Behind the Scenes of Macron's "New European Vision"

Do you remember the famous maxim of Motso Hito, the Emperor of Japan who defeated Tsarist Russia in the 1905 Naval War: "Asia belongs to Asians"? This is not just a rhetorical nursery rhyme, it is the epitome of an idealism with its feet on the ground. As is well known, the victory of Japan in the 1905 Naval War had a great repercussion in the Ottoman Empire and even Halide Edip Adıvar named one of her children after Admiral Togo, the winner of the Naval War. In fact, what Emperor Hito wanted to say with this aphorism became the voice of the oppressed nations at the beginning of the 20th century and constituted a cry against Western expansionism and colonialism. Fifteen years later, Tsarist Russia, which had suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Japan, turned into Soviet Russia, which also felt the same humiliation. For this reason, the same joke was used in the 'First Congress of the Peoples of the East' held in Baku between September 1-7, 1920 under the leadership of Soviet Russia in Continental Asia. The same aphorism was again the motto of Japan in the Second World War, which declared war on the United States and thus on the Western Bloc. Japan, in fact, claimed that it was the master of Continental Asia and also of the Pacific, and wanted the 1815 Monreo doctrine to be applied as the Asian version of the doctrine.  

Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who received the Associated Press correspondent in Ankara in August 1921, during the most turbulent days of the Turkish War of Independence, in a country house near the village of Çangal, overlooking the plain of Ankara, expressed similar words as follows:

"We have firmly decided to drive the Greeks out of Anatolia, even if we have to fight for years." "Turkey belongs to the Turks", this is the motto of the nationalists." (Vakit newspaper, 2.9.1921) (1) 

Very clearly, Atatürk sent a clear message to colonialism with the phrase "Turkey belongs to the Turks", a reference to "Asia belongs to the Asians": 

"Anatolia is ours, it belongs to the citizens living in these lands; no one can take our independence away from us." 

The concept of 'Turk' described here is a constitutional concept of citizenship that cannot be filled in and never refers to ancestry. It encompasses all citizens of all origins living in the common homeland and exercising their constitutional right to citizenship. (2) This is the reason why the motto "Turkey is for Turks" became the logo of the Hürriyet newspaper along with the Turkish flag. This is the reason why Ertuğrul Özkök, the Editor-in-Chief of Hürriyet in the 1980s, said, "Neither I nor the owner of Hürriyet can afford to remove that sentence from there," despite his own opposition to the removal of this slogan. 

Likewise, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been insinuating on every occasion that he is the leader of continental Europe, has been appropriating and using the same motif for the last six years. Although the concept of "strategic autonomy" first came to the fore in Europe during the Iraq war in 2003, the debates during the Balkan crises in the 1990s made it more memorable. In the Libyan Crisis in 2011, France, which had parceled out Africa as its own backyard, wanted to react quickly and take action as soon as possible; however, despite all the planning and military intervention preparations made by the EU within the scope of the European Security Defense Architecture (ESDA), it had to hand over the Libyan operation to NATO, whose capabilities and capabilities it depended on. (3)

Yes, six years have passed since Macron's speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where he opened the discussion on the concept of sovereignty in the European Union (EU), albeit in a somewhat roundabout way. Macron, who prefers to use euphemisms against the US, prefers to use the concept of "strategic autonomy" when the issue of sovereignty within the EU comes up. By acting in this way, Macron is in a sense being ironic. In fact, his meaning is quite clear. It refers to the strategic autonomy of Europe, which is a kind of backyard of the US as the common state mind of France. At the beginning of the second week of April, Macron once again voiced his "Vision of a Sovereign Europe" thesis. In his speech in The Hague, Netherlands on April 11, 2023, he focused on the economic aspect of the concept of strategic autonomy. But are Macron's ideas really applicable for Europe? Let's examine it together. However, without going into detail, what Macron wants to do is implicitly the thesis that "Afro-Eurasia belongs to Afro-Eurasians". France's intervention in Asia and Africa since the past is hidden in these words. Let us put it more clearly.  

As you know, our old globe consists of the Old World Island, the New World Island and the islands of Australia, Malaysia, Japan and Britain. Yes, dear readers, Macron, who is making a big stir in his own country, is trying to create space for himself by including RF and PRC in Afro-Eurasia, the Old World Island, against the US and similarly implying that "Afro-Eurasia belongs to Afro-Eurasians". On the other hand, in this way, his rhetoric challenging the US has become a hot topic in the media. The concept of strategic autonomy also includes a security and defense dimension. 

