I was in Istanbul the other day. The dominant emotion among Turkey’s elites in the wake of the Arab uprisings is elation. The contrast with the mood in Old Europe is palpable. In the chancelleries of the European Union applause for the opposition movements still jostles with foreboding.
Ministers in Reçep Tayyip Erdogan’s government are careful to disclaim suggestions that Turkey sees itself as “model” for the Middle East in its marriage of Islam and secular democracy. Conscious that memories of Ottoman rule are still fresh in many Arabs’ minds, they choose their words carefully.
But, as I discovered at a conference of policymakers convened by Italy’s Aspen Institute, the mixture of pride and ambition is unmistakable. To say that Turkey was not a model, I heard one senior Turkish minister remark, was not to deny that it saw itself as an “inspiration” for the region. Only the other day Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president, and Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister, were in Cairo offering advice to those planning to contest the Egyptian elections.