Turkey is indeed a country that is haunted by its past. It is no accident that the two buzzwords of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davudoglu’s new vision in Turkish foreign policy are “neo-Ottomanism” and “the Ottoman Commonwealth of Nations” both a clear evocation of Turkey’s imperial past. Mr. Davudoglu has never actually openly and officially owned up to these formulations. Nor have State President Abdullah Gul or Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially endorsed these policies. Yet in their acts and policies the two terms are not inappropriate. The problem is Mr. Davudoglu knows full well that the last thing the Arab states in the Middle east want is a revived Ottoman Empire, and no amount of references to “Islamic Brotherhood” or “common historical roots” can erase this fact. Yet, in many ways the policy makes sound economic sense. By lifting the visa obligations for Syria, for instance, it has become possible for Syrians to drive from Aleppo to Gaziantep in one and a half hours and shop in the ultra modern shopping malls of this boom city. Syrians have even started coming to Antep for medical care. In many ways this is the restitution of Aleppo’s historic hinterland. But is it “neo-Ottomanism”.?
This paper will examine the historical background to these policies and trace the roots of the “new” foreign policy in the Ottoman past.