It is no secret that Washington is the capital where debate on Turkey’s axis is hottest, particularly after Turkey’s “no” vote at the UN Security Council and the Mavi Marmara incident. This confusion, amplified especially by contributions from Israel’s friends in the US political arena and media biz, is said to rule in Congress.
Yet, some are aware of the vital role Turkey may play in the international arena after solving its own problems related to democracy and economy. But they need strong proof against strong wind.
During the several days I will be in Washington, I will have an opportunity to meet both the people with confused minds and those who correctly analyze Turkey’s current political transformation and new foreign policy approach. I will share the views of both camps with you in my coming articles.
But I will first talk about the trip, which served as the occasion for my Washington visit, and what I learned on this trip, as I believe it will add an important perspective to the axis debates. What served as an occasion for my trip to Washington is the Turkish Airlines’ (THY) launching direct flights to Washington. To establish a direct bridge between İstanbul and Washington at a time when bilateral relations are not agreeable between the two countries was meaningful. Not only the introduction of direct flights to Washington, but also the seven-year chart of flights between the two countries does not give much credence to conspiracy theories. The total number of weekly THY’s flights to the US was seven in 2003, and it will rise to 35 next summer, a fivefold increase.
THY’s success in boosting its number of passengers from 10 million to 30 million in seven years and becoming the fourth largest airline in Europe is indicative of Turkey’s overall economic performance, and the new routes it introduced and diversity in nationalities of its passengers are good indicators of Turkey’s foreign policy initiatives.
When the subject fell on the axis-shift debates during our conversation aboard the plane to Washington, THY General Manager Temel Kotil protested, saying that based on the THY’s flight patterns to eastern and western countries, there is no axis-shift.
Compared to figures from seven years ago, the statistics he provides are quite impressive and almost a perfect mathematical expression of the foreign policy Turkey is pursuing. In 2003, there were 100 weekly flights to Germany while this figure rose to 200 in 2010. Likewise, the flights to Syria rose from four to 28. The flights to Egypt and Libya rose, respectively from four to 28, and from seven to 21. In 2003, there were only seven flights to Moscow but it has since skyrocketed to 100. Suppose that the rise in the number of flights to Syria, Libya and Egypt is indicative of Turkey’s shift toward the Middle East, how can you explain the twofold increase in the flights to Germany, threefold increase to the US, and 14-fold increase to Russia in the same period? A more striking fact is that the flights to Israel rose to 28 in the same period with a twofold increase.
Today, out of 16 million passengers carried by the THY, 6 million are foreigners, and it is planning to boost its 17 destinations in Africa to 37 destinations shortly, becoming the airline that best connects this continent to the rest of the world. It also has plans to become one of the world’s top 10 airlines in 2015 by increasing its number of passengers to 60 million.
These figures reveal concrete facts compared to the relatively abstract discussions about Turkey’s so-called axis-shift. There is no doubt that the new Turkey is much different from the old one. Its new perspective about its neighbors and the world paves the way for significant economic achievements, and its rising economic power is making Turkey an attractive partner. The new Turkey does not sever its ties with the West, rather, it maintains their relations in all areas. Otherwise, how can one explain the rise in flights to Europe, the US and even Israel? However, due to the new initiatives, the West’s share is decreasing. So what we have is not an axis-shift, but an axis proliferation and normalization.
“Why do our economic relations with Turkey lag behind Germany and even Russia?” a congressman, who will come to Turkey in the first THY flight to Turkey from Washington, asked Kotil. Based on the deterioration of Turkish-US relations, his answer was an eye-opener. He replied, “Give us an opportunity and we will certainly boost our flights to 100.” If more thought is invested in this question, the formula for normalizing relations, which are fragile because they remain at a military or strategic level, will be found.
ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ
13 November 2010
Journal of Turkish Weekly
