What Kind of American Arrogance Is This?

While Turkey mourned its 13 fallen soldiers in Gara, the United States’ first statement about the incident was incredibly arrogant.* The U.S. announced it would issue a condemnation only if it could first verify that those who carried out the attack were members of the PKK terrorist organization. The American ambassador was then summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry to receive Turkey’s response. Afterward, the Turkish foreign minister and U.S. secretary of state spoke on the phone. The U.S. conveyed its condolences to Turkey and placed blame on the PKK.

Is this the first time the U.S. has displayed such arrogance? No. We have just forgotten the number of times it has happened. Will the U.S. maintain its hostile attitude toward Turkey? Yes. Will it continue to support the PKK-PYD-YPG terror organization?** It will. Will America use the PKK terrorist organization against Turkey, the PKK being an organization in which America has invested for 40 years and given all sorts of political, military, material and diplomatic support, calling it “my Black power”? It will.

The main issue here is Turkey’s attitude. Turkey did not deliver the necessary response to a letter that was extremely derogatory both in word and content from former U.S. President Donald Trump to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. What will the U.S. do after that? What steps will Turkey take, after it did not provide an adequate response when its soldiers had hoods put over their heads in Sulaymaniyah, when its naval ships were attacked, or when it was humiliated after the March 1 motion failed to pass in the Turkish Parliament? Will the Turkish government continue to refer to the U.S. as “our strategic partner”? Will our politicians continue to brag about being close to U.S. presidents and maintaining good relations with them over tea and coffee? Will Turkey’s political opposition insist on democracy, human rights and the rule of law from the U.S.? Will Turkey’s membership in, and loyalty to, NATO be up for debate, something which is not being discussed or questioned at all beyond certain groups and individuals?

Can We Expect Friendship from the US?

Let’s not kid ourselves. The U.S. is an imperialist country and Turkey is a moderate-sized country. The U.S. is an ambitious global power; Turkey is a regional power. No good can be expected from a state with a history of killing 70 million Native Americans, enslaving 15 million Africans, killing 35 million Africans through torture and mistreatment, dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan, and signing off on all sorts of coups, attempted coups, wars and invasions of every corner of the globe from Korea to Cuba, Vietnam to Guatemala, Iraq to Syria, Afghanistan to Bolivia. Moreover, diplomacy does not mean goodness, beauty or friendship. Diplomacy means interests. Countries take a seat at the table according to their political, economic, military, scientific and technological strength, capabilities and scale. The seating arrangement at this table is determined according to such standards.

The challenge of diplomacy is to maintain relations based on mutual respect and common interests while sitting at the table with an interlocutor more powerful than oneself. The challenge is to leave the table with the least amount of loss and the maximum amount of gain through mutual concessions and reciprocity; to avoid being confronted with language or behavior that will hurt your honor, and overwhelm your respectability, reputation and restraint. The challenge is to ensure that your interlocutor respects you.

Therefore, the first order of business is to internalize the founding philosophy of the Turkish Republic and learn from the diplomatic traditions of the Turkish Republic, instead of waiting for a phone call from the U.S. administration. Let us not forget that the Republic of Turkey is a state established by military victory (the Turkish War of Independence), a political and social revolution (the Revolutionary Republic), and a diplomatic triumph (the Lausanne Peace Treaty).

*Editor’s note: The author is referring to an incident on Feb. 10 in which the Turkish Armed Forces attacked PKK positions in the Gara region of Northern Iraq in an operation aimed at rescuing 13 Turkish citizens held captive in a cave by the PKK, who were reportedly killed by the PKK during the clash.

**Editor’s note: The PKK refers to Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is banned in Turkey. The PYD refers to the Democratic United Party of Syrian Kurds aligned with the PKK. The YPG refers to the armed forces aligned with the PYD.