Recent statements made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, also chairperson of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), have been setting the national agenda and, in many ways, revealed the perspective and outlook of the Republic of Türkiye.
This week, he placed particular emphasis on the idea of a terror-free Türkiye. In addition, while addressing the issue, he also addressed – via the pope’s visit to Türkiye – reactions circulating on social media and the unnecessarily alarmist, small-state reflexes echoed in particular comments and debates.
He sketched a framework emphasizing that Türkiye is now a regional stronghold with an imperial legacy and a regional hub for migration; therefore, it must approach issues not with fear but with self-confidence. At the same time, he underscored that as Türkiye continues to move closer to achieving a terror-free future, an increasing unease, wishes to sabotage the process and discomfort regarding this progress could increase.
During a television program I participated in the other day, I was asked similar questions: Who would be unsettled by the process of building a terror-free Türkiye – or a terror-free region? The conventional, familiar answer would have been: Greece. But recently, Israel has harbored the illusion that it can stand on equal footing with Türkiye.
If we look more closely, there is no deep or longstanding state tradition surrounding Israel. Israel itself is only a 77-year-old state. Although it claims to have existed on these lands for 3,000 years, after 63 B.C., the territory belonged to Rome for 700 years, and despite interruptions of roughly 200 years due to the Crusades, it remained under the control of Islamic states for 13 centuries after the seventh century. In other words, Israel’s narrative is rendered historically inaccurate when viewed against the real timeline spanning millennia.
Before the current “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, Türkiye had also conducted negotiations on similar issues during the 2009 Oslo talks and the 2013-2015 Reconciliation Process. Yet in those periods, foreign states could still exert influence over Türkiye.
Today, however, Türkiye has strengthened and emerged as a regional power. At the same time, the countries surrounding it – and Western states more broadly – have comparatively weakened. Türkiye has reached a level at which it can manage its own issues according to its own plans, programs and capabilities. Far from allowing others to interfere in its affairs, Türkiye has now become a country that intervenes in numerous international diplomatic disputes and conflict-resolution efforts across its own region.
The point I wish to emphasize here is the matter of self-confidence. The Western colonial empire did not merely establish an empire; it also built a paradigm that denied and destroyed all previous empires, all religions and all cultures throughout history.
Yet the descendants of nations that once established empires can rebuild them and can once again attain their former strength. Therefore, Erdoğan's emphasis on being a state of regional power, a country with a historical geography, a historical mission and self-confidence was highly significant. A state or society may reach a new stage of development, yet the deep imprint of prolonged subjugation can keep its people from fully grasping their global place.
Erdoğan's remarks served as a reminder to the public of the nation’s standing and strength – and of the fact that it is a great people who once built an empire. Let us conclude with the line: “Only self-confidence befits us.”
