Sylvia Tiryaki was interviewed by the Swedish Daily SvD. She commented on the latest developments in the Israel-Turkey relations and answered questions regarding freedom flotilla issue. If you speak Swedish, check out her interview here.
Sylvia Tiryaki and Can Yirik wrote an article on the latest developments in the Israel-Turkey relations. The analysis was published in the Istanbul based Today’s Zaman. You can read it online here.
Intro
Turkey and Israel: two traditional regional allies. Two countries with different backgrounds but also with many similarities that led to a long association with each other. Two business partners whose bilateral trade volume increased under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government by 145 percent and reached $4 billion.Is the saga of a relatively happy coexistence of the only two functional democracies with secular political structures in the region over? Can this already very strained relationship survive after the Israeli raid on the Free Gaza Movement’s flotilla of six ships that led to the killing of Turkish citizens by Israeli naval commandos? How has it happened that by expressing its willingness to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Turkey became a sort of party to the conflict? How far can Israel go with its far-fetched assertiveness? What will happen next? These and others are the questions that puzzle many minds.
Today’s Zaman interviewed Sylvia Tiryaki on the latest Turkish Cypriot elections, in which Mr. Derviş Eroğlu was elected into the office of President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and replaced the imcubent Mr. Mehmet Ali Talat. To read Sylvia Tiryaki’s analysis on the elections and Cyprus negotiation process click here.
Quote
The only way to move ahead is the direct trade regulation. Before Turkey was demanding more to open its ports, but now it boils down to this one item. That’s not something the European Union is unable to do. The direct trade regulation, or lifting the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, is not legally impossible. Actually, there are no legal grounds for this isolation to be in place.
The Turkish daily Referans published Sylvia Tiryaki’s article entitled “Iran Driven by the Spirit”. You can read Sylvia Tiryaki’s analysis on the “nuclear Iran” discussion in the orgininal newspaper in Turkish here. For an English version of the article simply click here.
Intro
Slovak daily Hospodárske noviny interviewed Sylvia Tiryaki and published an article entitled “Slovak Who Makes Peace in Cyprus” under its regular section Slovak Recipe for Success, i.e. series featuring interviews with successful Slovaks living abroad. If you speak Slovak, check Sylvia Tiryaki’s recipe here. If you are interested in English version of the interview, continue reading below.
HN Interview in English
Sylvia Tiryaki. Our expert in international relations helped the former Secretary General of the UN – Kofi Annan – in his search for a peaceful solution.
They were unknown, when they were leaving their homes and became top experts abroad. In our series Slovak Recipe for Success, we tell you stories about successful Slovaks.
She belongs to the very few Slovaks, who have found their new home in Istanbul, Turkey – a city of 17 million people, that connects Europe and Asia. After eight years in the city on Bosphorus, she thinks more in Turkish than in Slovak. As a young Slovak and a mom of a little boy she has become very successful in what she is doing. Such success is not very common in Turkey – she got to the very top of the Turkish political science. Moreover, together with her colleagues she established her own NGO, which ranks among the most respected ones in the whole Istanbul. “I actively try to help out with the search for a solution of the long-lasting conflict between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots,” says Sylvia Tiryaki, who gives lectures on international law at the Istanbul Kultur University, is a columnist in one of the most read daily newspaper Turkish Daily News and organizes conferences with high level representatives from the member states of the European Union.
Tiryaki made a legal analysis of the peace plan proposed by the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Some parts of her analysis appeared in the Annan’s blueprint of the peaceful solution, which was voted on in the Cypriot referenda.
Happiness behind borders
Ever since her student years, Sylvia Tiryaki had a feeling that she would find happiness abroad. “I have traveled around the world. I have spent half a year in Australia and in other countries, too.” Why Turkey then? “Originally, I came to Istanbul for two days only. However, I met my husband and as you can see, I have been here for eight years already,“ laughs our amiable Slovak.
