Yonet Can Tezel, a career diplomat since 1989, took up his post as Turkey’s ambassador to Ukraine three weeks before the EuroMaidan Revolution that sent President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing to exile in Russia on Feb. 22, 2014.
Ankara, the Turkish capital, wanted to know his assessment: Is this revolution a legitimate uprising or an illegitimate coup? Tezel, like many other ambassadors stationed in Ukraine at the time, sent word home to their capitals: The 100-day revolution had genuine popular support among Ukrainians.
While sad for the tragic loss of more than 100 Ukrainian lives during the revolution, Tezel also “felt the felt the seeds of hope and change” that put the revolution “on the right side of history. People were jumping to conclusions with conspiracy theories…There was a very important organic element in the Maidan that needs to be respected. This or that group or (political) circle might try to use it. But overall, it was an important expression of the collective will and maybe it can be seen as a new social movement.”
The messages from ambassadors on the ground such as Tezel helped form government policies in distant capitals that led to the instant recognition of the new interim government in Ukraine, before Petro Poroshenko was elected on May 25, 2014, with more than 50 percent of the vote.
Tezel, 53, the married father of three children, is returning to Ankara later this year for another assignment in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
When he leaves, very few ambassadors will remain in Kyiv who experienced the tumultuous 100-day revolution firsthand. He remembers the gunfire he heard at night when he lived downtown temporarily before moving to his permanent residence. “Thank God those days are behind us,” he said.
In his swan song interview with the Kyiv Post ahead of the Oct. 29 Republic Day of Turkey national holiday, Tezel reflected on the accomplishments and setbacks of his four-year, eight-month long tenure.
His scorecard has many more accomplishments than setbacks. “It was good to see that Ukraine didn’t fail as people were fearing,” he said.
List of accomplishments
Among the pluses:
• Relations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko are direct, cordial and strong. They meet and talk frequently and Poroshenko is due to visit Ankara later this autumn.
• Ukraine can count on Turkey to never recognize Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and to support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as the end of Russia’s war in the eastern Donbas.
• Ukrainian tourism to Turkey is flourishing, breaking records every year. Some 1.3 million Ukrainians are expected to visit Turkey in 2018.
• At least 600 Turkish business are operating in Ukraine, an indication of the already deeply embedded economic ties.
• Huge strides forward have been made in understanding the historical depth of Ukrainian-Turkish ties. He cited the 100th anniversary memorial visits to six cemeteries where Ottoman-era Turkish soldiers are buried. About 8,000 Turkish soldiers fought and died on the side of Ukrainians during World War I to stop the Russian advance into the western Ukrainian region of Galicia. He also notes with pride the June 11 concert in Kyiv to honor the ties of Roksolana, the Ukrainian woman believed to have been born in 1503 who married the Ottoman Empire’s Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 until 1922, four years after defeat in World War I.
• Agreement that international law must be obeyed and war prevented, especially in the shared Black Sea. “We are very vigilant about the Black Sea,” he said. “It’s a sea of peace. There are other NATO allies in the Black Sea and 61 percent of the Black Sea coast is Turkish coast.”
In the things-could-be-better category, Tezel acknowledged:
No free trade deal
• A bilateral free trade agreement has yet to be reached between the two nations, despite being under negotiation for years. The lack of such an agreement, which is expected to be finalized this year, has prevented yearly bilateral trade from reaching the $10 billion goal set by both nations. Consequently, many Turkish businesses are still hesitant to invest in Ukraine.
“We have been speaking about the potential of Ukrainian-Turkish relations too long. Now is the time to deliver that potential,” Tezel said. A free trade agreement between the two nations — with a combined population of 120 million people — is “a win-win scenario that we’re missing. It’s not just about trade, it’s very conducive to investment.”
More question marks
• Reforms in Ukraine, particularly those to combat corruption and create a better business climate, are unfinished, but he urged caution “in criticizing shortcomings,” given Russia’s war and the profound changes already made in Ukraine since 2014.
“Ukraine will have to fix the unhealthy relationship between business and politics, somehow,” he said. “To Ukraine’s benefit, they do not deny the shortcomings.”
He also said the world needs Ukraine to “stand up and be able to defend themselves.” In this quest, Turkey will be “on the side of international law, on the side of the wronged party. In this case, it’s Ukraine. And Turkey will be on the side of the legitimate choice of the people and their democratic aspirations, which should be respected.”
