|
|
|
|
SPEAKING
FREELY
Bridge from Seoul to the
Bosporus
By Altay Atli
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
ANKARA - Travelers
arriving here in the Turkish capital by train are
greeted by an extraordinary monument. It is a tall
pagoda in the middle of an Asian-style garden
right in front of the train station. The monument,
which is dedicated to the Turkish soldiers who
fought in the Korean War in 1950-53 to support the
efforts of the US-led coalition to rid the
peninsula of the communist threat, had a very
special visitor last weekend: Roh Moo-hyun,
president of the Republic of Korea.
Roh
became the first South Korean president to visit
Turkey since 1957, when diplomatic relations were
established between two countries. He took with
him not only dozens of Korean businessmen with
plans to invest in Turkey and the traditional
messages of friendship and solidarity, but also
memories of the Korean War, the forgotten conflict
of the last century.
Turkey in the
Korean War
Turkey had maintained neutrality
throughout World War II and symbolically declared
war on Germany in February 1945 in order to take
part in the San Francisco Conference and to be
admitted as a founding member of the United
Nations. At that time, the most important problem
Turkey was facing in the realm of foreign policy
was isolation. Pressure from the Soviet Union,
eager to control the Turkish Straits since the
time of Peter the Great, was increasing and Turkey
was feeling vulnerable to post-war Soviet
expansionism. As a response, Turkey began to seek
allies in the West, approaching the United States.
It was the dawn of the Cold War and Turkey had
already made its choice.
On May 22, 1947,
the US Congress ratified the Assistance Act to
Greece and Turkey that provided financial
assistance to these two countries amounting to
US$400 million. It was the Truman Doctrine in
action, and Moscow was unhappy, declaring that
this act would constitute a "threat to world
peace". To the further dismay of the Kremlin,
another treaty on US aid to Turkey was signed on
July 12, 1947. A third treaty, signed on July 4,
1948, enabled Turkey to receive additional aid
from the Marshall Plan set up for European
recovery after World War II.
The North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which came
officially into being in April 1949, excluded
Turkey, because it was originally intended as a
security camp only for Western European countries.
Turkey started a diplomatic campaign to join NATO
and made its official application in May 1950. It
wanted to prove that it belonged to the West and
the opportunity arose in late July the same year
when United Nations secretary general Trygvie Lie
asked Ankara for military support in the Korean
War, which had broken out one month earlier.
In August 1950, a 4,500-man Turkish
brigade under the command of General Tahsin Yazici
sailed for Korea aboard US battleships and arrived
in Busan after 22 days at sea. The Turkish
brigade, code-named "North Star", joined the UN
army commanded by General Douglas MacArthur. By
the time the Turkish troops had arrived, MacArthur
was planning a massive invasion of North Korea,
the objective being the Yalu River forming the
Chinese-Korean border. However, the Chinese
offensive that was launched on the night of
November 25-26, 1950, caused great surprise and
confusion among the UN ranks. On the following
morning, Chinese forces had broken through the
front line and annihilated the II Corps of the
South Korean army. The Chinese were flowing in
through the gap near the town of Kunuri, and the
Turkish brigade was the closest UN force to hold
them. Fierce fighting between the Chinese and
Turkish troops took place around Kunuri for three
days and, although suffering heavy losses, the
Turks managed to delay the Chinese advance and
prevent the encirclement and possible destruction
of the 8th US Army. Kunuri was the Turks' baptism
by fire, with 218 dead, 455 wounded and 94 missing
in action. After the battle, the Washington
Tribune reported that "4,500 soldiers in the
middle of the firing line have known how to create
a miracle. The sacrifices of Turks will eternally
remain in our minds."
After Kunuri, the
Turkish brigade saw other major battles that
affected the course of war, such as the battles of
Kumjangjangni, Taegyewonni and Vegas. As an
armistice was concluded on the peninsula on June
18, 1953, and hostilities ceased on June 27, three
Turkish brigades with more than 15,000 troops had
taken part in the war. The total casualty toll for
the "North Star" operation was 741 dead, 2,068
wounded and 407 missing in action.
Fusun
Turkmen of Galatasaray University in Istanbul says
that for Turkey, the Korean War was "certainly
about security but also about belongingness". She
notes: "So the purely realist argument was coupled
with the socio-psychohistorical quest for Western
identity. The former seems to have been greatly
achieved, while the latter is still in the
making." On February 18, 1952, while the war was
being fought, Turkey was admitted into NATO.
However, as Turkmen points out, Turkey's search
for Western "belongingness" is still going on. It
took three years and 3,000 casualties for Turkey
to join the NATO. Today's quest for belongingness
to the West comes in the shape of entry to the
European Union. On August 17, 2004, the European
Council decided to start accession negotiations
with Turkey, 45 years after Ankara had placed its
official application with the Common Market.
From guns to butter
During his
visit to Turkey, President Roh Moo-hyun attended a
meeting of the Turkish-Korean Business Council
that took place at the Ciragan Palace, the jewel
of late Ottoman architecture, which is now a
luxury hotel. At the meeting, which was also
attended by this writer, Roh could easily see the
Bosporus Bridge through the windows of the palace.
