The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
A story reported yesterday in Turkey surprised even me, and I'm pretty cynical about Turkey.
Late last May, apparently, two Turkish political scientists and a Turkish economist--all extremely reputable, and all well-connected to American academia--attended a conference in Tehran on the subject of "Recent Developments in the Middle East, Iran, Turkey and the Arab Spring." On June 1, they were detained by the Revolutionary Guards under suspicion of espionage, held for thirteen days, and reportedly tortured.
As Today's Zaman puts it,
The incident, which took place in early summer, became public at a time of threatening statements from top Iranian civilian and military leaders, all blaming Turkey for agreeing to host NATO's early-warning radar system on its soil, warning of unspecified consequences.
Yes. Except it didn't just "become public," did it? It was revealed. By whom, I don't know: It just turned up in the media. And somehow, this was kept out of the news here four months. To repeat: Three Turkish academics were detained and tortured in Iran, and no one in Turkey heard about it. Quite a remarkable difference between the media coverage of this and the coverage of the Mavi Marmara incident, to say the least. And when Turkey did hear about it, it happened to be exactly when it might be politically expedient for the Turkish public learn that they've always been at war with Oceania. Compare this with the media coverage that attended, say, the detention and release of Iason Athanasiadis.
Today's Zaman is framing this as "academics rescued by Davutoğlu's intervention"--in other words, intimating that this is a triumph for Davutoğlu's skillful mediation. But Davutoğlu must have been aware--and if not, he is the most uninformed foreign minister in human history--that when the Iranians are pursuing a diplomatic goal, one of their favorite strategies is to take a few foreign hostages, charge them with espionage or drug trafficking, and from time to time execute them. Just ask the Dutch. I wonder if these academics were cautioned of this possibility before their trip? Why is no one asking whether under the circumstances, it would have been wise to issue an advisory against travel to Iran, particularly to academics with connections to the United States? I think we can all figure out why Iran might have been growingly vexed with Turkey right about then.
Among the ironies here is that one of the academics was Rabia Karakaya Polat, author, among other publications, of ‘From Conflict to Cooperation: Desecuritization of Turkey’s Relations with Syria and Iran’, Security Dialogue, 39(5), pp. 475-495.
Another was Seda Demiralp: You might find Prisoner Erdoğan's Dilemma and the Origins of Moderate Islam in Turkey (2006) of interest.
Okan Yilankaya would appear to be one of the more interesting economists in Turkey--author of Cooperation, Secret Handshakes, and Imitation in the Prisoners' Dilemma. One wonders if realized he would become the subject of the experiment.
- Comment (7)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (0)
Comments :
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
Man, as ever, this points out what a delusional exercise the “Zero Problems With the Neighbors” foreign policy is fated to be when your neighbors include the Islamic Republic of Iran and Ba‘athist Syria…
Aug '10
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
Why didn't the academics exercise personal judgement - why do they need a government as dysfunctional as Turkey's to tell them?
Did they learn their lesson?
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
Gosh, the Turkish press used to be relatively free. Does the AKP government exercise "influence" such that news like this gets suppressed? If so, someone should start a Radio Free Turkey.
Dec '10
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
Claire, the complete corruption of the UN leaves us without any sense of the rule of law in international affairs. The Iranians make Nakita Kruschev's Russia look like a vacation paradise. They are paranoid and brutal. Absolute power means never having to say your sorry. The press is engaged in the child's fantasy of "Talk to Ahmadinejad" and barely notices his tyranical horror show. Turkey should have yelled sooner. Unfortunately, with the most spineless American administration ever in power not much is going to happen.
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
Paul, it's hard to conclude otherwise, isn't it? How does something like this stay out of the news for four months otherwise? I suppose there are other possibilities--the academics may have been asked not to speak about it, or may have not wished to speak about it, for any number of reasons. It's possible that there are others who are still captive, even, and that negotiations for their release are ongoing--the government may feel (perhaps rightly) that media attention would make that less likely. But the contrast between this and the way the media treated the Mavi Marmara incident is stunning. You'd think this would make people realize that they're being manipulated by the press, but of course it doesn't.
On the whole, I think the press is about as free as it's always been, which is to say, partially free. But the subjects about which it's not free to speak have changed.
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
The problem is that Turkey is extremely constrained in what it can do. Iran is a neighbor from hell, and it's not going away. No matter what happens there, it's a nightmare for Turkey. I suspect the Turkish strategy at this point is to try to cooperate as quietly as it can with NATO until it can develop its own nuclear deterrent, and who can really blame them?
Dec '10
Re: The Turkish Prisoners' Iran Dilemma
The Saudis are equally terrified of the Iranian beast. Take a look at the map and you can see the threat. It would have been so simple to have destabilized the basij thug and the martinet supreme leader when the Green's were in the streets. The Iranian people are well educated and naturally middle class. They want to breath free. Hard to do when you are being gassed beaten and shot. Instead we are running around in the Libyan desert without the consent of congress. The Presidency is a bully pulpit not just because you are a grand speaker. You must be a moral grand speaker. Once you have corrupted yourself its not going to work. For me Claire, the problem always leads back to 1600 Pennsyvania Ave. and the incompetent who resides there. How I long to evict him. 2012 ASAP!