Any country willing to undertake a regional role has to go beyond rural coffee talk.

The other day in Barcelona, an official from a company that does business in Turkey and North Africa said to me: “I am not saying this because you also are a Turk, but if a Turk makes an appointment, he or she arrives on time. Turks have a developed sense of time.” At first, I was greatly surprised; his remark was quite unexpected. I personally do not have a sense of time and space. But people abroad appear to see us differently, relative to other countries that they do business with. Or perhaps you take after the qualities and characteristics of the people with whom you trade. More than half of Turkey’s exports go to European Union countries. Maybe we  have started to resemble Europeans as we interact and trade with them. I am wondering if Turkish people feel like German people, punctual and methodical, when they are doing business in the Middle East and North Africa. I will research this.

At the beginning of the week, I said, “Turkey has to see the countries of its region from a different perspective.” And this is the prerequisite for setting a different perspective: Turkey first has to realize that it is different from others. So, emboldened by the unexpected praise I received in Barcelona on behalf of all Turks, let me proceed from where I left off on Tuesday. There are two types of countries:  those that see themselves at the center of the world and those that think on each and any country per se. Until today, Turkey was in the first group. Others were either opponents or friends. We treated the rest of the world as tools to serve our purposes, not as countries to interact with. There was nothing more important than us. Now, however, Turkey has to ponder their issues per se. That’s what being an order-setter is all about. And Turkey has the potential to become one. Why not? But first, it has to realize that this requires a major shift of understanding.

Nowadays, the modus operandi of international organizations has been changing. Please tell me, does Turkey know how to benefit from the World Bank as much as the US does, for instance? What will Turkey do if it gains more weight in the Bank’s management? What will it ask the World Bank for? Will it use its power to convince the Bank to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus? Or will Turkey’s representative in the IMF make rural coffeehouse talk, like saying, “We have paid all our debts. That deal is closed.” Earlier this week, I was in a meeting attended by the economic officials of Islamist parties that have come to the fore with the Arab Spring. During the meeting, I started to think about Turkey’s policy on Arab Spring countries. Just saying “you must hear the demands of your people” or “you must abide by election results” is not a policy per se. For example, what will Turkey recommend for Egypt’s new administration on signing agreements with the IMF in which it has more weight now? Will it say, “Don’t ever sign any agreement with the IMF. We paid off our debt and barely saved our skin!” Egypt is the most volatile economy of the post-Arab Spring era. I believe that it was Egypt’s economic volatility behind the generals’ decision to not stage a coup on top of the coup, but to share the power with Muslim Brothers’ president. Turkey’s interest must be stability in Egypt. A stable Egypt is a potential economic partner for Turkey.

Let’s continue: Turkey must be willing to see Egypt’s closed economy open up as Turkey did in the 1980s via Özal’s reforms. It has to tell Egyptians that they also can accomplish what Turkey achieved in the 1980s. I think these must be the issues a country attempting to set the order in its region has to ponder. Turkey’s foreign economic relations policy must go beyond the shallow “Turkey’s trade with Egypt tripled this year” stage. This analysis is still centered on Turkey.

What must Turkey advise the IMF about Egypt? It has to tell the IMF which prescriptions must be rewritten, referring to Turkey’s personal experience. It has to repeat Egypt’s priorities to the IMF administration. It has to tell the World Bank management about the benefits of a study on the vulnerabilities of transportation corridors in Maghreb and ask the Bank to carry out this study. Any country willing to undertake a regional role has to go beyond the rural coffee talk. Turkey already has to advance to a level of activity compatible with the rhetoric. And I think it has the ability to do so. Otherwise, Turkey cannot contribute to the setting of order in the region.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 06.07.2012