TEPAV, in cooperation with the Center for Strategic Research (SAM) of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, organized a conference on the Middle East to include a broad range of issues, from the Arab-Israeli conflict to Iraq, Iran and the Gulf region. The meeting titled "Middle East in a Changing Context" was attended by renowned experts on the region such as Ambassador Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel and the Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Sir David Logan, former British Ambassador to Turkey, Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, President of the Middle East Institute, Max Rodenbeck, the Middle East Correspondent of the Economist, Ghassan Atiyyah, Founder of the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy, Dr. Samir Al-Taqi from Syrian Orient Center for International Studies, Yossi Alpher from Bitter Lemons Israel, Safeen Dizayee, International Relations Director of KDP, Ersat Salihi from Iraq-Turcoman Front, among others. The opening speeches of the conference were given by Prof. Güven Sak, Managing Director of TEPAV, Amb. Ertuğrul Apakan, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu, Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Erdogan.
The necessity of such kind of a conference came into mind because the Middle East region once again is experiencing important developments. While the conflict in Iraq is still continuing, discussions about the nuclear development in Iran is taking place in an intensive and concerning way. The Arab-Israeli issue that has taken a new shape since 2006 has expanded its sphere of influence to include also the developments within Lebanon. Lebanon itself is experiencing important internal problems in relation to the division of power. Turkey has increased its mediating role regarding the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Syrian tracks. The Middle East's neighboring regions such as the Caucasus are experiencing their own problems that might affect the Middle East if these incidents increase in intensity.
In the first session of the conference held on September 11, 2008, a general political overview of the recent developments in the Middle East and Turkey's place within this region were discussed. Prof. Davutoglu mentioned Turkey's independent and positive role towards the region after the Cold War, supported by specific examples such as its role in facilitating the inclusion of the Iraqi Sunnis into the political process and its role in mediating Syrian-Israeli rapprochement. The second speaker, Sir David Logan touched upon how Turkey's relationship with the Middle East region affects its membership prospects into the European Union. He listed special features of Turkey's relations with the Middle East such as historical association, religion and geographical proximity. Finally, he mentioned the reasons behind Turkey's further attention to the region in the recent years. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin of the Middle East Institute evaluated the upcoming US Presidential elections and how the new President can affect the region in general and Turkey in particular. Soli Ozel evaluated the active foreign policy of Turkey and argued that the Turkish foreign policy transformation did not begin in 2002, but the current government has played a substantial role in advocating it.
In the second session of the conference, present and future of the peace process and the opportunities as well as the challenges that this process provides were discussed. Ambassador Martin Indyk talked about the background of the peace process. He concluded that the US role in this region has been abrogated for the past seven years and that its soft power has badly tarnished due to the failures of the Bush administration. According to him, the new President provides new opportunities and that during this new administration, United States must support Syrian-Israeli talks sponsored by Turkey. The second speech of the second session was done by Dr. Samir al-Taqi, who also plays a leading role in the Syrian-Israeli negotiations. He mentioned the failures of the last US government and mentioned that the American desire to spread democracy in the region lead to the unintended strengthening in number and capacity of the non-state players. He told that the Americans should come back and play a positive role towards the region. Later, Dr. Semih al-Abed took the floor and talked about the requirements of a sustainable Palestinian-Israeli peace process. After Dr. al-Abed, Yossi Alpher from Bitter Lemons Israel, talked about regional activity, Israeli-Palestinian track, Israeli-Syrian track and the American role in the Middle East. At the end of his speech, he also gave recommendations to Israeli, Palestinian and American governments. Prof. Aras of the second session talked about Turkey's role in relation to Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Syrian tracks.
The third and fourth sessions of the conference were conducted on September 12, 2008. In the third session, Iran's role within the region and the Gulf response to this were evaluated. Asst. Prof. Ozgur Ozdamar from TOBB University of Economics and Technology first gave a historical background, and then talked about the nuclear program, US interests in the region, Iran's interests in the region and finally game theory simulations. Prof. Tayseer al-Khunaizi from King Fahd University talked about the Iranian role in the region from a Gulf perspective.
In the last session of the conference, Iraq was the point of concentration. Max Rodenbeck, the Middle East Correspondent of the Economist gave an introductory presentation on Iraq and the broader region. After Rodenbeck, Joost Hiltermann of the ICG talked about the Kirkuk issue and its repercussions for Iraq and the region. He also talked about the search for security in this part of the world. Afterwards, Dr. Ghassan Atiyyah of the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy talked about the constitutional process and how national reconciliation can be achieved. Safeen Dizayee, International Relations Director of KDP talked about the Kurdish role within the constitutional process and Dr. Ersat Salihi of the Iraq Turcoman Front talked about the Turcoman role.
Finally, Dr. Hussain Sinjari from "Tolerancy International" talked about his ideas for a strategic regional cooperation and Prof. Zeki Fattah talked about the current state of the Iraqi economy and the ways to reconstruct this economy.
In addition to these speakers, the two-day event was also attended by many bureaucrats, academicians, foreign missions and journalists as participants. The plots allotted to discussions at the end of each session provided a fruitful discussion.