As I mentioned in my article titled “Germany to Return Its Historical Codes and the “Russian factor”, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says that the priority of the new roadmap is “independent and strong Europe” and the preservation of the multi-polar world order by acting independently from the US. But there is a small problem: Germany must be truly free to enforce these policies. Well, then let’s ask: is Germany free?
Obviously, it is not! Therefore, Germany must first acquire its independence to return to its historical codes. Since it cannot do this directly, then Germany must follow a strategy to achieve this independence by initiating or accelerating to start the returning to these codes. This is closely related to the success of the two major policies of Germany: “Towards the West” and “Towards the East”.
The most fundamental instrument of Germany’s policy “Towards the West” is the European Union (EU), where France is the most critical partner/member in terms of Berlin. In this context, the cooperation and the task distribution between them are not avoiding the attention… The US is aware of this, so it seems that it has initiated an attack on all the values that put the EU to the fore and the points that make it appealing.
If we open this issue a little more: With the 2008 economic crisis, it has been revealed that the EU is not a real power in terms of the economy, but the weaknesses and failures of the “EU Neighborhood Policy” were revealed along with the Arab Spring and especially with the civil war in Syria. US President Donald Trump’s very close-to-hot attitude to French President Emmanuel Macron is aimed at pushing France away from Germany and then from the EU. Because an EU without France has more terrifying meanings than being a lame duck for Germany.
There are two key countries in Germany’s policy “Towards the East”: Turkey and Russia. Germany is also aware that without establishing a close relationship with these two countries, it cannot be not only a global power center, but also a regional power, and it cannot hold the EU further. Therefore, in terms of German foreign policy, these two countries have an indispensable place. Indeed, the rapprochement between Russia and Germany until the Ukrainian-Crimean crisis has been quite remarkable in this sense. Although the “blind agenda”, which Germany and Russia pursued against the US, seems to be frozen for the moment, both States continue to give messages that they will be able to revive it at the first opportunity.
By the way, it is also worth pointing out the following. The architect of this policy is likely the Russia and the logic of its policy is very simple: to strengthen relations with the EU/Europe over Germany, to encourage Germany/EU to pursue more independent policies from the US and thereby weaken both the EU/Europe and the Western world by dividing it in itself!
We can see that this fine policy has largely reached its goals. At this point, it is understood that the turning a blind eye to the unification of the two Germanys while the USSR is being collapsed was not only to encourage the creation of a new buffer between the US and Russia, at the same time it was also the foundation of the construction of a new anti-US alliance and axis a in the post-Soviet period.
Seeking of a “Multilateral Alliance” on the Ankara-Berlin Line?
At a time when the Idlib crisis has reached its peak German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is coming to Turkey for two days. I’ll tell you in advance. I cannot have a clear assessment of the course or outcome of this visit, as the hours when I wrote this article, German minister Maas still had not entered the Turkish airspace.
But German Minister’s agenda is almost clear. Minister Maas actually explained this in the 16th Ambassador Conference in Berlin on August 27, 2018. While expressing the foreign policy of Germany in the new era, the minister also referred Turkish dimension of this policy and stated that the new German foreign policy could not be implemented without Turkey, the “new partners” and “a new multilateral alliance” etc.
German Foreign Minister Maas is hardly unfair, because of the reasons-factors that force Turkey and Germany to cooperate are almost the same. Undoubtedly, the US is at the top of these. The current policies of the US disturb Turkey and Germany as well as many other countries in the world. Uncertainties in US policies have been pointing to a global crisis, as they have caused a serious “Western problem”. Therefore, it is also important here that in the coming phase, it is gaining a clarity that the alliance with the US does not guarantee anything (including the US attack).
Another important factor is the fact that Turkey and Germany have adopted a multipolar world. Both countries aim to build a new world order on multi-polarity and take place themselves as a pole here. So, it is very important for Germany to gain Turkey which has problems with the US, during its preparation for a new power struggle with the US. Therefore, Turkey’s drifting into a chaos in a fiscal, economic and political dimensions does not seem appropriate to Berlin’s interests and policies. It gives important messages about the fact that Germany can act together with Ankara at the point of constructing a new world order and a “multilateral new alliance” after the US domination period.
These messages show themselves at the intellectual level. German historian and journalist Christophvon Marschall, who started a new debate about German foreign and security policies, with his book titled “We don’t understand the world anymore. Germany’s alienation
Noting “if the US is no longer the guarantor of the liberal order, Germany must undertake this role,” Von Marschall says that Berlin is not strong enough to dictate policy to other countries, but the Germany must undertake responsibilities proportional to its economic power for the preservation of liberal world order in the process of changing of the power balance and points to a new alliance. He emphasizes that cooperation with Turkey, with a strong army in this alliance, is inevitable in terms of Berlin, and says that “Erdogan discussions” should be put aside.
Therefore, Germany’s stance here is to gain Turkey by turning it into an opportunity for itself rather than ending the crisis between Turkey and the US. It is also useful to evaluate the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’s visit to Turkey on 5-6 September 2018 from these perspectives.
