This is the wrong path
"The true friend tells the truth unsparingly." This is an oft-used Turkish adage, meaning that friends who have spent many years together and have a common faith should be sincere toward each other. The true friend criticizes his companion who has lost his way in the most bitter way so that this criticism has a strong influence on him and even creates a crisis that will enable him to correct his mistake.
Perhaps, we should view Turkey's criticisms of the EU, especially Germany, from this perspective. Turks know that Germans are horrified when Turkey accuses it of Nazism. However, the course of affairs and Islamophobia and xenophobia that are going as far as racism in the German-centric Europe is reminiscent of Nazi practices and we are not abstaining from clearly expressing the bare truth. Karl Marx did not experience Nazism, but he wrote in the 19th century that there was and would be a Jewish problem in Europe. The Jews of that time have been replaced by Muslims in Europe. Well, what are the objective conditions and how will Europe abandon this ill-fated path?
As Turkey approaches a historic turning point, interesting developments are taking place in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. Following the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU, Europe is preparing for a new consolidation under Germany's leadership. The wealthy states of northern Europe, and small European countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, which derive power from their old colonial traditions, seem to have turned toward a new German-centric Europe. Of course, the greatest fear of such a Europe nowadays is that political and economic systems in Turkey are changing beyond their control and that this change has the potential to permanently bring Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia outside of the hegemony of the German-centric Europe. This potential, at the same time, is increasingly bringing up an internal and external migration to the center of Europe. This wave of migration, coupled with the crisis in Europe, fosters fascist and racist tendencies creating fascist parties. Nobody can deny this fact. However, the fact that central European politics also supports these fascistic tendencies and tries to join these tendencies is the basic problem for Europe and all of us. Also, Germany wants to overcome its stalemate in this period.
When the U.K. was an established EU member, Germany regarded Eastern Europe as its own periphery, or backyard. In this sense, the fifth expansion phase of the EU was a German enlargement strategy implemented after Germany crumbled Yugoslavia. Seeing such small countries as a cheap labor force resource with markets and energy buyers, Germany gathered them under its political and economic hegemony. Until 2013, it seemed that this strategy would run smoothly. The U.K. began grumbling, however, nobody could imagine that it would secede from the union. As the market required, the U.S. and the U.K. left Eastern Europe to Germany. As for Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was busy with domestic problems inside the country and Germany was already convinced that the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) would be "successful" sooner or later.
However, Erdoğan was elected president by popular vote and Turkey took the first step toward the presidential system in 2014 - the first and greatest step to frustrate all these plans. Moreover, Russia's annexation of Crimea increasingly revealed that Russia would not easily relinquish Eastern Europe and relevant northern energy routes to Germany. The Russian-German energy partnership was also on the rocks.
In the meantime, Turkey introduced the Southern Gas Corridor with Azerbaijan and commercialized northern Iraqi oil via the Mediterranean - which infuriated Europe. The anti-Erdoğan attitude went as far as to create a new form of racism across Europe with the methods legated by Joseph Goebbels - which gave rise to the emergence of fascism in Europe. On the other hand, the U.K. woke up to Europe's dark trajectory, as it did before World War II. In this sense, Brexit is not an accident for the U.K, but a historic and strategic pattern that led it to keep away from darkness before the U.S. The U.S.'s vacillation and neocon influence nourished a terror monster like Daesh. This mistake and shortsightedness by the Barack Obama administration was one of the main reasons why Democrats lost the election and Donald Trump won.
Now let us go back to current developments. Earlier in the week, Trump's withdrawal of the health insurance proposal, which failed to garner support, has raised concerns about Trump's ability to implement his economic agenda. Depending on this, while the dollar index has fallen, emerging country currencies, especially the South Korean won, have risen. It will take quite some time for Trump to dominate the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), enact his economic policies and make the political orientation of the U.S. clear. Perhaps, we will never see a Trump era that is unique in economic and political aspects. As such, the triumvirate of the U.K.'s Brexit process, the orientation of German-centric reactionary Europe, and Turkey's struggle for change will mainly dominate the process. If Turkey votes for the constitutional change in the April 16 referendum, namely for further stability and democracy, the old face of Europe, which has inclined toward fascism with Germany, will lose the first round. From an economic point of view, this means the first step will be a new global system based in Beijing, London and Istanbul, which will lead to the emergence of a new energy market order. Far Eastern ports and trade centers will be connected to Eastern and Southern Europe via Turkey by China's "One Belt One Road" (OBOR) megaproject. The same is true for energy as well.
Currently, Europe consumes some 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, however, northern Europe can produce just one-third of it. In other words, it needs to import 400 billion cubic meters of the natural gas it needs. It is estimated that the EU's annual natural gas consumption will reach 760 billion cubic meters by 2030. The need for natural gas will also rise in line with the closure of nuclear power plants - which means that Europe will need to import 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. It will get the natural gas through pipelines that will be divided into two main streams in the future: The North Turkish Stream and the Southern Gas Corridor, which has to include Levantine resources, in addition to Caspian natural gas. This is a dynamic that will change the political and economic position of Israel.
