He pointed out that Turkey has been a European state for years and believed it was unfair that some mature European nations were creating artificial barriers to the inclusion of a sincere candidate.
If the election signified a political seismic shift for some, Ambassador Erman did not see it this way. Diplomacy remained solidly and seamlessly intact. “The newly elected government will follow the same road. The European Union has not exited our agenda and the recent election was a vote of confidence for democracy. Of course the Turkish people will have many things to say and the government will be receptive to the will of an elected majority and respect the rights of minorities.”
Connectivity
Turkey and Canada first established diplomatic relations in 1943. The first Turkish ambassador to Canada was Mehmet Ali Şevki and he presented his credentials in 1944. It was not until 1947 that Canada reciprocated by sending their first ambassador to Ankara.
Canada has lent strong support to Turkey’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for 2009-2010. Both countries have initiated and endorsed bilateral relationships and many joint cooperation projects. The connection between the two countries continues to strengthen, helped by diplomacy along the way.
Diplomacy
Unlike Canada with a sole neighbor, albeit a behemoth in the form of the United States, Turkey has eight sometimes fractious neighbors grouped around her. Sunday’s Zaman asked Ambassador Erman about the remarkable skills of Turkish ambassadors who so adeptly keep diplomacy on course.
“I don’t want to boast but I am so very proud to be a member of the Turkish diplomatic force. We are an organization with roots going back to the Ottoman era. We have retained our integrity and provide an impartial service to the State. Living in our part of the world, we need to be good at diplomacy.”
Erman elaborated on the fact that the Turkish foreign service and ambassadors are highly trained, well educated and extremely flexible. “In the Turkish foreign service, we have many ‘generalists’ with extremely flexible skills who often do several jobs. Some countries tend to employ specialists in a narrower sense. As a country who has frequently been at the centre of events, including the sunset years of the Ottoman Empire, we maintain our tradition of utilizing envoys who do not act in isolation.”
Referring to a grim but unexplored niche in Turkish history, Erman spoke of how difficult it was for Turkey to remain neutral in World War II. “We required the highest diplomatic skills to maintain this position,” he explained. Few people today understand Turkey’s soft underbelly status as they faced threats from the former Soviet Union at that time. “Other countries were late to appreciate Turkey’s plight. We were alone and isolated. You have to survive until the cavalry arrives,” Erman stated.
Today, different crises and conflicts have emerged and the stakes higher when it comes to international arbitration. Erman was at the helm when Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a statement about Turkish-Armenian issues. Harper’s reference to the “g-word” soured relations between the two countries and Ankara briefly recalled Erman to Turkey. He explained that the Turkish government was sensitive and hurt over the mismatched remark.
“But, of course,” he said, “The captain must be on the bridge in times of crisis and problems can only be smoothed over by dialogue and keeping communications open.” It is shirt-sleeve diplomacy, not ballot-box politics, that brokers critical solutions but, nevertheless, Erman believes that historians and joint historical committees, not politicians and parliaments, should debate and resolve such matters.
About 112,000 people of Armenian descent live in Canada.
Education and culture
Turkish and Canadian cultural and education programs have thrived under Ambassador Erman’s stewardship. Rejecting suggestions of a brain drain, Erman pointed out that the number of Turkish students studying at Canadian universities is increasing and he has encouraged this trend. His twin daughters are both studying for higher degrees at Montreal’s McGill University. “Many of these students return to Turkey with an inspired global perspective. The ones who remain in Canada are superb ‘ambassadors’ in their own right.”
The quality of higher education in Canada is excellent and the country proactively outreaches to bright students from around the world. Because Erman himself studied in different countries, learned other languages and promoted international friendships, he embraces the concept of education as a bridge of understanding. But universities, not politicians, must grasp this nettle more firmly.
Universities like Dalhousie in Nova Scotia, the University of Toronto, McMaster University in Hamilton and İstanbul’s Yeditepe University are putting out feelers for innovative exchange and study programs. Many history students, of course, come to Turkey to learn academic Turkish or to research in the Ottoman archives.
“What is needed is a Turkish studies program in Canadian universities and a similar program with Canadian content in our Turkish universities,” Erman explained. In fact, he singled out his counterpart and friend in Ankara, Canadian Ambassador to Turkey Yves Brodeur, as a cross-cultural example.
