On
Monday
evening,
the
Weiser
Center
for
Emerging
Democracies organized a lecture
titled “Hegemon Risen: Turkey’s
Emergence as an Independent
Authoritarian
State”
with
support from the Donia Human
Rights Center, the University of
Michigan Department of History,
the Michigan War Studies Group
and the International Institute.
The audience consisted of about
50 people, both students and
professors.
Michael
Hickok,
an
FBI
assistant special agent-in-charge
in the Las Vegas Division with a
Ph.D. in Ottoman history from
the University, was the lecture’s
keynote speaker.
Fatma Müge Göçek, professor
of sociology and women’s studies,
began the event by introducing
Hickok’s background in Ottoman
history and work with the FBI.
Hickock said he conceived
of the idea for this lecture two
decades ago.
“The Hegemonic Rise piece
comes out of something I did
approximately twenty years ago,”
Hickok said. “I was sitting and
doing some thinking about some
pieces I had done previously in
Turkey in the context of what was
changing in Turkey in that period
and I speculated a little on where I
thought things were going, sitting
in 2000.”
Hickok asserted that very little
of what is happening in Turkish
politics is happening for the first
time. He mentioned a piece he
wrote in 2001, where he analyzed
the political and economic history
in Northern Iraq to get a broader
understanding of the situation.
“In taking it back to the
Ottoman
times,
through
the
British, through what Saddam
was trying to do, I would suggest
to you that the themes are very
similar,”
Hickok
said.
“The
mistakes that we made in our
policy, the mistakes that the
Ottomans made, the mistakes that
the British had made in trying to
make an economy in Iraq.”
Hickok
also
contrasted
1990s Turkey and present-day
Turkey. He spoke about Turkey’s
newfound willingness to invade
other
countries,
which
has
contributed to Turkey’s rise as a
hegemon.
“(Turkey’s) previous strategic
planning had been based on
somebody else invading them,”
Hickok said. “But they spent much
of the 2000s, and more recently
last week, invading other people.
They are comfortable doing that
in a way they would not have been
prior to 1998.”
Hickok further emphasized
that Turkey’s previous view as
a bridge to get somewhere else
and not be somewhere to go has
changed and that this change
in perspective has led Turkey
to recognize itself as a regional
power.
“Now Turkey no longer
sees itself as this thing
that people use to get to
somewhere else,” Hickok
said. “It is, in itself, an
independent security actor
within the area.”
In an interview with
The Daily after the event,
LSA sophomore Alp Yel,
executive board member
of
the
Turkish
Student
Association, said he believes
Turkey can indeed become
a significant regional power
in the future.
“If
Turkey
plays
its
moves right it can become
a regional power,” Hickok
said. “Turkey has to strike
a balance between its own
goals and political ties with
its allies and neighbors.”
To conclude the lecture,
Hickok said he believed that
though there are changes
coming in the future in
regards to Turkey’s internal
politics,
the
relationship
between
Turkey
and
the United States is still
uncertain.
“Whether in the end (these
internal
changes)
bring
us
to a better relationship with
Washington or whether it makes
Turkey
a
more
predictable
security actor within the region,”
Yel said. “I think it is something
that has not been decided and I
think that it is very hard right now
from the Americans’ point of view,
due to the nature of our relation,
to see that. We are in a position
where it is very hard for us to see
what’s going on internally.”
At the end of the lecture,
audience members were able to
ask Hickok questions.
In response to a question
regarding whether the change
in Turkey’s military strategy is a
reflection of the Ottoman legacy,
Hickok said Turkey was almost
semi-isolating
the
Ottoman
legacy and recognizing itself as a
Eurasian power.
“(Turkey) is almost turning its
back on the Ottoman tradition and
Ottoman history,” Hickok said. “If
anything, (Turkey) is integrating
with the West.”
Finally, Hickok was asked how
powers like the Moscow, Tehran
and Baghdad reacted to Turkey’s
assertion
as
an
independent
power as compared to the United
States.
“So it’s been a different dynamic
because the Russians, the Iraqis
have had a different relationship
with Turkey than Washington,”
Hickok said. “So for Iraq, to see
Turkey as an independent security
actor is less of a concern than the
internal issues within Iraq right
now. So they can’t do anything
about Turkey’s interference in
Northern Iraq and so are more or
less set with kind of negotiating it
out.”
LSA senior Selin Levi said after
the lecture she thinks Turkey is
indeed becoming an unpredictable
hegemonic power.
“Turkey’s rise to a hegemonic
power has made the future
uncertain,”
Levi
said.
“With
its military action in Syria, it is
becoming increasingly hard to
predict what sort of actor it will
become in the future.”
2 — Tuesday, October 29, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
OLIVIA CELL/Daily
Michael Hickok, Las Vegas Division Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge, discusses his thoughts on Turkish-American relations at the WCED lecture
at Weiser Hall Monday afternoon.
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Weiser Center hosts event on Turkey
with Ottoman history expert speaker
FBI special agent lectures on emergence of nation as a hegemonic state
NAVYA GUPTA
For the Daily