Alwaght- First scene: Following the Paris terrorist attacks and after Merkel-Hollande meeting in Berlin, Germany’s government has announced on December 1 that it passed a plan to provide military back-up for France’s anti-ISIS campaign and it handed the plan to the Bundestag, the county’s federal legislative body. The Bundestag, on December 2, has overwhelmingly approved the plan, authorizing the German government to intervene in Syria for a full year, namely until December 30, 2016, with a funding of €134 million, sending about 1,200 troops, using four to six Tornado reconnaissance planes, deploying a frigate, as well as sending military experts to the anti-ISIS Western coalition’s command centers. Although the German plan comes as an aiding and support mission to the war against ISIS, it is significant due to troops dispatching to the battlefield, the level of participation and the review in Germany’s no-war policy after the World War II.
Second scene: Germany’s federal intelligence service (BND) in the wake of Paris crisis following the terror attacks has published an anti-Saudi report, announcing the kingdom's policies as the source of destabilization in the Middle East, voicing concerns about the King Salman of Saudi Arabia and his son Mohammad bin Salam for moves to influence the region’s Arab leaders and the ongoing interventions in Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and Yemen. Not long after the report was rejected by the spokespersons of the German government and Foreign Ministry, Sigmar Gabriel, the head of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Germany's Vice Chancellor, and Thomas Oberman, the head of SPD’s fraction in the Bundestag have more straightforwardly called on Saudi Arabia to cease backing the radical Islamists and the Europe-based mosques. According to the two German politicians, Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist groups had roots in the Islam model that the Saudi Arabia has developed and supported, and the extremist European Islamists all rose from the communities which maintain links to the Wahhabi mosques in Europe.
The first question is why Germany has accepted to intervene in Syria militarily in support of France and to fight ISIS, and the second question is that what is the purpose behind leaking of the German intelligence’s report? Although Berlin has presented a series of legal reasons for the leak including reaction to the UNSC resolution 2249, which is not part of Chapter 7, as well as a response to France’s demand for help according to the Article 42(7) of the Treaty of Lisbon. However, the analysts see the major reasons for the Germany’s move as political, originating from the country’s domestic and foreign policies rather than from legal motives.
Germany’s new foreign policy
In the Munich Security Conference held in 2014, the German President Joachim Gauck for the first time after the World War II has officially talked about the need of change in Berlin foreign policy and reviewing the traditional conservatism in using the military force and military intervention. Following Gauck’s speech, a new discourse under “more power, more responsibility” title rose to normalize on the one hand the country’s new role in international level and its rising power among the local and foreign public opinions and on the other hand to legitimize Germany’s move towards being a geopolitical power as equal as the EU or under its name. According to the new discourse, the happening of many crises (like the Syrian crisis, the refugee crisis and the terrorist attacks), the change in European and global order and other developments coming up as a result of globalization and power transition force Germany to shoulder more responsibilities in global levels. This German approach was observable in Germany’s Defense Minister’s speech in Bundestag when he proposed the Syria intervention plan to the federal parliament. He said that the main goal of the German move was to ensure stability and peace in the Middle East rather than to support France. No matter what the reasons behind shift in Germany’s foreign policy are, which could include domestic necessity, the request of the US and other European powers like Britain and France, incorporating Germany to share the costs of making order, and Germany’s concerns about distortion of the order that Berlin backs its economic type and economic policies, it is obvious that Germany cannot keep itself out of touch as usual and in such cases as Libya’s. Therefore, a large part of the reason for Germany’s action can be searched in the shift in the country’s foreign policy and the role Berlin is seeking to take internationally.