Nowadays, Tiryaki is one of the distinguished Turkish experts in international relations. Since 2003, she has worked in the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation. She has been a coordinator of all the projects dealing with Cyprus and central and Eastern Europe for five years. “In September, with my colleagues from this foundation, we established Global Political Trends Center. All of our activities are focused on the Turkish foreign policy, especially on the conflicts, that are linked to Turkey or in which Turkey can play a role of coordinator,” says Tiryaki.
Turkey has been one of the main actors in the diplomatic row over the Mediterranean island of Cyprus for more than three decades. It is in this area, where the Slovak political scientist found her sphere of influence. In the diplomatic world, Slovakia has become a skilled agent of the peaceful talks between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots. Some of the negotiations were organized by our embassy in Nicosia.
The world is aware of our activities and respects them. “The peaceful talks are conducted under the auspices of the United Nations, but our efforts are surely being noted and appreciated in Turkey, as well,” confirms Tiryaki.
A piece of Slovakia in Istanbul
While there are not so many Slovaks living in Turkey, i.e. a couple of dozens at most, they meet on regular basis and try to help each other. “What creates a good bit of Slovakia here in Istanbul? Most probably it is us, who have a part of our heart at home in Slovakia and the other part here in Turkey. What makes me really happy is that our university signed an Erasmus agreement on exchange of students with the Comenius University in Bratislava. This is already the fourth year for us to have Slovak students over – three to four students every semester. They usually study Turkish foreign policy at the Department of International Relations,” adds Tiryaki.
Slovakia is known in Turkey also thanks to Alexander Dubček, who served as a Czechoslovak ambassador there between the 60ties and 70ties. “I was very pleased when they named a park in Turkey after him,” says Sylvia Tiryaki.
When Dubček came to Turkey at the end of the year 1969, the country welcomed him with an enormous interest. “On his way from the airport to embassy, he was literally being haunted by the paparazzi,” says the current Slovak ambassador to Turkey, Vladimír Jakabčin. It is the bust of Alexander Dubček, that welcomes all the visitors at the entrance to our embassy in Ankara.
A Slovak-Turkish expert in international relations, Sylvia Tiryaki, for HN: There is hard work and many compromises behind everything
Could you tell us your recipe for success?
I do not really have a special recipe for success and I actually do not think there is something that could work for everyone. I know one thing for sure though – a miracle that would just bring you somewhere does not exist. Everything is a consequence of your activities or of how you set up your life. There is only hard work, discipline and many compromises behind everything. There is no shortcut to success.
Why did you decide to go to Turkey particularly?
When me and my husband got married, a question on whether it would be better and more convenient for our family to live in Turkey or in Slovakia arised. In case neither Turkey nor Slovakia would work, our third alternative was Australia. Our final decision was Istanbul. It would be much harder for my husband, who is a Turkish plastic surgeon, to settle down in Slovakia than for me to settle down in Turkey.
What helps you the most in Istanbul?
I find it very important that I have a great support from my family. I was really lucky in this – I have an awesome husband indeed and a great son. My son Teodor is only five years old, yet he is involved in everything that is going on in our household. If he were not like this, I would not be able to be so active professionally.
Was it difficult for a Slovak lady to become successful in a country with a rather Muslim population?
Turkey is a huge and a great country with a giant potential. The native people somehow have it in them naturally that when they look at people around them, they do not see foreigners in them. The important thing is what you do. The value of your work is more important than anything else. That is why a notion “foreigner” almost does not exist here.
Why?
Most probably, the roots are to be found in the history of the Ottoman Empire, since Turkey could be considered as its heir. The Ottoman Empire opted for implementing various elements from foreigners and foreign cultures instead of converting these elements according to their likeness. Hence, the foreigners were never forced to abandon their identity and actually it has stayed like that till today.
By Pavel Novotný
Pavel Novotný, Praha
Jasně vyhráli loňské volby. Snaží se přivést ženy do politiky a svoji zemi do EU. Nezpochybňují turecké členství v NATO, pokračují v dobrých vztazích s Izraelem. Sedí v prezidentském i premiérském křesle, ovládají ministerstva. Podle průzkumů za nimi stojí 53,3 procenta Turků. Přesto je možné, že jejich straně zakáže činnost Ústavní soud v procesu, který začal právě včera.
