It is difficult to say that they are at odds. But they differ, at least in terms of approaches. While Fidan represents the rough face, Qalin represents the soft face.
The confrontational tendency that dominated Turkish foreign policies during the era of the dismissed minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, may now subside with the advent of Fidan to the ministry, in a manner similar to a game of musical chairs between extremism that advances with a soft face, and softness that advances with a rough face.
Erdogan’s soft voice
Kalin is Erdogan’s voice. He was saying what his boss was feeling about all the issues that faced Turkey over the course of the two previous presidencies, which allows us to say that in his new position he has transformed from an interpreter of Erdogan’s ideas into a new creator of them.
Although he has a flexible personal nature, influenced by his penchant for music, especially since he was a guitar player since childhood, he is strong in terms of intellectual visions that consider that political Islam is the base on which Turkey must stand, not in confrontation with the West, but In order to regain its ability to rise as a major international power.
Kalin knows that Turkey cannot dispense with the West, nor the United States as its leading power, but he believes that it implicitly leads a conspiracy to weaken and continuously challenge Turkey, and that Turkey’s destiny is to continue this confrontation through diplomacy.
In one of his articles published in Al-Sabah newspaper, he says, “The United States risks losing Turkey as a whole. The entire Turkish public is against US policies that ignore Türkiye’s legitimate security demands. Threats, sanctions and bullying against Turkey will not work, they will only increase Ankara’s resolve. This would further isolate the United States in the international arena.
And the dangers that two sayings talk about are of two apparent types: The first is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. But not this party alone, but rather everything that Turkey claims is an extension of it, i.e. the Kurds in general, whether in Syria, Turkey or even Iraq.
As for the second, it is the organization of Fethullah Gulen, which the “political Erdoganism” that dominates the Justice and Development Party considers a direct threat to it, and a spearhead for military coups, which are still a potential danger.
Kalin says that “the diabolical alliance between Washington and this terrorist organization (the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which later became the Syrian Democratic Forces “SDF”), which the Obama administration pledged at the time to be “temporary, transitional and tactical,” was adopted by the Trump administration. .
He added, “While it is true that the current administration has gradually distanced itself from the strategy of the US Army’s Central Command (CENTCOM), and as part of this effort has agreed to a road map for the long-awaited withdrawal of the SDF from Manbij, the lack of a specific change in policy haunts relations.” Between us. It is justified for Turkey to expect the United States to disengage from the “SDF” militants who are currently negotiating with the Assad regime, without delay.
Kalin knows that Türkiye is accused of secretly supporting ISIS. However, with his new position as head of the intelligence service, he himself needs to distance himself from betting on terrorist organizations that Turkey claims are “moderate,” although they are not like that on the ground.
The intellectual links that unite these organizations with the Justice and Development Party may make it difficult for Turkey to abandon them, but these links are not the most important thing, but rather Turkey’s interests and influence in Syria. As long as Ankara wants to be a partner at least in determining the fate of Syria, it will not give up supporting the “moderate” Islamic organizations.
“The West must take into account that the planned destruction of the moderate opposition, along with terrorist fighters, will ultimately radicalize local groups,” says Kalin. We all know where this road leads, and just as Washington’s ill-conceived efforts to eradicate al Qaeda paved the way for the rise of ISIS and other radical groups in Syria and Iraq, so missteps today can inspire the next generation of terrorists. In particular, it is important to note that radical groups will focus more on online radicalization and lone wolf attacks.”
Qalin uses the same scarecrow used by Qatar to support political Islam organizations. She says that there is only one of two ways in the world: Either you support these organizations so that they remain moderate, or terrorism spreads. It is as if the culture in the Arab and Islamic world is devoid of all other political and intellectual options, so there is nothing left but to choose between the bad and the worse.
Kalin, like Erdogan, is not one to bow to pressure, at least verbally. In this regard, he says, “Using threats against Turkey will not succeed, but will only harm relations, and the Trump administration can take administrative steps against both the partnership between America and the SDF, and the Gulen network in the United States, and these are two legal issues that are not complicated. In fact, Turkey has never asked for anything outside the legitimate legal framework.”
The rift between Turkey and the United States is not expected to change, given that the United States itself wants to have its own influence over Syria’s future. And the “SDF” is its main tool in this. On the one hand, to confront the “ISIS” organization, which Turkey did not fight until the Kurds overthrew its state with the support of the United States, and on the other hand, in order for it to have a role in making the desired change in Damascus.
Kalin says that there is a “serious crisis of confidence both among Turkish officials and the people. Despite Turkey’s joining the international coalition to fight “ISIS”, and enabling this coalition to target the organization’s terrorists from Incirlik Air Base, the United States did not show a desire to cooperate with the Turkish army in the battle to liberate Raqqa. Instead, it has allied itself with the terrorists of the People’s Protection Units (SDF), which the CIA publicly states represents the Syrian branch of the PKK terrorist organization.
