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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000 Issue No. 470 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 Feb. - 1 March 2000 Issue No. 470
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Heritage Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The Egyptian denominator
By Ibrahim Nafie
We were in a restaurant in Istanbul, the lights of the Ataturk Bridge glimmering in the distance like a string of pearls linking Europe and Asia. It was a remarkable setting in which to contemplate the fruits of a 10-day whirlwind tour of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
The following day, before catching the flight for Cairo, our Turkish hosts arranged a meeting with the heads of the Turkish media association, representatives from all the major Turkish newspapers, periodicals and television networks, including the Turkish language CNN. The Turkish-language CNN is appropriately symbolic of Turkey's ambition to serve as the bridge between the West and the republics of Central Asia. In our meeting with the Turkish media representatives, we had another dose of Turkish secularism that insists on reaffirming itself at every turn now that the Islamic Refah Party is out of power and dissolved and Turkey is on the brink of EU membership.
The lighter side of our conversation proved an illuminating counterpoint to our visit. At one point during our meeting, the editor-in-chief of Hurriyat spoke about the two issues that are preoccupying Turkish public opinion at the moment. The first is the panda presented to Turkey during a recent visit by the Turkish interior minister to Beijing. The upkeep of this lovable representative of an endangered species costs a million dollars, not an easy cost to sustain when Turkey has so many other economic priorities. On the other hand, the Chinese would only present such a gift to a nation with which they intended to maintain close relations and which showed considerable economic promise.
The second issue, the stray dogs roaming the city streets, is the focus of heated debate. While one view holds that the strays should be put down to bolster the image Turkey is trying to project as a modern European nation, an opposing view contends that the dogs should be vaccinated and cared for in keeping with Europe's humanitarian traditions towards man and animals.
It was interesting, at the end of our tour, to reflect upon how a nation's concern with relatively trivial matters reflects major political and psychological transformations taking place. Of the three countries we visited Turkey, alone, has set for itself a clear, comprehensive course for its future within the contemporary global political and economic order. Domestically, Turkey is in the final stages of an intensive economic liberalisation programme and it has made great strides in raising levels of education, health care and scientific and technical progress. On the external front, Turkey is continuing its drive to merge with the Western world. It has long been a member of NATO and its membership in the EU will soon be ratified. Simultaneously, in its attempt to remodel itself as Europe's bridge to Asia, it is seeking formulas for regional integration in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Black Sea.
If Turkey has a clear vision of its future, the same cannot be said of either Jordan or Lebanon. True, King Abdallah told us, if not in so many words, that Jordan had a vision similar to Turkey's and other Jordanian leaders affirmed that this course was necessary in order to surmount Jordan's economic difficulties. However, most people we spoke to in Jordan were not so unequivocal. The past and present hold too many obstacles for choices to be so clear-cut, not least being the memory of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the wavering peace process. Pressures in Jordan have combined to generate a volatile climate in which opinion has become sharply polarised.
For the Lebanese any contemplation of the future is a luxury given Israel's brutal, and daily, aggression. In Lebanon, the future and past converge in the relationship between the Israeli occupation and the Lebanese resistance. While we sensed full support for the resistance among everyone we met, we found it difficult to obtain clear answers to our questions regarding the relationship of the resistance to the government and to the rest of the political, social and denominational forces in Lebanon. Lebanon's future is subject to a curious ambivalence.
Between the Turkish, Jordanian and Lebanese perspectives, though, there is a single constant. In all three countries importance was attached to their dynamic relationship with Egypt. For Turkey, Egypt is one of the cornerstones of its strategy to become a bridge between Europe and the area to the south of Anatolia as it moves towards closer integration into the contemporary global order. If in Turkey we felt deep appreciation for Egypt's role in defusing the crisis between Turkey and Syria, a more tangible embodiment of increasingly close Turkish-Egyptian ties is the projected electric power link between the two countries via Jordan and Syria.
In the case of Jordan, bound to Egypt by closer geographic proximity and Arab cultural ties, partnership with Egypt has acquired particular urgency in light of the present uncertainties. It is little wonder, therefore, that in Jordan people expressed hopes that the two countries work closer together, perhaps through a specially created forum.
For Lebanon, Egypt has been a bedrock of strength at a time when the Arab world as a whole appears incapable of offering sustenance. Were it not for Egypt's staunch moral and material support in the face of Israeli aggression, Lebanon would be left helpless and its resistance gravely imperilled. This is why President Mubarak decided to visit Lebanon last Saturday at the head of a high-level Egyptian delegation. He wanted to send a clear message to Israel, the US and the world that the government and people of Egypt are a hundred per cent behind Lebanon. We unequivocally condemn the Israeli assault against Lebanon's infrastructure and civilians. The timing of this visit undoubtedly explains the especially warm and jubilant reception for the first Egyptian leader to visit Lebanon in 41 years.
