{"id":33178,"date":"2021-12-03T19:03:32","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T17:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=33178"},"modified":"2021-12-03T19:03:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T17:03:32","slug":"demythologization-of-erdogans-reign-he-seems-to-despise-america-less-than-israel-but-not-by-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=33178","title":{"rendered":"Demythologization of Erdo\u011fan\u2019s reign: He seems to despise America less than Israel, but not by much\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

3\/12\/2021<\/span><\/p>\n

Written by\u00a0Konstantinos Apostolou-Katsaros<\/span><\/p>\n

The Turkish bid for regional hegemony is not solely driven by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ambition: It is rather an intrinsic feature of Turkish civilization. Historically, the Ottoman Empire decline started immediately after the halt of its expansion. Many believe that Turkish revisionism is at its dusk, as is Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rule after almost two decades. This assumption is backed by false hopes on a foreign policy shift towards the West, following possible Turkish leadership take over in the forthcoming presidential elections of 2023. It is debatable though that Turkey\u2019s\u00a0pivot to East<\/a>\u00a0is here to stay, instigated by Turkish nostalgia for its imperial past.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is ample evidence suggesting that an\u00a0irredentist<\/a>\u00a0Turkey will continue the provocative maximalism in foreign policy even after Erdo\u011fan\u2019s reign. In fact, this characteristic is deep-seated in Turkish society -irrespective of the government and political party in power- as a result of the way Turkish nation formed. Armenians, Greeks, Arabs and Kurds can confirm this: They want nothing more than Turkey to be at peace with itself and its neighbors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkish disdain for the West derives from the irreconcilable\u00a0cultural differences<\/a>\u00a0that are likely to persist. Soner \u00c7a\u011faptay, a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at \u201cThe Washington Institute\u201d\u00a0explains<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cIslamist thinking, as well as anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiments are all closely linked\u201d. This can be confirmed by President Erdo\u011fan\u2019s public statements alone. He has in many instances bullied fellow\u00a0NATO ally<\/a>, the United States, with heavy accusations such as \u201cterrorist supporter<\/a>\u201d and \u201ccollaborator<\/a>\u201d of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah G\u00fclen in the 2016 failed coup. In response to U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish President\u00a0said<\/a>: \u201cIf you say genocide, then you need to look at yourselves in the mirror and make an evaluation. The Native Americans, I don\u2019t even need to mention them, what happened is clear.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdo\u011fan\u2019s volatile statements targeted equally Israel. \u201cErdo\u011fan seems to despise America less than Israel but not by much,\u201d\u00a0counters<\/a>\u00a0Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum. In numerous cases the Turkish President accused Israel of \u201coppressive<\/a>\u201d policies vis-\u00e0-vis the Palestinians. During the November 2012 Gaza crisis -true to his disparaging rhetoric-, he called Israel a \u201cterrorist state<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Expecting Turco-Israeli relations to return to the pre Mavi Marmara \u201cflotilla crisis\u201d (May 2010) status is becoming increasingly unrealistic even though a certain degree of normalization is foreseeable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdo\u011fan\u2019s pre-meditated\u00a0decision<\/a>\u00a0\u201cto sever ties with Israel so that he can become the Sunni leader of the Middle East\u201d has been in a sense facilitated by the flotilla raid. The foretelling \u201cyelling<\/a>\u201d of then-Israeli President Shimon Peres by Erdo\u011fan during the Davos forum back in 2009, was neither a coincidence; nor was his 2018 reaction to U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, and the subsequent recalling of Turkish ambassador to Israel, with Israel following suit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ankara\u2019s aim to outmaneuver Israel in the competition for regional influence will not appease. Ahmet Davuto\u011flu former Turkish Prime Minister -then close friend and senior adviser, now Erdo\u011fan\u2019s sworn rival-\u00a0clarified<\/a>\u00a0in his 2001 book \u201cStrategic Depth\u201d -a doctrine often dubbed as \u201cneo-Ottomanism\u201d- that Turkey will clash with Israel in order to become a leader in the Muslim world and will prioritize its own interests over those of NATO and the West.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both anti-US and anti-Israel sentiments are rampant in the Turkish public opinion as well. G\u00f6n\u00fcl Tol, the founding director of the Middle East Institute\u2019s Turkey program,\u00a0said<\/a>: \u201cAnti-Americanism has always been there, but it has peaked in the last few years.\u201d She added that \u201can overwhelming majority of people in Turkey think that Russia is a better ally, and that the bigger national-security threat comes from the U.S.\u201d. This is confirmed by Turkish pollsters\u00a0Areda Survey<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0showed<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab54.6% of Turks view the U.S. as the biggest security threat to their country while 51% think the biggest threat is Israel; 31.1% think it is the United Arab Emirates; and 30.7% think it is Saudi Arabia.<\/span><\/p>\n