Saudi Arabia, Syria
Turkey, as a nation of 81 million located 95 percent in Asia but also 5 percent in Europe, is playing a pivotal role in Middle East politics — particularly in Syria and, lately, regarding Saudi Arabia.
In Syria, Turkey has hosted 3.5 million Syrian refugees and is keeping the peace in Idlib Province, one the few remaining areas of Syria not under the control of dictator Bashar al-Assad. who has waged a vicious war against his own people, killing 500,000 of them.
Regarding Saudi Arabia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is waging a fierce public campaign to hold Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman accountable for the Oct. 2 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the monarchy. The gruesome killing took place in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi had gone to get a document needed to marry a Turkish citizen.
After initially denying Khashoggi’s murder, Erdogan has forced the Saudis to change their story repeatedly by disclosing strong evidence — including audio recordings and extensive video surveillance — that the murder was premeditated and likely ordered by the Saudi prince or top Saudi leaders.
“What happened is a universal wrong,” Tezel said of Khashoggi’s murder. “This is the 21st century. You cannot hide these sorts of things. We have to stay on the side of justice.”
Criticism of Erdogan
While many applaud Erdogan’s efforts to see justice in this case, the Turkish government is under fire for its treatment of journalists and other alleged human rights abuses.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in its latest annual report, found that the Erdogan government had imprisoned 73 journalists for doing their jobs — the highest number of any nation, although China and Egypt had poor records as well, with the three nations alone accounting for 134 jailed journalists — most for anti-state charges — out of 259 jailed worldwide.
Erdogan conducted a sharp, wide and sustained crackdown on dissent after a failed July 2016 that he blamed on a movement led by a former ally, exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen.
Tezel, however, said the two situations were not comparable.
He noted that 251 Turkish people were killed in thier successful attempts to stop the failed coup, calling them “martyrs of democracy” the same as the more than 100 Ukrainians killed during the EuroMaidn Revolution.
The ambassador said the investigation has found evidence of a vast conspiracy to overthrow the elected Erdogan. He acknowledged that innocent people were caught up in the crackdown, but said they were released after further investigation exonerated them.
Characterizations of Erdogan as a dictator who imprisons critics is “an exaggeration and a far-fetched explanation,” Tezel said. “We have our own shortcomings and challenges. Look at our neighborhood.”
He said that Turkey is the victim of ethno-nationalist terrorism from the Kurdistans’ Workers Party, known as the PKK; terrorism from ISIS or “Daesh,” and the Gulenist coup attempt.
The security situation has led Ukraine to extradite at least two Turkish citizens suspected of involvement with the Gulen movement. One of them was Islamic religious leader Salih Zeki Yigit, flown to Istanbul from Ukraine on July 12, and blogger Yusuf Inan, sent to Turkey on July 15.
Tezel insisted “they’re operatives” of Gulen, who continues to live in exile in the United States. About Inan, he said, it’s “unfair to your profession” to call him a journalist. “Why would Turkey spend time and energy on one journalist that nobody has ever heard of?” he asked.
He said that Turkey became the world’s 17th largest economy — the 13th largest in purchasing power parity — “not because we have oil and gas,” praising his nation for its entrepreneurial skills and meritocracy. “We’ve done it with our people.”
Hoping for peace
“One lingering hope that I have is that Ukrainians and Russians will make peace eventually. They will have to make peace. What happened is an anomaly. They are cousins. They don’t really hate each other. It shouldn’t have happened,” Tezel said, highlighting also the role of Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan of Turkey as chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Coooperation in Eropea’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine since April 2, 2014.
People swim at sunset, on the Menekse beach in Istanbul on August 5, 2018. – According to weather reports, temperatures will remain around 28 degrees Celsius during the weekend. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
“Turkey believes we have stood on the right side of history with respect to the Donbas and Crimea and the territorial independence and integrity of Ukraine,” the ambassador said. “They have to make peace. We hope it comes sooner rather than later, but when there are so many people dead, such a big number, it is difficult to make peace after that.”
“It’s very difficult not to like Ukraine or Ukrainians,” Tezel said. “Turks feel comfortable here. We don’t feel the prejudice we feel in some Western or exclusive societies. We have good relations at the top level of the Ukrainian government and that has made my job relatively easy. I leave with some sense of accomplishment. I think the relationship is going well.”
“History has been unfair to Ukraine, especially the 20th century,” he said. “Ukraine is putting itself back on the radar. We are all rediscovering Ukraine and its wonderful people.”