Let us recall that after Germany, the defeated country of the Second World War, was divided into West and East, the West German government, on November 22, 1949, declared its intention to legally end the ongoing state of war with the 'Petersberg Agreement'. In 1950, French Prime Minister René Pleven proposed the Pleven Plan in response to the US call for the rearmament of West Germany, and the European Defense Community (EDF), which was intended to be established by the Pleven Plan, was signed by the signatories of the Brussels Agreement on 27 May 1952, but did not enter into force because it was not approved by the French Parliament, which did not accept the rearmament of Germany. Instead, with the Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris on October 20, 1954 and entered into force on May 6, 1955, the number of members of the Western European Union (WEU) increased to seven with the accession of West Germany and Italy. After this period, European security, shaped under the shadow of nuclear armament, remained dependent on NATO. This is why Germany is particularly reluctant to stand behind France. (3) 

Within this conceptual framework, in 2017 Macron started advocating for a common European intervention force, a common defense budget and a common doctrine of action. In fact, this is an expansion of Macron's statement that "NATO is brain dead". Is it really true? I think it is one hundred percent true. France has also assumed the leadership of Europe's reflex to fight back. But with one difference, France, as it has always done, has taken a pre-emptive action in order to reap the rewards in advance. And noisily and loudly. In fact, this is not a prediction of Macron, the leader of France, a bloody-minded African colonizer, but nothing but a manifestation of the obvious. First of all, let us admit in advance that almost everyone agrees that "NATO", founded after World War II, guided by the supremacist, imposing US, which closed the American continent to the colonialism of the old world island after the "Monreo Doctrine of 1815", has indeed reached the end of its biological life. Undoubtedly, there are no guides. Is NATO without the US possible? Or can there be a European NATO? Can a European Army be established? Yes, yes, it is possible. We have already examined and analyzed this issue in detail in our article of March 5. (4) 

In an interview with the UK-based Economist magazine in 2019, Macron, in a sense, tried to challenge the US to get out of Europe by saying, "What we are experiencing now is the brain death of NATO". Although not discussed in detail in the Turkish media, Macron could not help criticizing the US withdrawal of its troops from Syria without consulting NATO in the following way. His target country is Turkey. 

"There is no coordination of strategic decision-making between the United States and its NATO allies. None at all. At the same time, Turkey, another NATO member, has uncoordinated aggressive actions in a region where our interests are at stake." (5) Trying to conceal and ignoring the fact that NATO was used as a tool for France's interventions in Africa for years, Macron evaded the question of whether he still believes in Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which considers an attack on one member as an attack on all members and provides for collective defense, with the answer "I don't know" and now he is evading it in a suggestive manner. However, France has contributed a great deal to the fact that Turkey, which has been loyal to NATO for 71 years and fulfilled all its obligations, has become a target of NATO. Turkey's humanitarian opening to Africa has put the colonialist and expansionist France in an aggressive position against Turkey.  

Apart from NATO, the issue of a 'European Army' has been hotly debated in the European Union, which has a slightly more flexible structure in decision-making processes than NATO, which has an extremely cumbersome structure.  In this context, EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell finalized the "European Strategic Compass" plan, which envisages the "establishment of an operational European army", in early November 2021. The plan was approved by the European Council on March 21, 2022. 

The most striking aspect of the text, which is written in four main sections, namely Act, Secure, Invest and Partner, is the constant emphasis on the EU's relations with NATO as a complement, not an alternative, to NATO in the field of defense. (3)

This is why, one month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the issue of European sovereignty was at the top of the agenda in Europe. While fulfilling their obligations to NATO on the one hand, the leaders declared that they wanted to strengthen their defense capabilities and increase their capacity to act autonomously on the other. EU countries, which have increased their defense expenditures since the start of the war, have been and continue to be providing arms and ammunition to Ukraine, partly under pressure from NATO and the US. 

Macron, incapable of maintaining internal stability in his country, wants to act more independently from the US. On the other hand, Europe really lacks the ability to defend itself and compete in the world. While on paper Europe has an impressive number of tanks and conventional weapons and the armed forces to use them, it lacks the strategic means to deploy them if the bloc acts alone. This is why Macron persuaded Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, after much effort, to arrange a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on April 5-7, 2023. Macron also played an active role in the visit of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell to Beijing on April 13-15.  

