A Former Turkish Advisor to Al-Estiklal: Erdogan Will Run for the 2023 Elections, and the Opposition’s Vision Is Still Blurry
The former advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister, Omer Korkmaz, called on the Arabs residing in Turkiye or coming to it for tourism not to be disturbed by the current storm regarding Syrians and refugees, stressing that it is a political calculation that does not concern them.
Mr. Korkmaz explained in an interview with Al-Estiklal that the Turkish opposition, after losing many cards, is trying to benefit from inciting national and ethnic strife, and there are some internal parties, perhaps externally programmed, that have recently started attacking the Arabs to increase their popularity on the street.
He also indicated that the authority deals legally with the head of the Victory Party (ZP) Umit Ozdag, who adopts a hate speech against Syrians and foreigners, so as not to cause a social rift that threatens the cohesion of Turkish society.
Economically, Mr. Korkmaz pointed out that the Turkish market is in dire need of Arab investments, and the opposition that does not understand the issues of the border and regional economy is not suitable for taking power, because its words will not satisfy the people.
Regarding the upcoming 2023 elections, he stressed that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will run directly for the elections, while the opposition's vision is still murky and its candidate has not yet been decided.
Mr. Omer Korkmaz is a Turkish political analyst and thinker who worked as an advisor to the government of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in 2016. He is currently active in a number of international scientific and academic societies, and besides Turkish, he is fluent in both Arabic and English.
Attack the Arabs
• How do you see the interactions of the Syrian refugee issue in Turkiye between talking about a dignified return or forcibly deporting them?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: The Arabs who have been living in Turkiye since the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions, including the Syrians, have completed ten years here, not to mention the presence of Arabs whose residence dates back to before the Arab Spring, as well as the presence of Turkish citizens of Arab origin in the country.
Our Arab brothers from different countries of the Arab world, as well as those who live outside it, visit Turkiye in the summer for tourism; as they represent a large and important figure for the Turkish tourism sector.
We are approaching a tourist season with the advent of summer, and it is time for the Arabs to come to Turkiye again because the Coronavirus pandemic and regional and political tensions prevented them from coming here nearly 3 years ago.
After the completion of a deep reconciliation between the Gulf states and Turkiye, our Arab brothers are preparing to come to Turkiye massively this year.
Unfortunately, there are some internal parties that may have been programmed externally and have recently started attacking the Arabs and raising a storm around them.
These parties take advantage of the fact that the Turkish citizen does not distinguish between refugees and tourists. Therefore, they aim to hit the tourism season to weaken the Turkish economy.
As for the nationalist strife that it raises against the Arabs, it is baseless, and the evidence is that the MHP, the party that adheres to Turkish nationalism, is a partner in government with the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
I ask our Arab brothers not to be disturbed by this whirlwind that wants to strike the Turkish economy in order to bring down President Erdogan in the 2023 elections after the external parties failed to do so.
But I assure you that the Turkish people are conscious, even if there are those who are affected by these false prejudices. We see that the Arab brothers residing in Turkiye coexist harmoniously with the Turkish people in the different cities.
• What is your view of the conflict between the government and the opposition that fuels racism and xenophobia?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: The Turkish opposition, after losing many cards, is trying to benefit from stirring up national and ethnic strife.
But in Turkiye, these nationalist prejudices do not work because they consist of different ethnicities.
That is, if one nationalism raises racism against another nationalism, then it raises racism against all other nationalities except his own, whether they are Turks, Kurds, or Arabs.
Therefore, Turkish society is an integrated society and a mixture of multiple ethnicities, and it is the remnants of the Islamic nation, and the opposition must realize that the nationalist strife paper will not help them and look at the European experience in this regard.
It seems that the Republican People's Party (CHP) has realized that nationalist strife is harmful to it in the upcoming elections because the alliance between the secular CHP and the Kurdish Democratic People's Party (HDP) is impossible to stir up nationalist strife.
Anti-Foreigner
• What is your comment on activists circulating a report prepared by the opposition CHP in 2016 recommending the government to give refugees all their rights and integrate them into the country?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: We support what was stated in the 2016 report, because it was just and equitable to the Arab brothers in Turkiye, while we reject the incitement of party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu against them to achieve political gains.
We confirm that more than 95 percent of Arabs in Turkiye reside legally, either with residency, under international protection, or with citizenship.
Perhaps the only problem of the Arabs is the residence of some of those who are not entitled to work in the big cities in search of illegal work, and these are dealt with in different ways to maintain order and return them to the cities in which they should reside in Turkiye.
We find that there is a complete integration of the Arab investor brothers from the Syrians, Yemenis, Egyptians, Iraqis, and others into the Turkish economy.
The Turkish market is in dire need of these investments to maintain bilateral trade between Turkiye and the Arab world.
Whoever does not understand the issues of the border and regional economy is not fit to take power in the country, because his words will not satisfy the citizens.
• How do you see the state's treatment of the leader of the Victory Party (ZP) Umit Ozdag, who constantly incites against foreigners?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: There is a legal side and a political side. This man was with the MHP.
He even claims that he was writing the words of the party's leader at the time, Devlet Bahceli, an ally of the current ruling party.
The strange thing is that he defected from the MHP, then defected from the opposition Good Party, and then, after losing all the cards and his political balance in both parties, he established a private party for himself, which indicates that he has a psychological problem.