Řeč je o politicích z vládní, nábožensky konzervativní Strany spravedlnosti a rozvoje (AKP). Důvod? Podle vrchního státního žalobce Abdurrahmana Yalcinkaye, který včera zahájil ostře sledovaný proces, je AKP vážným nebezpečím pro sekulární charakter Turecka.
“Tato strana usiluje o nastolení islámského práva, jde o otevřenou hrozbu státu,” prohlásil Yalcinkaya. Podle něj a jeho názorově spřízněných druhů je vládnoucí partaj islamistická, stala se “ohniskem protisekulárních aktivit” a usiluje o trvalou změnu systému.
Žalobce: Prezident i premiér musí pryč z politiky
Vrchního žalobce popudila AKP zákonem, který umožnil studentkám vstupovat na univerzitní půdu v tradičním muslimském šátku. V normě, kterou AKP protlačilo parlamentem spolu s nacionalisty, je také řečeno, že pokrývka hlavy nesmí zakrývat obličej. Pro zákon se proto vyslovila i řada liberálů, podle kterých byl zákaz šátků na vysokoškolské půdě omezující. – čtěte Turecký parlament povolil šátky na univerzitách
“Dívky, které pocházely z konzervativních rodin, nemohly pokračovat ve studiu, neboť se šátku odmítly vzdát. Když měly peníze, odjely studovat do zahraničí, když neměly, nestudovaly,” uvedla pro MF DNES slovenská rodačka a turecká univerzitní učitelka Silvia Tiryaki.
A co se stane, pokud soud opravdu rozhodně ve prospěch žaloby? Zanikne strana AKP, která loni v červenci získala 47 procent voličských hlasů. Celkem 71 politiků – včetně prezidenta Abdullaha Gülla, premiéra Recepa Tayyipa Erdogana, ministrů či poslanců – zřejmě postihne zákaz působit v politice.
Turecká média předpokládají, že islamisté sice pozice načas vyklidí, opět se však seskupí pod jiným názvem a velmi podobným programem. Podle reportérů si někteří úředníci již pomalu balí.
Katarská stanice Al-Džazíra pak naznačuje, že se AKP může rozpustit i sama. Předpokládá se totiž, že Ústavní soud vynese rozsudek možná až za několik měsíců – premiér Erdogan má tedy čas vyhlásit předčasné volby, formálně rozpustit AKP, rychle vytvořit politickou formaci s jiným názvem i podobným programem… A opět vyhrát volby.
Spiknutí generálů v důchodu?
Již tak nestabilní Turecko může ještě rozkolísat včerejší zatčení 24 ultranacionalistů, kteří byli obviněni ze spiknutí proti nynější vládě. Policie je prý sledovala řadu měsíců.
Mezi zadrženými jsou i dva penzionovaní generálové, tedy představitelé armády, která dosud mlčí, sama ústava ji však zavazuje k udržení sekulárního charakteru Turecka. Zatím se nezdá pravděpodobné, že by země směřovala k ozbrojeným nepokojům či k občanské válce.
Co se týče Evropské unie, ta již dala najevo, že se jí zacházení s AKP nelíbí. A že očekávaný zákaz vládnoucí partaje sekulárním Ústavním soudem přinejmenším zkomplikuje cestu Turecka do Unie. Což však hlavu nacionalistům nedělá, neboť o vstup do Unie usilovala právě AKP.
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Originál článku je dostupný na stránke iDNES.cz.
The Czech news portal iDNES.cz interviewed Sylvia Tiryaki on the EU-Turkey relations. If you speak Czech, check out the interview here.
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iDNES.cz: Is there any potential threat that Turkey would go back to Islamism and traditions of the Ottoman Empire?
With respect to the question of religious freedom, a come-back to Ottoman system would not be that bad. It secured a relative religious freedom even when compared to standards of some of the current EU member states. In other words, the system would not only fit Turkey but also many European countries.