The ‘New Turkey’ and its new prime minister

It is rather difficult for me to write about the new prime ministerial candidate, Ahmet Davutoğlu, since he is a classmate from university years and an old friend. Despite the differences of political views that we had from the beginning, I have always regarded him as a very kind and valuable person. I remember him as a bright student in university classes and as a civilized person. We have seen each other from time to time on many occasions after university and when he became foreign minister, he kindly invited me to accompany him on one of his Middle East visits which started in Cairo and ended in Tehran, then again during one of his visits to Syria. He appreciated my passion for a closer relationship with Middle Eastern countries, and I always appreciated his passion for realizing this ideal. Obviously we had different views on domestic and foreign policy, yet I have never doubted his good intentions.

I think his foreign policy line failed in many respects, besides I never shared his enthusiasm for the revival of Ottoman power. Moreover, I turned out to be “an enemy” of Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule because of my criticisms of authoritarianism and, after all, he is a part of that political project.

It is a pity that Turkey is no longer a country where political disagreements do not hinder civilized human relations; otherwise, I would happily congratulate him on his new post. Besides, there is a danger of being seen as trying to make it up with the new prime minister. Far from it, I am very determined to keep up my “persona non grata” position if it is the price to pay for political criticism. It means you can take my words as objective remarks in earnest; no, Davutoğlu is not an “Islamist zealot” as...