New York - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
displayed petulance and even defiance in his remarks to the Council on
Foreign Relations on Monday. He was prickly, to say the least. There can
be a price for life at the crossroads of so many cultures, causes and
contretemps, as Turkey now finds itself in the difficult center of an
arc of conflict from the Ukraine and Russia across the Black Sea to the
north, Iran to the east, and Iraq, Syria and ISIL to the south
– among others. These only seemed like presenting symptoms in watching
Erdoğan, however, so it was easy to wonder what was really bothering
him.
Maybe it’s nothing
more than the Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome at work. Numerous times during
his remarks and in fielding our questions, Erdoğan lamented – bristled,
really – at getting no respect from Washington, London and Brussels and
not being heard when he offers what he believes to be sound advice.
“We warned about Egypt (Arab Spring) and elsewhere, but our views were
not taken into consideration,” he said. He talked about having sounded
“warning bells” about Libya, too, only to be ignored. He added that, “I
have to speak the plain truth …. If we had worked together in Syria from
the start, we would not be where we are now.” Erdoğan attacked a
prominent critic of his living in Pennsylvania, though not by name. He
was undoubtedly referring the cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdoğan lamented
that he has been unable to coax the Obama Administration into
extraditing Gulen back to Turkey for prosecution – and worse.
Despite his “mad as hell” Peter Finch moment, Erdoğan makes an important point. The truth is, we don’t listen well. We don’t synthesize and integrate useful insights and advice made by allies and others into our policy prescriptions often enough because, well, we know it all, right? The inevitable result of this deadly combination of ignorance and arrogance is failure, and we're certainly listening to a great deal of that lately. This is an important lesson for anyone who finds himself or herself in a leadership position, and it underscores why some of our very best leaders believe so strongly in the power of listening and the humility that come with it.
Finally, Fareed Zakaria pushed Erdoğan on the subject of last weekend’s ISIL hostage release, asking what Ankara gave up in the process to achieve that outcome. The President said, “There was no monetary relationship,” which is an awkward way of indicating that they did not pay a ransom. Zakaria kept at it, however, and asked Erdoğan whether they exchanged prisoners and other ISIL cronies in return for the hostages. The President was cagey but did add that, “These things are possible.” So, I guess we know the answer to that question.
Twitter @jessicamcwade
Photo courtesy of Press TV.
Despite his “mad as hell” Peter Finch moment, Erdoğan makes an important point. The truth is, we don’t listen well. We don’t synthesize and integrate useful insights and advice made by allies and others into our policy prescriptions often enough because, well, we know it all, right? The inevitable result of this deadly combination of ignorance and arrogance is failure, and we're certainly listening to a great deal of that lately. This is an important lesson for anyone who finds himself or herself in a leadership position, and it underscores why some of our very best leaders believe so strongly in the power of listening and the humility that come with it.
Finally, Fareed Zakaria pushed Erdoğan on the subject of last weekend’s ISIL hostage release, asking what Ankara gave up in the process to achieve that outcome. The President said, “There was no monetary relationship,” which is an awkward way of indicating that they did not pay a ransom. Zakaria kept at it, however, and asked Erdoğan whether they exchanged prisoners and other ISIL cronies in return for the hostages. The President was cagey but did add that, “These things are possible.” So, I guess we know the answer to that question.
Twitter @jessicamcwade
Photo courtesy of Press TV.