Стр. 11 - V

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Alexander Frolov, leading research associate, Institute of World Economy and International Relations,
Russian Academy of Science, Doctor of Science (Political Science);
Viktor Nadein-Raevsky, senior research associate at the same institute, Candidate of Science (Philoso-
phy)
A. Frolov: Having left the deplorable crisis behind,
Russia and Turkey added positive energy to their bilat-
eral relations even though unanimity on certain issues
is impossible for objective reasons. For obvious rea-
sons, these relations should be discussed in the context
of the deep-cutting political and social transformations
unfolding inside the Turkish society, the root of the
current ups and downs of Turkish politics.
Today, it is no secret that the country is coping with
the complex problems of the transitory nature. It remains to be seen whether this transition will
succeed and what will come out of it if and when it succeeds. So far, there are not enough clear
trends to answer these questions. At the same time, there are obvious attempts to revise the
legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, dominant in the country during the last 100 years.
V. Nadein-Raevsky: I spoke many times of perestroika Turkish style which looks like an ideo-
logical perestroika. This definition is signally important: Russia should take this into account in
its regional strategy and bilateral relations.
I should say that the educated part of Turkish society has been always looking at Japan as an ex-
ample to be followed: arm the country with Western technologies and the system of economic
management and preserve national specifics, to avoid the danger of being diluted in the Western
lifestyle and indiscriminate borrowing of alien customs that might contradict the Turkish tradi-
tions. Fethullah Gulen, who had relied on these sentiments to change the country through edu-
cation, became Erdogan's main enemy. In the last twenty or twenty-five years, his programs
educated a new generation of Turks. He created educational structures that taught foreign lan-
guages and exact sciences. As for history and social sciences, they were brimming with mythol-
ogized Turkish clichés hued with pan-Turkism.
The Turks look at the ideas of the New Ottomans borrowed from the nineteenth century about
equal rights for the Muslims and non-Muslims as highly progressive. Arabs who remember plun-
der, lawlessness and Turkish arrogance vehemently object to Erdogan's statement that Turkey
was defending the Arabs for hundreds of years. So far the Turks have not yet understood this
and are not ready to abandon Neo-Ottomanism.
A. Frolov: The changes in Turkish policy overlaid, in a strange way, the relations with our country.
In Russia, few people doubt that we need good-neighborly relations with Turkey.
I think that Turkey is moving in Russia's direction not only because of the tomatoes and the
empty beaches in Antalya. The country is gradually growing aware that something is wrong with
Turkey in Search of Reference Points