Internal policy and its relation to anti-ISIS fight
While France has said that it would only accept about 30,000 refugees fleeing the Syrian crisis, Mrs. Merkel’s policy of open doors would admit to Germany about a million of refugees up to the end of the year. Europe’s first lady’s policy has pushed down her popularity to a lowest level in recent years, and the Paris terrorist attacks and the domino effect they left on Europe have added to the popularity of such German parties as Alternative for Germany (AfD). Especially that modifying its Eurosceptic policies and putting on a nationalistic and anti-immigration face, the right-wing AfD party has managed to more than ever improve its position and make the most out of the current conditions. The success of Marine le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front party, in the country’s recent elections would undoubtedly make a good example for AfD in Germany. Such an issue has drawn the sensitivity of Merkel’s right-wing fraction in the parliament and its traditional ally the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Thereby, Angela Merkel is coming under fire domestically and internationally. And the notion is increasingly growing that as the free-business plan led in loss of the former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder in 2005 election, Merkel’s open-door refugee policy could be her Achilles heel in Germany’s political outlook.
Given the mentioned background, declaring the solidarity with France is a ray of hope for Merkel and in exchange for it she receives France’s company for the refugee plan and the its costs and at the same time eases the domestic pressures on her, and the €10 million joint plan proposed by the French and German Finance Ministers for appropriate management of the refugee crisis and fighting terrorism could be assessed as being in line with the same policy.
The second reason returns to Germany’s shifted understanding of the threat posed by Salafi-Wahhabi terrorism. Unlike the United States, Europe and countries like German see themselves as being directly engaged with the consequences of the Syrian crisis, therefore, the threat against Germany is serious and immediate. According to Germany’s federal intelligence service, the number of German Muslims supporting Salafi thought has jumped from 5,500 in 2013 to 7,900 in 2015, and the number of the German nationals who joined the terror group ISIS has persistently been on the rise. Fears form the residing Salafis in Germany on the one hand and the possible return of the experienced Salafis from Syria’s war on the other hand excessively added to the Germany’s recognition of the threat presented by Wahhabi terrorism, and by the way, the key to leaking of the BND’s report and the German officials’ straightforward remarks have roots in German concerns. By leaking the intelligence data, Germany bluntly warns Saudi Arabia that Berlin would hold Riyadh government accountable for any possible terror attacks conducted in the country and it asks Saudi regime to prevent such attacks form taking place using the strong financial and ideological bonds it holds with Wahhabi Mosques’ imams in Germany. Therefore, releasing of German intelligence service’s information and the German officials’ viewpoints that followed the release should be considered as a calculated move originating from the Berlin’s shift in vision about the threats coming from Wahhabi-Salafi terrorism.
Joining France, keeping standing Europe's convergence project
In addition to voicing solidarity with France, Berlin has agreed to deploy 650 troops to Mali as part of the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) in order to decrease the pressure on France and to allow Paris focus on its war against ISIS terror group. Looking at the case from domestic policy’s dimension, the bilateral German-French company could be seen as another Merkel’s measure taken, beside offering Turkey financial and political incentives and ignoring the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s violations of the human rights, to alleviate the criticism targeting her open-door immigration policy. Germany’s move to join anti-ISIS fight could also be interpreted through looking at Germany’s regarding EU’s convergence agenda and it could be a concession to achieve a consensus in a European Union in which France and Germany are the two major driving powers. In other words, Germany’s agreeing to join the French counter-ISIS campaign is seen to be coming in exchange for France’s supporting of giving Ankara financial and political incentives and accompanying Merkel’s immigration policies. Such a concession’s result ends up in favor of France rather than Germany and by taking over role in military and security cases, France is modifying the Germany’s upper hand it obtained after Euro crisis, as Paris seeks to mend its prestige in EU. It is through this dimension that it can be figured out that why after Paris terror attacks the French President François Hollande demanded help not from NATO but from the EU under the Union’s common security and defense policy , namely the Article 42(7) of Treaty of Lisbon. Beside NATO’s organizational limits and the several issues, including Russia’s reaction that the organization’s intervention could bring about, such a French move to press Berlin and reach a balance with Germany’s leading role (in the EU) could not be easily ignored.
