Discussing the Arab Spring at the Abant Platform

This weekend, the Abant Platform is gathering in Gaziantep to discuss the so-called Arab Spring. We have more than 100 participants from all around the world, but mainly from the Middle Eastern countries. For us, Turks, listening to Arab colleagues, intellectuals and journalists will be a great opportunity to see if and to what extent Turkey has been influential in the process and in what ways it has the potential to contribute to the democratization process in the region.

I do not claim to be definitive, but my reading of the Turkish role in the process has been overemphasized and exaggerated by both us and some Western observers. This has especially increased with attempts to "encourage" Turkey to intervene militarily in Syria. This encouragement does not only come from the Syrian opposition, which has every right to seek help against a brutal regime that kills even non-violent protesters in the streets, but also some of our Western allies, who were quick to intervene in Libya but are very cautious and hesitant with regard to Syria.

I will not try to read their minds and claim that the only difference between these countries seems to be oil, but confess that I do not have a clue as to why there is such a difference. If it were an awareness of difficulty in military intervention in Syria, I am sure our allies would not push Turkey to such a dead end that would cost Turkey, which is struggling to develop, very dearly. Anyway, thank God that with maybe one or two exceptions, we do not have anyone, at least openly, who is advocating a Turkish military intervention. So far, many have cautioned the government against such an adventure.

I am not sure if I have written it here before but I remember telling my Egyptian audience last week in Cairo that the instant Turkey intervenes militarily in Syria, the very same allies that have encouraged Turkey to intervene will go to our Arab brothers and will narrate them fabricated neo-Ottoman fantasies. And this tactic will presumably work toward weakening Turkey's soft power in the region as it is not only Kemalists who suffer from an Orientalist misreading of the Ottomans but the whole region has been influenced by it. What is more, it is hard to forget how the nationalist Young Turks treated the Arabs at the beginning of the last century.

Speaking on the Turkish model in the region, it cannot be denied that Turkish democracy, with its capability of accommodating practicing Muslims as rulers, has been an inspiring role model. Nevertheless, nowhere in the world are people ready to accept their role models as their superiors, neither do they invite them to their homes to tell them what to do and what not to do. They are ready to learn from our experiences, difficulties, challenges and mistakes; not everyone likes to be lectured or dictated to. If we espouse a dictatorial attitude, there will be many to point their fingers at our problems, such as the Kurdish issue that we have talked about, but also the not-so-discussed problems of our religious minorities, such as non-Muslims and also the Alevis.

It is easy to ridicule the Alevis by saying that they suffer from Stockholm Syndrome just because they continue to vote for the Republican People's Party (CHP), which in the past brutally massacred them, as the prime minister also stated last week. I have also made this mistake in the past in this column without trying to see how Sunnis have negatively perceived the Alevis, who also fear they might be oppressed by practicing Sunni Muslims. Until Fethullah Gülen came and talked positively about our Alevi brothers, do you remember anyone referring to them in positive terms? It is also easy to blame the Kemalists and Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu, who deserve to be blamed, but our Arab counterparts may notice that despite its constant promises the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has done almost nothing to improve the Alevis' rights in the country in its almost 10-year tenure.

Turks must know that despite their authoritarian rule, none of the regimes in the region tried to assimilate their minorities and have allowed them some space. It would be best never to forget what we did to our non-Muslim minorities during the Sept. 6-7, 1955 incidents, when we had a Democrat Party (DP) -- not a CHP government -- and contrast this with how Muslims and Christians protected each other's religious buildings in the Jan. 25, 2011 revolution in Egypt. To cut a long story short, Turks may benefit from this pluralist experience, too. It does not have to come from the West. It is always better to have two-way interaction rather than a monologue or a lecture. I hope the Abant Platform's gathering will give us a chance to test these thoughts. I also hope our guests do not feel they need to be nice and polite being guests as we invited them here to have an informed and frank discussion.