Germany and other European countries that follow in the footsteps of Germany should acknowledge these facts. We are saying that this path will not lead to the Europe that Victor Hugo dreamed of.
Perhaps, we should view Turkey's criticisms of the EU, especially Germany, from this perspective. Turks know that Germans are horrified when Turkey accuses it of Nazism. However, the course of affairs and Islamophobia and xenophobia that are going as far as racism in the German-centric Europe is reminiscent of Nazi practices and we are not abstaining from clearly expressing the bare truth. Karl Marx did not experience Nazism, but he wrote in the 19th century that there was and would be a Jewish problem in Europe. The Jews of that time have been replaced by Muslims in Europe. Well, what are the objective conditions and how will Europe abandon this ill-fated path?
As Turkey approaches a historic turning point, interesting developments are taking place in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. Following the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU, Europe is preparing for a new consolidation under Germany's leadership. The wealthy states of northern Europe, and small European countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, which derive power from their old colonial traditions, seem to have turned toward a new German-centric Europe. Of course, the greatest fear of such a Europe nowadays is that political and economic systems in Turkey are changing beyond their control and that this change has the potential to permanently bring Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia outside of the hegemony of the German-centric Europe. This potential, at the same time, is increasingly bringing up an internal and external migration to the center of Europe. This wave of migration, coupled with the crisis in Europe, fosters fascist and racist tendencies creating fascist parties. Nobody can deny this fact. However, the fact that central European politics also supports these fascistic tendencies and tries to join these tendencies is the basic problem for Europe and all of us. Also, Germany wants to overcome its stalemate in this period.
When the U.K. was an established EU member, Germany regarded Eastern Europe as its own periphery, or backyard. In this sense, the fifth expansion phase of the EU was a German enlargement strategy implemented after Germany crumbled Yugoslavia. Seeing such small countries as a cheap labor force resource with markets and energy buyers, Germany gathered them under its political and economic hegemony. Until 2013, it seemed that this strategy would run smoothly. The U.K. began grumbling, however, nobody could imagine that it would secede from the union. As the market required, the U.S. and the U.K. left Eastern Europe to Germany. As for Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was busy with domestic problems inside the country and Germany was already convinced that the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) would be "successful" sooner or later.
However, Erdoğan was elected president by popular vote and Turkey took the first step toward the presidential system in 2014 - the first and greatest step to frustrate all these plans. Moreover, Russia's annexation of Crimea increasingly revealed that Russia would not easily relinquish Eastern Europe and relevant northern energy routes to Germany. The Russian-German energy partnership was also on the rocks.
In the meantime, Turkey introduced the Southern Gas Corridor with Azerbaijan and commercialized northern Iraqi oil via the Mediterranean - which infuriated Europe. The anti-Erdoğan attitude went as far as to create a new form of racism across Europe with the methods legated by Joseph Goebbels - which gave rise to the emergence of fascism in Europe. On the other hand, the U.K. woke up to Europe's dark trajectory, as it did before World War II. In this sense, Brexit is not an accident for the U.K, but a historic and strategic pattern that led it to keep away from darkness before the U.S. The U.S.'s vacillation and neocon influence nourished a terror monster like Daesh. This mistake and shortsightedness by the Barack Obama administration was one of the main reasons why Democrats lost the election and Donald Trump won.
Now let us go back to current developments. Earlier in the week, Trump's withdrawal of the health insurance proposal, which failed to garner support, has raised concerns about Trump's ability to implement his economic agenda. Depending on this, while the dollar index has fallen, emerging country currencies, especially the South Korean won, have risen. It will take quite some time for Trump to dominate the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), enact his economic policies and make the political orientation of the U.S. clear. Perhaps, we will never see a Trump era that is unique in economic and political aspects. As such, the triumvirate of the U.K.'s Brexit process, the orientation of German-centric reactionary Europe, and Turkey's struggle for change will mainly dominate the process. If Turkey votes for the constitutional change in the April 16 referendum, namely for further stability and democracy, the old face of Europe, which has inclined toward fascism with Germany, will lose the first round. From an economic point of view, this means the first step will be a new global system based in Beijing, London and Istanbul, which will lead to the emergence of a new energy market order. Far Eastern ports and trade centers will be connected to Eastern and Southern Europe via Turkey by China's "One Belt One Road" (OBOR) megaproject. The same is true for energy as well.
Currently, Europe consumes some 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, however, northern Europe can produce just one-third of it. In other words, it needs to import 400 billion cubic meters of the natural gas it needs. It is estimated that the EU's annual natural gas consumption will reach 760 billion cubic meters by 2030. The need for natural gas will also rise in line with the closure of nuclear power plants - which means that Europe will need to import 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. It will get the natural gas through pipelines that will be divided into two main streams in the future: The North Turkish Stream and the Southern Gas Corridor, which has to include Levantine resources, in addition to Caspian natural gas. This is a dynamic that will change the political and economic position of Israel.
Germany and other European countries that follow in the footsteps of Germany should acknowledge these facts. We are saying that this path will not lead to the Europe that Victor Hugo dreamed of.
Last Update: March 29, 2017 01:31