Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is once again agitating against the West, glorifying Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters.” But why, after recent advances, is the tactician fueling even more conflict? Erdogan faces a dilemma. A classification.
When Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared before tens of thousands of people at the former Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Saturday, he was in custody. In his own story. His words, shouted into the sea of Turkish flags for Palestine, will enrage Western partners and alarm Israel.
Wearing sunglasses and a Palestine scarf around his shoulders, he launches a general attack on the West. Erdogan says the ‘massacre’ in the Gaza Strip is the work of the same imperialists. He speaks of a ‘crusade atmosphere’. He describes Israel as a “war criminal” and whispers that Turkey could also surprise “overnight”. Before that, he ennobled the terrorist group Hamas as ‘freedom fighters’.
Erdogan’s roll backwards
The action marks the completion of a remarkable turnaround in Erdogan’s rhetoric. After the massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7, the Turkish president sounded very different. He condemned the terrorist attacks and positioned himself as a mediator. The sounds from the Bosphorus were thoughtful, deliberate and de-escalating.
Today they sound brutal, aggressive, but no less calculated. Because Erdogan’s initial leniency was met with resistance among the population. Solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip is one of the few agreements that the divided Turkish society can agree on.
Surveys by the opinion research institute “Areda Survey” show that the majority of the population is in favor of sending Turkish troops to the war-torn enclave as part of a peacekeeping army.
After the last parliamentary elections in the spring of 2023, Erdogan is also dependent on coalition partners that are even more fundamentalist and nationalist than his AKP. They also increased the pressure. The irony: Erdogan is haunted by his own policies of the past twenty years. Only since his reign did the Muslim faith become a dominant factor in Turkish politics and society. The country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was also a nationalist, but attached great importance to the separation of religion and state.
All rapprochement in vain?
The escalation in the Middle East comes at an inopportune time for Erdogan. Lately, the Turkish president has been trying to get closer to the West. To shore up Turkey’s ailing economy, Erdogan has recently improved relations with Greece, struck an energy deal with Israel and hoped to receive fighter jets from the United States in exchange for Sweden joining NATO.
But now all these projects are probably in ruins. Because instead of mediating, the Turkish ruler is now at the head of an anti-Semitic and extremely dangerous mass movement in Turkey. Citizens have already tried to storm the Israeli consulate. Jews are now being called on to leave the country as quickly as possible.
After the “tough statements” from Turkey, Israel also recalled its diplomatic representatives from the country. The Jewish state will reassess its relations with Turkey, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen wrote on Platform X on Saturday. Erdogan seems to be sliding more and more away from his own story.
At the same time, the self-proclaimed patron saint of the Muslim world was offended. “President Erdogan’s goal is to be present and influential in the post-war settlement of the Gaza Strip and to play a key role in the mediation and reconstruction process. Like some regional observers, he sees Turkey uniquely positioned to play such a role,” geopolitical expert Rich Outzen explained at the Atlantic Council.
Chairman offside
But since the outbreak of war, Ankara has only served as a stopover for top diplomats on their way to Amman, Cairo, Doha or Tel Aviv. As with the war in Ukraine, Erdogan saw Turkey as a mediator in this conflict – after all, it had sheltered Hamas representatives for years. He could have taken advantage of that now. Only: others mediate.
Egypt, in cooperation with the UN, the US and the EU, is delegating humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and Qatar has a strong voice when it comes to the release of hostages. Erdogan’s claim to establish Turkey as a protective power for oppressed Muslims currently remains just that: wishful thinking. Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s (ÖVP) state visit to Turkey was probably only a very weak consolation.
How should we deal with Erdogan?
Domestic political pressure, foreign policy insults and his own agitation over the past decades are causing Erdogan to conjure up yet another conflict of faith, though a conflagration would also have devastating consequences for Turkey. Above all economic. His glorification of Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters” in late October caused shares on the Istanbul Stock Exchange to plummet.
The 100 companies with the highest turnover lost seven percent of their value within a few hours. It is the biggest drop since early February, the Financial Times reports.
Erdogan’s backward role makes cooperation with Turkey more difficult, and not only on an economic level. Governments are now faced with the question of how to deal in the future with capricious autocrats who see rape, kidnapping and the slaughter of families as a struggle for freedom.
When asked by krone.at, the office of Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) said: “All constructive forces in the region are urgently called upon to work to prevent a fire.” Hamas is a “terrorist organization whose stated goal is to destroy the State of Israel.” This conclusion was not only reached in the EU. The US, Great Britain, Canada and Japan also have Hamas on their terror lists.
Erdogan, the commander-in-chief of the second largest army in NATO, sees things differently and is once again fueling fantasies of violence against his Western partners to maintain his own power. The Turkish president is resorting to the poison that has always ensured his political dominance in Turkey: extreme Islamism.
“We will continue to be successful and victorious. No imperialist power can prevent this,” Erdogan said on Sunday evening on the occasion of Turkey’s 100th anniversary.
The winners are the misanthropes
But the losers already seem to have it clear: they are Turks. The conflict will further empty their wallets, political rapprochement with the West appears to have come to a standstill and their reputation in other European countries will suffer new scars. Because of a man who would rather deal with terrorists than oppose anti-Semitic trends in his own country.
Powers like Hamas may feel like they are winners. Who build their entire existence on the hatred that Erdogan is now cultivating.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
