Trump is speaking the truth to EU


We cannot discuss qualitative changes in Turkish politics and economics, especially the constitutional amendment, independently of what is happening in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. Today, the resolution of the crisis in the eurozone is also possible with the stability of Turkey. Although the EU could not acknowledge these truths, U.S. President Donald Trump is now showing it to them.

With Trump taking office, the U.S. is bringing a new path as an option that is very different from Barack Obama's administration. In this period, Turkey-U.S. relations will undoubtedly follow a very different path from the Obama period and even from George W. Bush's era.

The telephone conversation between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Trump late Tuesday can be interpreted as the first major indicator of this new beginning.

The U.S. saw that stability cannot be ensured with actual invasion during the Bush era and with terrorist organizations like Daesh and the People's Protection Units (YPG) in the eight-year Obama period. It is no coincidence that Trump blamed Daesh on the previous administration. This is also a criticism of the bad strategies employed by Obama.

The U.S. learned from experience that the regional stability it expected couldn't be ensured either by U.S. troops or with terrorist organizations that were created and guided during the Obama era.

Depending on all of this, Turkey has to be a stable and strong economy in the region. Therefore, it must restructure all its powerful public institutions in economic, political and administrative terms. The presidential system that will accompany the constitutional amendment is the main constitutional leader of this renewal.

However, Turkey needs new institutionalization that can keep pace with this basic change. The Sovereign Welfare Fund (SWF), a hotly debated issue in recent days, is a qualitative step. Also, Turkey is the only country that can commercialize Iraqi and Levantine energy resources to ensure energy transit between the north and south in the region with the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Turkish Stream projects and price this energy.

So, can such a country be expected to neglect an institution like the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), keep it as an idle public institution and denationalize it for a song? The TPAO, which has been transferred to the SWF, is now poised to be a regional or even global power. Now, I would like to say to those who ask how the most important institutions in Turkey can be transferred to the SWF: We will no longer keep these institutions in the cold storage of the Privatization Administration so that someone can buy it dirt cheap.

Let us also touch on the issue of the audit of the SWF. The SWF is an institution with the strongest national and international inspection mechanism. It has independent, parliamentary and international control mechanisms, and otherwise, it will have no credibility in the markets. So without control mechanisms, it cannot survive even for a day. Even though the Finance Ministry announced these mechanisms a couple of days ago, those who create inconceivable speculations and blatantly lie have quite a different purpose.

Now, let us move on to Europe. Recently, European Council (EC) President Donald Tusk noted that Trump is jeopardizing the EU's future, sending open letters to the leaders of 27 EU member states about the issue. He defined the new U.S. administration as an external threat to the EU. Tusk argues that the EU is under three threats today. First is the geopolitical tension surrounding the EU - which certainly concerns the refugee crisis and the problems emerging with Turkey. Second is the aggressive policies of countries like China and Russia and that these policies nourish radical movements in the Middle East and Africa - which concerns racist Islamophobia. Third, is the new U.S. administration, namely Trump himself. Of course, the U.K.'s Brexit strategy and Prime Minister Theresa May's statements add insult to injury.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem confirmed that if the EU cannot establish a new trade partnership in the case that the U.S. switches to protectionist policies, the union will rapidly go toward a dissolution process. In fact, Professor Ted Malloch, a member of Trump's team who is expected to be the U.S. ambassador to the EU, suggests that the eurozone might fall apart over the next 18 months - which is confirmed by the election process in France, given that France is using the remonetization of the franc as a trump card in the elections. Also, even the Germans unashamedly confess that the euro is a German currency now and must be regarded as the continuation of the Deutsche Mark.

This is the case of the "sick man" of Europe while Turkey is changing its political and economic system in line with the new era. Well, what does this signify for Turkey? The inclusive and healthy growth of the Turkish economy is essential for the EU to overcome the crisis. Stability in the Middle East is not possible without stability in Turkey. Unless stability is achieved in the Middle East and the refugee crisis is resolved, the political and economic crisis will not end in the EU. Even if Trump cannot remind the EU of these truths, the EU's dissolution in the near future will be inevitable.