Let us turn to Macron's model of economic sovereignty in the context of strategic autonomy. Macron's economic sovereignty model is based on five principles. Competitiveness, industrial policy, market protection, trade reciprocity and cooperation. For him, the EU is clearly dependent on China for the green transformation. He also believes that the technologies that will enable Europe to achieve its climate goals should be produced in the EU.  On April 16, 2023, nuclear reactors were shut down in Germany, even though it was described as "madness" at a time when Europe's energy supplies are unstable and the world is trying to get rid of fossil fuels. (6) To combat this reality, the EU Commission has recently prepared a new draft law regulating the relevant market for critical raw materials. These include rare earths for magnets in wind turbines for renewable energy, as well as lithium, cobalt, nickel for battery production and silicon for semiconductors. (7)

As in almost all his visits, Macron has made and is making many scandals to make himself look big. After the explosion of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut, Macron went to Lebanon, and his patronizing attitude towards Lebanese President Aoun and Lebanon, and even insulting Aoun and the current administration because he did not respect them. It is part of his character to insult the weak and pretend to be strong around the strong.  Indeed, during the photo session after the bilateral meeting with the PRC leader, Macron put his hand in his pocket and the Chief of Protocol of the Chinese President warned Macron, who immediately removed his hand from his pocket like an obedient servant.  Macron often makes and uses similar gestures during his visits to Africa and the Middle East to assert his superiority. 

Macron's remarks to the international media on his return from his visit to China, in which he again mentioned the concept of "strategic autonomy", on the one hand, and Taiwan, on the other, stirred up controversy and confusion both in the US and in Europe. 

While Macron is publicly voicing the idea of closer European cooperation in the field of defense, he is actually trying to open up a new Lebensraum for France. However, what he is trying to do is exactly like the aphorism "The Gypsy speaks for himself".  It is as if "a gypsy's brave man praises himself and says he is a thief", but Macron is not brave, he is one of those who know how to sell a man. 

On the other hand, President Erdoğan has on various occasions made clear the role and importance of Turkey and the Turkish Armed Forces in the European security and defense architecture in the rebuilding of the European security and defense architecture (ESDA). On a global scale, it is necessary to start with the UN. At the G20 summit in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu made it clear that structural reforms are needed, starting with the UN. If Europe wants to keep its sovereignty in its own hands, it should see its own EVSM as a tool to chart its own path and base its starting point on this central idea.

References:

(1) https://www.atam.gov.tr/ataturkun-soylev-ve-demecleri/turkiye-turklerindir/Erişim Tarihi 20.04.2023/

(2) Yalçın Bayer, “‘Türkiye Türklerindir’ tüm kökenleri kapsar”, Hürriyet Gazetesi, 22.08.2023; https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/yalcin-bayer/turkiye-turklerindir-tum-kokenleri-kapsar-29880719/Erişim Tarihi 20.04.2023/

(3) Şafak Oğuz, Ferhan Oral, “AB’nin Stratejik Özerklik Çabaları, Stratejik Pusula ve Türkiye’ye Muhtemel Yansımaları”, Bölgesel Araştırmalar Dergisi, Sa. 6 (1) Mayıs 2022, ss.  74-75

(4) Esat Arslan, “ABD’siz NATO mümkün mü?”, Kırmızılar, 5 Mart 2023; https://www.kirmizilar.com/tr/index.php/guncel-yazilar3/7611-abd-siz-nato-mumkun-mu/Erişim Tarihi 23.04.2023/

(5) BBC Türkçe Servis, “Fransa Cumhurbaşkanı Macron: NATO'nun beyin ölümü gerçekleşti”, 8 Kasım 2019; https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-50342428/ Erişim Tarihi 20.04.2023/

(6) Anadolu Ajansı, “Almanya'da nükleer enerji dönemi sona erdi: Son 3 santral devre dışı bırakıldı”, 16.04.2023; https://www.ntv.com.tr/dunya/almanyada-nukleer-enerji-donemi-sona-erdi-son-3-santral-devre-disi-birakildi,TxEl0wiUaEux0FboScDdcA#/ Erişim Tarihi 20.04.2023/

(7) YeniBirlik Gazetesi Dünya, Macron’un Yeni Avrupa Vizyonu Ne kadar Gerçekçi? YeniBirlik Gazetesi, 17 Nisan 2023, s.11