Such a political individual cannot come to power or dominate Parliament because there are certain constitutional standards, in addition to that it raises problems in racist issues in which he has no elegance or sentences, and he will not benefit from them.
Also, his party will not be able to enter the upcoming elections because it has not met the conditions required for that as a political party.
Ozdag may leave a racist bomb among Turkish society, which prompted the authority to deal with his legally unacceptable practices so as not to cause a social rift and threaten the cohesion of Turkish society.
• What about the issue of the film titled “The Silent Invasion” and the reflection of such matters on Turkish public opinion?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: This title is similar to historical titles that European colonialism placed in the educational curricula in Arab countries, such as the Ottoman invasion; while they tell that the French and English occupation as being more like enlightenment campaigns, and today they are reversing the verse and saying the Arab invasion of Turkiye.
We have a long experience of conflict with each other, and this other wants to play us with the same films, and this is rejected by the government and people in Turkiye.
This and other films are based on a woman known to stir up racist strife, and she is currently being tried in court.
Elections 2023
• What do the 2023 elections mean for Turkiye and the region in general?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: Turkiye today is not the Turkiye of yesterday; It has become an important and essential regional state, and there are countries that are betting on Turkiye for their independence and internal peace.
Ankara is now wanted regionally and perhaps internationally, and the evidence for this now is that some European countries want to enter NATO and knock on Turkiye's door, and Turkiye refuses to do so, which means that it enjoys regional and international influence.
There is also direct communication from the Gulf states with Turkiye now, and there is a return to Egyptian and Iraqi relations.
However, we have two thorny issues left, namely, the Syrian and the Yemeni, and they will be resolved soon.
Suppose, for example, that the country's political power fell into the hands of the opposition, and that they would close all the files that were open to the AKP government, and withdraw from them.
This means that Turkiye will enter a new cycle as it was twenty years ago, and the wars and bombings that existed in Diyarbakir and major cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, and others will be renewed.
I think that the Turkish people, headed by the political elites, have enough intelligence to pursue such matters.
It is certain that the only problem these days is the problem of high prices, which the Turkish people think that this problem is in Turkiye alone, and this is not true as it is a global crisis, and the Turkish people will not sell their homeland because of an economic problem.
• How do you see the repercussions of the economic crisis on the general situation in Turkiye?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: There is no doubt that the Turkish people are paying the bill for the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, in addition to the regional bill, because according to the rules of economics, most of the trade of the producing countries is with their neighbors.
Thus, the problems of these countries are reflected in their neighbors, as is the case, the Arab environment around Turkiye has economic problems, as well as the European environment, which exacerbates the economic crisis in Ankara.
The rise in product prices comes due to the increase in fuel prices. However, Turkiye, compared to many countries, is in a much better position.
• What are the chances of the various political forces, from your point of view, in the 2023 elections?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: So far, the opposition, which includes the six parties, has not been able to determine who will run for the presidency.
If (CHP leader) Kilicdaroglu nominates himself for the presidency, he may be respected and we say congratulations to him that you managed to convince your six allies and nominated yourself.
Let the competitors compete and the Turkish people will decide the fate of these parties, including the AKP.
• What is the truth about the controversy surrounding the prospects of President Erdogan's candidacy in 2023?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: Our political experience, in general, confirms that Recep Tayyip Erdogan will run for office directly.
Regional Files
• How do you see Turkiye's position on the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: In international relations, there are inevitably overlapping cards, and Turkiye has a high sensitivity in the security issue, and these two countries did not deal with Turkiye at the required level before.
Today, Turkiye must agree to their entry into NATO, and the United States also wants them to join, but Turkiye will not agree to their entry except in exchange for Sweden handing over the terrorists of the PKK to Turkiye, declaring it a terrorist organization, and agreeing with Ankara on some basic issues, otherwise they will not bother coming to Turkiye, as Erdogan said, because he ordered finished.
• What are the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the Turkish state, especially in light of the role it plays in mediating between Kyiv and Moscow?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: Turkiye's geographical situation is very difficult, as it is among the conflicting brothers, whether Arab, European, or Asian brothers, and Turkiye's historical destiny has always been its reformist role.
Turkiye tried to play this role without taking a negative position against Russia or Ukraine, and announced that it was against the occupation of Ukraine; Despite that, the Russians were not bothered by her position and accepted to come to Antalya for a dialogue with Ukrainians.
• What is your assessment of the current AKP policy regarding a return to a policy of zero regional problems and rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: Zeroing problems is a good ideal policy, but in practice, if you want to end problems on your side, the other side does not want to zero them.
Therefore, striving to reduce and mitigate these problems is a good thing.
• From time to time, the opposition says it is ready to negotiate with Bashar al-Assad to deport the Syrian refugees. What is your comment?
Mr. Omer Korkmaz: More than 10 million Syrians live under the protection of the Turkish state inside and outside Syria, and another large part of the Syrians have spread to neighboring countries, Europe and America.
Therefore, negotiations with the Assad regime, if it happens, will be in the name of the Syrian people.
Accordingly, if there is no interest for the Syrian people who live under the protection of Turkiye, no reconciliation with the regime will take place. Unless there is an interest for those who live in the liberated areas.
At that time, why didn't the dialogue take place despite its bitterness, in order to achieve their interests? But not at the expense of the Syrian people and their interests, or the expense of the Syrian revolution.