Ambassador Brodeur studied Ottoman architecture at Boğaziçi University in 1979. He learned Turkish and immersed himself in Turkish culture. But studies were curtailed when a sympathetic policeman counseled him, as a foreigner, to exit Turkey on the eve of the 1980 coup d’état. Returning to Ankara as head of mission in 2006, Brodeur is giving his added-value skills extended rein.
According to Erman, an educational bond established early in life is one that endures and often withstands or contains conflict. There is potential for more Turkish-Canadian educational and cultural programs in both countries, but each needs to budget significantly in this direction.
The dozen or so active Turkish-Canadian cultural societies and community associations in cities like Vancouver and Mississauga substantiate the thriving link between the two countries. The most tangible cornerstone of Turkish-Canadian relations is the Turkish Peace Garden in Montreal located in the city’s Botanical Gardens. A project of the Turkish community in Quebec, it was designed as a commemorative garden by Ahmet Gülgönen and opened in 2000. Rose gardens, tulips and columns of İznik tiles lend dignity to the contemplative corner.
Like İstanbul, Ottawa has a Tulip Festival in the spring and Turkey participates. She is also involved in the Gallipoli remembrance ceremonies in April held jointly with Australia and New Zealand emissaries.
Turkey maintains honorary consulates in Montreal and Vancouver but, unlike some countries where consuls are inundated with requests for assistance, Turkey’s honorary representatives here lead less frenetic lives. Most of the 50,000 Turks in Canada have settled permanently. Many have married and become Canadian citizens, something else that Erman encourages. As Turks they are proud of their dual nationalities and are law-abiding residents who reinforce Turkey’s visibility in positive ways. “We are really proud of them,” Erman added.
Trade and industry
Both Canada and Turkey would like to increase trade from the current volume of about $1 billion annually (the US and Canadian dollars are currently at a record par value). But an ocean between the two countries and the pull of regional trade with the US and within the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is strong. Quotas do not help and Turkish towel and textile makers, for example, have long decried these artificial trade obstacles. Turkey buys some oil and natural gas from Canada and drilling technology. Companies like Netaş, Bombardier and La Salle College are familiar Canadian names in Turkey but these have only recently been joined by CanWest, a media company who has bought radio and television stations in Turkey.
About 65 percent of Alberta’s wheat exports come to Turkey but, as Turkish foreign direct investment nudges towards $20 billion, there is excellent investment scope here for Canadian entrepreneurs. Turkey imports significant quantities of red lentils, mostly for re-export, from Canada’s prairie provinces. Together with India, these three countries have dominated global lentil production and processing.
[PROFILE]Aydemir Erman
Ambassador Aydemir Erman was born in Istanbul in 1944. He married his wife Gülen in Copenhagen and they have two twin daughters now studying at university. Erman took up his final post in Ottawa in 2003 and will retire at the end of this year. An expansive and responsive personality, he and his wife enjoy the compact, cosmopolitan atmosphere of Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
Erman completed his military service in a parachute regiment and his first diplomatic posting was to Switzerland. This was followed by a Turkish consul general job in first Iran, then Komotini, in Greece. He returned to Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war and later was appointed ambassador to Bahrain for five years. He then became the chief legal advisor and in charge of coordinating human resources in Afghanistan before coming to Canada.
One thing Erman shares with almost all ambassadors is in having a wife who is an articulate and valuable diplomatic participant. Gone are the days when an ambassador’s wife was lugged along to assemble tea parties. Erman particularly remembers his diplomatic investiture in 2003. “Presenting one’s credentials is usually a very formal event, devoid of frills. But Adrienne Clarkson, the Canadian governor general at that time, and her husband invited us as a family to Quebec City. My wife and our two girls attended and the relaxed, friendly protocol was a wonderful introduction to Canada.”
After such an active and stimulating life, Erman has no firm remedy for retirement. “Well, Gülen is from a military family posted to many different places and between the two of us, we have not had time to put down roots in Turkey. So I may grow tomatoes and catch up on my reading while Gülen teaches the local village ladies the finer points of playing bridge!”
One of the challenges of diplomacy and being an ambassador is to upgrade Turkey’s status. Despite a visible presence on many international platforms and exemplary diplomatic efforts, many in the world intractably perceive Turkey as being in the European midfield. There is still work to do to persuade a cynical fringe that the country is far from sick, the Turkish enigma has been out of the box for some time, and that Turkey is now conspicuous in a global jersey.
The Turkish Embassy’s informative Web site in Ottawa is www.turkishembassy.com
