastern Anatolia and they’re killed by the dozens.”

“We must do better, but no Western democracy can claim an unblemished record,” she maintained, mentioning France’s fight to retain Algeria in the early 1960s and overreaction in the United States to Communism, “which never involved an armed threat on your soil.” She compared the PKK to the Irish Republican Army and the German terrorist Baader-Meinhoff gang active in the 1970s.

Answering allegations from the audience about genocide against Armenians during and after World War I, âiller called on Armenians to take some responsibility for deaths which occurred during wartime chaos. “I don’t think it is only a one-way road there,” she stated. “It was something that happened in a wartime period.”

âiller said she would welcome better relations with Armenia, and expressed the hope that the new government of that nation would seek peace.

She also pledged closer ties with Israel, despite the anger that is creating in the Arab world.

Noting that Turkey was the first Islamic nation to recognize Israel, âiller said one of her goals as prime minister and later as a member in the ill-fated coalition government was to strengthen ties with Israel. She predicted that Turkish trade and defense cooperation with Israel would continue.

Bosnia Rebuilds as Peace Takes Hold

Bosnia is rebuilding as peace takes hold, according to a senior United States official.

“The recovery has been dramatic,” J. Brian Atwood, head administrator for the United States Agency for International Development, AID, said May 14 in a Ford Hall Forum lecture in Boston. Noting that the World Bank reports that Bosnia’s Gross Domestic Product grew an impressive 62 percent in 1996 and 35 percent in 1997, Atwood said the situation in Bosnia continues to improve. However, because reconstructing a nation’s infrastructure and economy is less dramatic than fighting a war or signing peace accords, it receives less publicity.

“A diplomatic agreement to end a war is…very hot news,” Atwood said. “But the process of building a peace takes time.” He said that Bosnia has dropped from the headlines because of that fact.

Lack of publicity in turn can make it difficult to receive congressional backing. “You can hold a hearing on Bosnia today on Capitol Hill and not many people will come,” he stated. “AID is as important for Dayton’s success as is the U.S. military. We need continued congressional support for resources.”

With some $225 million allocated to Bosnia, Atwood said the most recent AID appropriation passed Congress by the largest margin ever for foreign aid. However, he said current legislation linking foreign assistance to anti-abortion measures would hamper foreign policy and probably be challenged in court by the Clinton administration.

The U.S. spends the lowest percentage of its GNP—just over one-tenth of one percent—on foreign development of any industrialized nation, Atwood said, pointing out that America allocates $30 for each citizen per year on foreign assistance, compared with Denmark, which spends $900 for each Dane per year.

Atwood said that by the time the Dayton accords were signed in 1995, halting the Bosnian conflict, some 200,000 Bosnians had been killed, and the largest refugee flow Europe had seen since World War II had disrupted society. With 90 percent unemployment and a demolished infrastructure, the nation obviously needed immediate assistance. Furthermore, because many people did not support the Dayton agreement, immediate benefits were needed to prevent the war from breaking out again.

“It was clear that the benefits of peace would have to be tangible for peace to take hold,” he said. “The parties that prepare for the next war have begun to lose. People in Bosnia today are beginning to care more about jobs, education and health care than they do about the next war. More people are living normally on what used to be battlefields.”

AID was one of the first international donors on the scene to repair roads and bridges, restore electric power and help business reopen. Because economic life began to improve immediately, Atwood said the forces pushing toward a continuation of the conflict were reduced.

A great deal of the former Yugoslav economy had been centrally-planned by the state, resulting in a number of inefficient industries using obsolete technology, Atwood said, noting that steel in particular was behind modern standards.

There has been a revival in certain industries, such as furniture production, which has been very encouraging, the official stated. However, loan repayments are late on 10 percent of all AID loans in Bosnia.

Noting that “there is a lot of corruption in Bosnia,” Atwood recommended linking foreign aid money with political reform. Referring to Indonesia, Atwood said, “You can’t do development from the top down. If we give money to a foreign country, we should pressure it to open up its political system.”

An important part of bringing peace to Bosnia was the creation of independent radio stations. Atwood said media controlled by various governments and military groups before the war were able to present a steady stream of propaganda—from various points of view—which served to inflame audiences and exacerbate the hatred that led to war.

He cautioned, however, that peace is not yet so solid that another war is unthinkable. “The tragedy of ethnic conflict will take at least a generation to heal.”

Atwood urged all people “to embrace the concept of common humanity.” He also suggested that economic progress is a major way to avoid tragedies such as Bosnia or Rwanda.

Following his 40-minute presentation, Atwood was asked from the audience to what degree United States arms sales encourage situations like the Bosnian war to take place.

“Arms is one of those problems that everyone wants to sweep under the rug,” Atwood said. “Under [former President Jimmy] Carter, we hoped people would run out of ammunition. People don’t run out of ammunition any more.”

He explained that U.S. citizens can obtain licensing to export arms to legitimate sources, for instance businesses or individuals in Europe. But after the armaments leave the U.S., they can be sold and resold in other nations, often on the black market and winding up in the hands of anyone.

Atwood also said that the international community is not prepared to respond to another genocide elsewhere in the world and recommended the creation of an international voluntary force to deal with such situations on short notice.

David P. Johnson Jr. is a Boston-based free-lance writer specializing in international affairs.