Messages to the four-nation Istanbul summit from my impressions on Iraq

The summit that was held in Istanbul last Saturday is an important step for the future of Syria and the Middle East. Actors who have direct interests in the region besides the U.S., especially Turkey, by declaring a common will both confirmed the Astana process and drew a new roadmap for the future of Syria. There is no doubt that the contribution to this progress made in determining the future of Syria after all the loss and devastation made by Turkey and Russia, more specifically President Erdoğan and Russian President Putin, is great.

Although there is not always a consensus on every issue, the fact that Germany and France was in the same picture with Turkey and Russia and that these two countries declared their will for finding a solution in the four-way summit showed that peace is still possible in our world, which is dominated by war barons. Although this picture gives hope, it should be remembered that peace is still far away. The fact that countries which have conflicting ideas and interests gathered in Istanbul and put forth a common will should be considered as a signal for a transition from the active war period to the armed peace period in which diplomacy will play an active role.

The most important result of the four-way summit is the will to establish a committee to prepare a constitution for Syria. Certainly, this demand is an appropriate and just demand to let the Syrians shape the future of Syria. However, theories are not always easy to apply in real life. Moreover, there are many instances which showed that the theoretical perfection may yield completely opposite results. We don’t need to go too far. Let’s remember the Iraqi constitution which was declared in 2005, after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Because of this constitution, there is no peace in the world’s oldest center of civilization and place of communal life, the Tigris and Euphrates basin.

I went to Iraq last week, after about a year, to conduct research for a book titled “The 100-year knot: The issue of the Mosul province” which is being coordinated by Tarık Celenk and supported by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and that of a documentary. I have visited a series of places from south to north, around Baghdad, Erbil, Mosul and Kirkuk. I visited universities, research centers, libraries, archives and museums, and met with many intellectuals, opinion leaders, religious and community leaders and representatives of various minority groups.

Let’s refresh our memory. In the geography of Iraq, which has been a cradle to the oldest civilizations of history, many heterodox groups and ethnic groups are living together alongside those of of Abrahamic religions and members of various sects. More precisely, the descendants of those groups who had been living together and had an experience of rather a peaceful coexistence seem now as if they live together.

The biggest problem of Iraq seen from the outside is the Sunni-Shiite divide. There is no need to give the details of this problem again, which has been deeply analyzed many times. However, it should be remembered that both of these concepts are fundamental characters of the society in Iraq. Despite this, the conflicts between these groups are political rather than sectarian. Other parts of this legacy are Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and different sects of Christianity, Jews, and Kakais, Yazidis, and Mandaeists who are scattered in the Iraqi society like snowdrops.

The Community of Sunni Scholars I visited at the Imam Azam mosque; the Shiite mujtahids; the Assyrian Catholic Patriarch in al-Hamdaniya; the leaders of the Lalish Yazidis in Shekhan; the Qadiriyya dervish lodge leader in Kirkuk; the Sayyid of Kakais; the Turkmen Culture Center in Mosul and the authorities from the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Kirkuk and the Kurds of Erbil; all of them have been saying that the past century has walked all over them. Although they all said that Saddam had been oppressing them, they all still confessed that what they have been through after the U.S. invasion has caused far more troubles.

I asked almost all of them about the Iraqi constitution. You can guess the answers they gave. They all complained that, on paper, this constitution is based on the realities of the region, but it gave a completely opposite result and furthered the rift, disunion and political conflict in the society and disrupted the peace in Iraq.

However, when you look at the beginning of the 2005 constitution which is simply lecturing about civilization and coexistence you expect that today we would have the Gardens of Babylon in Iraq, thanks to the opportunities they have. However, Paul Bremer, who pioneered the writing of the constitution as the colonial governor of the U.S., placed a bomb disguised as a constitution in the middle of Iraq and through this both the societal communities and Iraq, which was adorned with Tigris and Euphrates, were completely destroyed. Darussalam (City of Peace) Baghdad, the land of knowledge and wisdom since the middle ages, and Mosul, the meeting point of civilizations, were brought back to ancient times. Those who had been peacefully coexisting are now turned against each other; those who had been cooperating with each other thanks to the possibilities given to them by nature developed a cruel rivalry or even an enmity toward one other. On top of that, there is Daesh, which still stands as an unresolved issue, and the fact that the destruction that was caused by the efforts to remove it opened deep wounds, especially in Mosul and its surroundings.

I will be sharing the details of my observations on Iraq at different times, and the attention I got there and the friendships I made, the advantages of coming from Turkey, the complains in history and the complaints of today. This time, I will limit myself by reminding these issues regarding the will that was put forth at the four-way summit to establish a “Syrian Constitution Committee.”

Iraq should set an example for Syria and even for the whole Middle East and North Africa. But especially for the Republic of Turkey, which desires to be an actor in this geography.

Happy 95th anniversary of our Republic!