This bridge connects Europe with Asia, a
metaphorical symbol of the geostrategical role
modern Turkey asserts to be playing. Although
Turkey has been claiming to be "the bridge between
two continents" for decades, it is only in the
recent years that it is taking this claim beyond
rhetoric and materializing its real significance.
Stronger economic, political and cultural
relations with Asian countries are a vital
component of this process. While being an official
candidate for EU membership, Turkey is becoming
increasingly aware of the fact that it cannot
ignore the emerging economic powerhouse that is
called East Asia.
Economic relations were
at the top of the agenda of President Roh's visit
to Turkey. Currently, South Korea is one of the
leading sources of foreign direct investment in
the Turkish economy. According to data released by
the Turkish Undersecretariat of Treasury, there
are 51 Korean companies with investments in Turkey
and these companies have formed 88 joint ventures
with their Turkish partners. Hyundai's joint
venture with the Turkish Kibar Holding, Hyundai
Assan, operates an automobile plant in Izmit, an
industrial town near Istanbul, with a total
investment value of $230 million. The plant, which
was visited by President Roh, produces 60,000
vehicles per year. Hyundai plans to increase its
investment to $500 million, increase the
production capacity to 125,000 units by 2006 and
introduce new models.
LG Electronics has a
partnership with the Turkish conglomerate Koc
Group, manufacturing air-conditioning equipment.
Their plant in Gebze, another industrial town
close to Istanbul, was established in 1999 at an
investment of $50 million. LG Electronics
announced that it would invest a further $100
million in Turkey and diversify into household
electronics.
Turkey as an investment
destination
Turkey is increasingly
attractive as an investment destination for
foreign investors. As of 2004, Turkey had the
world's 18th-largest economy, with a gross
national product of $300 billion and an annual
growth rate of 9.9%. The new foreign direct
investment (FDI) regime cuts most of the red tape.
Turkey attracted $2.6 billion of FDI in 2004 and
expectations are high for 2005, with the target
set at $9 billion. At the same time, Turkey's
geographic position on the globe provides foreign
investors with a substantial advantage in
accessing other markets. Korean companies consider
Turkey a hub to the surrounding markets of Europe,
the Middle East and the Commonwealth of
Independent States. Turkey's custom union with the
EU provides the Korean-Turkish joint ventures with
the opportunity of tariff-free access to European
markets.
According to the figures of the
Turkish State Institute of Statistics, the volume
of bilateral trade between Turkey and South Korea
was $2.65 billion in 2004. It must be noted that
Turkey has a large and rapidly increasing deficit
with South Korea. Turkey has increased its exports
to that country from $57 million to $79 million in
2004, whereas imports from Korea skyrocketed from
$1.30 billion to $2.57 billion over the same
period. During the Turkish-Korean Business Council
Meeting in Istanbul, President Roh, who was
accompanied by a delegation from the Korean
Importers Association, said his government would
work for a more balanced trade with Turkey. An
important issue, as mentioned by Roh, is that
Turkey gains substantial export revenues through
the sales of Korean-Turkish joint ventures to
third countries.
Other economic highlights
from President Roh Moo-hyun's visit Turkey are as
follows:
SK Telecom is interested in Turkish Telecom,
which is included in Turkey's privatization
portfolio. The Korean firm has also expressed
interest in the GSM (global system for mobile
communications) operator Telsim.
Korean Air has launched flights between
Incheon and Istanbul.
Netpia, a Korean information-technology
company, is going to introduce new-generation
Internet technology in Turkey that will allow the
use of special characters in the Turkish alphabet
and improve efficiency in e-commerce and
e-government.
The Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and
Promotion (KADO) and the Turkish Informatics
Foundation (TBV) signed a protocol for cooperation
in information and communication technologies.
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) signed
credit agreements with two major Turkish banks,
Yapi Kredi and Is Bankasi. According to these
agreements, credits with terms varying between two
and five years will be opened to Turkish companies
importing goods and services from Korea.
The Korean Institute of Export Insurance
opened credits to two major Turkish industrial
groups, Koc and Zorlu.
The Turkish and Korean sides discussed
cooperation prospects in the defense industry,
tourism, maritime transportation, and cooperation
in third countries (especially the construction
sector in Iraq).
A reception hosted by
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in honor of
President Roh had three special guests. These were
Yasar Eken, Yusuf Gunaydin and Kemal Arkan - three
Turkish veterans of the Korean War. Fifty-four
years after surviving the inferno in Kunuri, they
were now in Ankara as old men proudly carrying
medals on their chests. Roh won the hearts of not
only these three men, but also of the whole
Turkish nation. His visit reminded the Turks that
they have good friends in Asia with whom they can
do business. After all, Turkey is not only the
easternmost point of Europe, but also the
westernmost point of Asia.
Altay
Atli is a research associate at the Foreign
Economic Relations Board of Turkey. He graduated
from Bosporus University in Istanbul and Deakin
University in Melbourne. He has published articles
on East Asia and the former Soviet Union in
several daily newspapers and web portals. His
e-mail: aatli@deik.org.tr.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information
on sales, syndication and republishing.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
|
