Recep Tayyip Erdogan

As the deadline for transferring sovereignty from the provisional authority to the Iraqi people approaches, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the shared goals of the United States and Turkey in a peaceful, democratic Iraq and the potential for greater freedom throughout the Middle East at a January 29 AEI event.

Erdogan declared: "Historically, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have all played a central role in forming the collective wisdom" based upon the principles of "human rights, [the] rule of law, [and] good governance." He warned that regimes that ignore these principles create a "sense of deprivation and injustice, poverty, and political suppression which can be abused by groups wanting to disrupt international peace and stability."

Prime Minister Erdogan characterized Turkey as "a meeting point of civilizations" in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims have lived side-by-side for centuries. Erdogan condemned recent synagogue bombings in Turkey as an assault on every "Turkish citizen" and a loss of "our citizens' blood." He declared that his conservative democratic party stands for a society based on "modernity that does not reject tradition, an understanding of rationalism that does not disregard the spiritual meaning of life, and a choice for change that is not fundamentalist."

Secularism, Erdogan emphasized, frames Turkish democracy. He contended that "to make religion an instrument of politics and to adopt exclusive approaches to politics in the name of religion harms not only political pluralism but also religion itself." He characterized his party as working toward a more unified polity rather than one divided by religious sect, political ideology, or ethnicity, and decried any attempt to make religion "the subject of political partisanship." As he reasoned, Islamic theology conflicts with terrorism in that it holds "the killing of a person as destroying the house of God." The common goal of preventing violence therefore transcends religious boundaries. Unlike a theocracy, Turkish democracy respects historical precedent, social culture, and religious diversity with a government he described as "secularism crowned by democracy."

To encourage democratic reform and greater freedom in the Middle East, Erdogan aligned himself with U.S. efforts to establish a democratic Iraq. While the United States and Turkey differed on the preparation and execution of the war to liberate Iraq, the two nations see eye-to-eye on the need for "a healthy democratic structure in Iraq." When asked about whether Turkey would support more autonomy for the Iraqi-Kurdish territory, Erdogan called any ethnically oriented structure "unhealthy." He urged that the process of drafting an Iraqi constitution must take into consideration the traditions and values of the Iraqi people as a whole, that an international organization should help to legitimize the electoral and constitutional processes, and that coalition troops must remain in Iraq for a time to ensure security and stability, as well as to keep the country from descending from fledgling democracy into terrorist training grounds as occurred in Afghanistan. In the meantime, he offered Turkish assistance to repair the physical infrastructure of Iraq with food, medicine, construction materials, and energy supplies.

Prime Minister Erdogan concluded with his belief that Turkey can assist in promoting freedom throughout the Middle East by example. Hailing his country's ongoing efforts to facilitate dialogue between Syria, Israel, and Palestine, he noted that the Middle East desperately needs a peaceful, democratic basis for the future wherein "freedom of association, freedom of religion, and freedom of conscience" guide public policy.