35.5% of Turks consider the U.S. unreliable; 32.8% think it is a colonialist state.<\/span><\/p>\n

72.2% object to any kind of cooperation with the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked with which one of the two countries Turkey should develop its relations, 78.9% said Russia against 21.1% who defended cooperation with the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

58.2% of Turks think that Russia is their strategic ally.<\/span><\/p>\n

69.3% think that the acquisition of the Russian S-400 system was the right decision.\u00bb\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the failed coup attempt in 2016, thousands have been purged from the military by Erdo\u011fan\u2019s authoritarian\u00a0regime. Turkish military personnel now give emphasis on ideology and religious views rather than on professionalism. Under these conditions \u201cit\u2019s very difficult to promote closer U.S.-Turkey ties or NATO-Turkey ties,\u201d Tol said and added, \u201cif you are seen as pro-NATO now, it could kill your career.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dealing with such a hostile view of the West, \u201cwill take decades of concerted effort -and a completely re-worked if not purged bureaucracy- to work [Erdo\u011fan\u2019s] poison out of the system\u201d should Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rule end tomorrow,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former Pentagon Official.<\/span><\/p>\n

In summary, the question is not whether it is possible or not for Turkey to recover from Erdo\u011fan\u2019s reign. The real question is whether Turkey -a country with five military coups in the past seven decades- is feasible to integrate with the Western civilization and values (considering also the disturbing\u00a0human rights<\/a>\u00a0records) that currently is drifting apart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To make matters worse, Turkey is striving to settle regional hegemony by spreading its sphere of influence (extending from the Black Sea to the Red Sea; from Central Asia to Western Balkans, as well as Africa and Latin America to lesser extent) thus inevitably clashing with major actors: including Israel, U.S. as well as Russia -that currently sustains an ill-fated\u00a0opportunistic partnership<\/a>\u00a0which is transactional at best and certainly not \u201cstrategic\u201d- contrary to popular belief.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea of a \u201cregion-centric\u201d foreign policy was\u00a0cultivated<\/a>\u00a0during the Cold War by then-PM B\u00fclent Ecevit, even thought Turkey was at the time cozying up to the West. Back in 1974-1975, Necmettin Erbakan -then deputy PM- also tried to join forces with the Arab world. This did not avert Ankara from building closer ties with the Soviets as well. Therefore current palinodes of Turkey\u2019s foreign policy should not come as surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

The autonomous path Turkey paved presently is certainly not seeking to reapproach the West. It is the path of neo-Ottoman imperial revival -as blatantly\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0the Turkish President himself- where Turkey will rise as a gate keeper on the Western frontier of Eurasia, thus playing the cat and mouse game with both sides in order to further its own interests. The sooner it is realized, the better will be for those directly affected as well as those aiming to sway this NATO ally back in line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: eurasiareview.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3\/12\/2021 Written by\u00a0Konstantinos Apostolou-Katsaros The Turkish bid for regional hegemony is not solely driven by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ambition: It is rather an intrinsic feature of Turkish civilization. … <\/p>\n

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