Is Türkiye's New Foreign Minister an Advantage?

Türkiye’s foreign policy road map is quite difficult. The appointment of a new foreign minister may be a hope for these difficulties

Written By; Beyzanur Sarıçiçek – Oct 01, 2023

After the 2023 Presidential elections, the most important name that attracted attention in the new cabinet was Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan. When we look at the background of the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, we see that he has held very important and key positions. Since he is the second person in Türkiye to move from intelligence to ministry, it can be difficult to predict what method he will follow in foreign policy. Fidan started to serve in the army as a petty officer in 1986. He was a communications intelligence petty officer. He was sent to Germany for a period by the Turkish Armed Forces. He served in the Rapid Reaction Corps at NATO headquarters there for three years. He went to university in the same period. He completed the department of political science. In 2000, he was elected as a member of the OYAK General Assembly. A year later, he retired from the army. Fidan first started his master’s degree at Bilkent University for his academic career. He studied the subject in his field, namely intelligence. His thesis title was ‘The Place of Intelligence in Foreign Policy’. He continued his doctorate at the same university without a break. His field of study was again international relations. This time the thesis topic was of a different nature; “Diplomacy in the Information Age: The Role of Information Technologies in the Verification of International Agreements.” According to the data in the Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education, Hakan Fidan received his doctorate in 2006 with his 319-page thesis on this title. The main argument in his thesis was that the information revolution had a significant impact on the verification of existing international agreements. To support this argument, he discussed the relationship between the information revolution and international relations.

Stating that he has known Fidan since 1997, METU Faculty Member and Foreign Policy Institute President Prof. Dr. According to Huseyin Bagci, it is important for a person with a doctorate in international relations to become Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Minister, who has a good academic background, is also very experienced in the state. So he knows the state very well. It is a huge plus that he is working in the state, especially since TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency Directorate). While Fidan was the Deputy Undersecretary of the Prime Ministry for only two years, there were critical and important meetings, which were the pioneers of the solution process, between state officials and Kurdish politics, which were later called the Oslo talks. Fidan’s presence in these meetings was the first step in his later involvement in intelligence.

For the last 10 years, Fidan has been one of the names that have formed the foreign policy equation in which Türkiye is in or at the center, from Russia to Hungary, from Libya to Cyprus, from the USA to Ukraine. In this process, we can often say that Hakan Fidan and former Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar were the names that carried out Türkiye’s foreign policy behind the scenes and implemented it on the field when necessary, while Mevlut Cavusoglu remained the diplomatic counterpart of this policy. Fidan has been involved in Türkiye’s entire foreign policy for the last 10 years. He is one of those who truly determine Türkiye’s foreign policy as the main actor. It literally dominates the entire system. So he is not a stranger to foreign policy. He will just be the new implementer of foreign policy.

If you want to be successful in a position in Foreign Policy where your interlocutor is foreign countries, you are expected to have deep knowledge in terms of intelligence. Because Foreign Affairs is like a critical game of chess. If the intelligence is good, the move is strong. In other words, Hakan Fidan’s appointment is a strategic appointment. It strengthens Türkiye’s hand. Since his intelligence equipment is high, Mr. Fidan’s chance of making a mistake is close to zero. At least I hope so.

So, what path will your Minister follow in foreign policy? To start with, I expect Fidan to be successful in his duty due to his variety of connections and abundance of information, and because he knows how to use them well. We have also seen that Fidan has played a moderate role in foreign policy for the last two years, in which he has reoriented himself to the ‘zero problem with neighbors’ policy according to the new order in Turkish politics, and I think the expected situation is to remain neutral unless there is a situation against Türkiye in foreign policy.

But if we make a comparison with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Fidan seems to use a more measured and moderate language. In addition, Mr. Minister, who has moved from a more secretive and behind-the-scenes situation to a more predictable and more open level due to his former position, may need a bit of an adjustment period due to this situation.

An absolute change awaits us in relations with neighboring countries. Especially in our border neighbor Syria, we may enter different periods. Fidan’s role as NIA (National Intelligence Agency) undersecretary was a name that was always involved in contacts with the USA and Russia, especially recently. He also maintained relations with Syrian intelligence before the normalization process with Syria actually started. He also took part in the meetings in Russia. In other words, someone who knows the background of the processes well.

Former Head of Lebanon’s General Security Organization, Abbas Ibrahim, also expressed his belief that Fidan’s appointment will “positively affect Türkiye-Syria relations.” Ibrahim, who had the opportunity to work together with Fidan on some files, also said that Fidan was a pragmatic man and knew the file in detail.

Regarding Fidan’s recent meetings with Syrian officials, İbrahim commented, “He understands them, and they understand him.” Ibrahim, who thinks that Fidan “has the ability to rebuild trust with the Syrian side”, stated that he is working on the files of Turkey’s security, politics and military presence in Syria, and said: “Fidan reached an agreement with the Syrian authorities regarding the Türkiye-Syria conflict, but what happened?” “Unfortunately, the agreement was not implemented by Turkish politicians.” My main wish here is that the Minister implements the decisions he made in Foreign Policy independently of others.

On the other hand, Fidan’s relationship with Israel is expected to be a serious challenge, as much has been written about Israel’s ‘hatred’ towards Fidan, whom the Washington Post newspaper accused of exposing 10 of Israel’s agents in Iran in 2013.

As a result, I have high expectations from Mr. Minister Hakan Fidan and I expect him to take us forward in Foreign Policy. We can’t expect him to fail and make decisions against us when he is so close to the issues and knows everything in depth and almost everything depends on him, right?

About Author

I'm Beyzanur Saricicek. I am studying Political Science and International Relations at Necmettin Erbakan University. My special interests are Turkish Foreign Policy and the Middle East.

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