Turkey, under Erdogan, feels let down by the US. Turkey has massive problems. Problems, which its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refuses to see.
He doesn’t see Turkey simply as a country.
He sees it as phenomena, which, only he can comprehend. He feels aggrieved and angry when the rest of the world, even many of his countrymen, do not see Turkey the way he sees it: a continuation of the Ottoman Empire, which had reached right into the European heartland.
He wants to restore its glory so that it commands the world’s respect as it once did. But he feels frustrated that all sorts of obstacles at home and abroad hamstring his mission. At times, it seems that internal and external problems are intertwined.
Let us look at the external world. Turkey’s strategic situation, as a bridgehead (sort of) spanning Europe and Asia (Middle East), makes it a very important country. By virtue of it, it is and has been, a valued NATO member. But President Erdogan feels that it is not given its due pride.
As an important Western strategic partner, Turkey feels entitled to European Union membership. But this has eluded Turkey partly due to its poor human rights record and, partly, because it is a Muslim country, though it might not always be put like this.
At the same time, Erdogan makes a pitch for Turkish-descent Germans for his internal politics and resents when German authorities do not facilitate it.
Besides, he resents that the German authorities do not help suppress Kurds of Turkish origin, whom he regards as separatists, if not downright terrorists.
The problem for Erdogan is that there are Kurds in other neighbouring countries too, who are keen to assert their cultural and political identity. Indeed, the Iraqi Kurds now have substantial autonomy in their region. This is something Ankara is not comfortable with
Inside Turkey, there is a sizable Kurdish minority keen to maintain its political and cultural identity. But the Turkish state doesn’t recognize any ethnic identity and regards all Turks as a part of the general category.
And this has led to a long-standing offensive against Turkey’s Kurdish minority, spawning militancy led by the Kurdish PKK, which Erdogan government has branded a terrorist organisation.
The problem for Erdogan is that there are Kurds in other neighbouring countries too, who are keen to assert their cultural and political identity. Indeed, the Iraqi Kurds now have substantial autonomy in their region. This is something Ankara is not comfortable with.
And the Syrian Kurds, having helped expel the Islamic State from Syria as US allies, are keen to govern the liberated region. But Erdogan is keen to suppress Kurdish autonomy bordering Turkey, fearing that it would set a bad example for Turkish Kurds. In the process, he regards the Kurdish YPG as terrorists as well as an offshoot of the Turkish Kurdish organization, PKK. He would like to crush any hope for them to create an autonomous region in Syria along the Turkish border.
The problem, however, is the continuing US military presence as a part of the successful US-Kurdish joint military operations against the IS in the region, even though the US has scaled down its military presence.
This brings us to the state of the US-Turkish relations, which haven’t been good despite the fact that they are NATO allies. Turkey, under Erdogan, feels let down by the US. As an ally, it should have been making Turkey’s cause its own, for instance, against the Kurds.
Erdogan has another long-standing friction with the US. He accuses it of sheltering Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose organization, Hizmet, has been accused of seeking to overthrow the Erdogan government through its vast network of supporters in the bureaucracy, military, police and educational institutions. Gulen, now an 80-year-old exile, fled to the US in 1999 to escape the then military-controlled secular regime. He lives in a small town in Pennsylvania and is accused of involvement in the last failed coup against the Erdogan government by sections of the military.
The Erdogan government has been keen to lay its hands on Gulen but has failed to persuade the US to hand him over. And this continues to be a matter of great disappointment and friction.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Turkey’s decision to buy Russian S-400 missile defence system has further strained their relations, with the US blocking the sale of its F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
Turkey has called the decision unfair. Besides, Turkey reportedly stands to lose $12 billion in future earnings as a supplier of parts for the jets.
Turkey is also not happy at being excluded from a determining role in the Middle East, where Erdogan has been a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, hunted in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. As heir to the Ottoman legacy, Erdogan doesn’t take kindly being ignored in the region that was once its old domain. In other words, there is plenty for Erdogan to be disappointed and enraged when Turkey, in his view, is not given its pride of place.
At home, he is increasingly taking to repressive measures to deal with his opposition and critics. And all this-a sense of siege at home and abroad— is damaging the economy. Things are not looking good, but Erdogan is not for turning.
The writer is a senior journalist and academic based in Sydney, Australia