Whereas Turkey views itself as a power parallel to the United States, Kalin believes that “strategic relations cannot be based on the demands of one of the two parties, but rather they should be mutual, and be beneficial and friendly to both parties. There is no ally that accepts actions from its ally that harm its national interests. Turkey has not operated any groups that could harm or harbor American interests, and it is waiting for the United States to do the same.”
These ideas embody the voice of Erdogan himself. However, assuming the position of head of the intelligence apparatus means, in practice, moving along its foundations, as his predecessor Fidan did, but with a slight difference aimed at persuasion, adopting dialogue and diplomacy options, and not necessarily adopting a confrontational approach that was tried, in any case, and achieved nothing.
Origins and roles
The origins of the Kalin family go back to the Erzurum province, but he was born in Istanbul in 1971. In 1992, he completed his studies at the Department of History at Istanbul University and went to Malaysia to complete his higher studies and obtained a master’s degree, and in 1996 he went to Washington to study for a doctorate at George Washington University, which he obtained from this University in the field of “anthropology”. He has taught Islamic thought and relations between Islam and the West at the College of the Holy Cross, Georgetown University and Bilkent University.
From 2005 to 2009 he headed the Foundation for Political Economy and Society Research. He published a book in 2007 entitled “Islam and the West”, and this work won the award of the Turkish Writers and Writers Union. He is married and has three children.
Qalin is good at playing and singing, and he has several traditional lyrical pieces of music showing his professionalism in playing the traditional Turkish saz instrument.
During his doctoral studies, Kalin prepared academic studies in philosophy, Islamic thought, and Islamic philosophy. He translated into Turkish the book “The Idea of Existence in Islam” by the Japanese researcher Toshihiko Izutsu, the book “The Mercenary Letters” by Moulay Al-Arabi Al-Kafi, and Khalil Inalcik’s article entitled “Istanbul: The City of Islam.”
Kalin also served as founding president of the Institute for Social Policy, Economics, and Research (SETA) between 2005 and 2009.
He contributed to many encyclopedic works such as the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Encyclopedia of Religion, and the Oxford Dictionary of Islam. He published the book “Mind and Virtue” in 2014, the book “Existence and Understanding” in 2015, and the book “I and the Other and Beyond: An Introduction to the History of Relations between Islam and the West” in 2016.
Kalin has held the position of official spokesperson for the Turkish presidency since 2014, and as a result of this position, President Erdogan granted him the title of ambassador. He has also held the position of Undersecretary of the Presidential Security Council and Foreign Policy and Senior Adviser to President Erdoğan since 2018.
As an advisor to Erdogan, Qalin was responsible for a number of files, most notably the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, as he led the Turkish team that negotiated with these two countries regarding their accession to the alliance in return for fulfilling Turkey’s conditions of taking practical and concrete measures towards the leaders of Gulen and the PKK present in these two countries. the two countries, in addition to following up on the issue of Gulen’s organization in Europe and the United States.
An experienced negotiator in difficult circumstances
Kalin participated in most of the teams that led the discussions about many crises, which makes him sufficiently familiar with their files, as he contributed to leading the negotiations with Russia to overcome the crisis of shooting down the Russian warplane in 2015. Erdogan appointed him as a special envoy to solve the crisis of Gulf relations with Qatar.
He also played an active role in the peace talks related to the conflict in Ukraine, the Karabakh region file between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as in the agreements related to the transportation of grain across the Black Sea and the exchange of prisoners.
He participated in the Turkish team during the diplomatic talks to achieve a truce and reach political solutions to the conflicts in Syria and Libya, and he also engaged in negotiations with Greece to resolve the differences in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. He contributed to the normalization processes between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia and Egypt. He also played a role in normalizing relations between Türkiye and Israel.
These posts and roles give Qalin the character of an experienced negotiator, a quality that qualifies him to be a policymaker with an audible voice on the part of the new foreign minister. In fact, he and Fidan are two sides of the same coin. The currency, in its origin, is Erdogan himself.
Erdogan’s third presidency, in terms of foreign policy, will continue to achieve the same goals, but through negotiation, bargaining, and seeking to build approaches that mediate demands and ambitions, whether in relations with the United States, or with the countries of the European Union, or with the main countries of the region such as Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Egypt.
The main problem with the new flexibility is that it came so late that it was understood as a cover for the same ambitions. It also came in difficult internal economic conditions that require more concessions than adherence to the positions themselves. The continuous collapse of the value of the Turkish lira, after all of Erdogan’s new appointments, reveals much more reasons than flexibility can cover.
The article is first appeared on alarab-co-uk
