The policies that have been pursued by Turkey’s president lately are turning even his former supporters into sworn enemies. He is particularly reviled in Europe today due to the encouragement of unprecedented levels of migration that Erdogan has been using to blackmail European authorities. Moreover are the scandals uncovered regarding the Turkish president and his family members involving stolen oil from ISIS smuggled for profit which have resulted in Erdogan’s reputation going down in flames.
Outright destructive activities that Turkey has been pursuing in the Syrian conflict have also contributed to its universal rejection. Many experts agree that it’s Tayyip Erdogon who is obstructing the Syrian settlement, due to his obsessive desire to kill Kurds no matter what. And Kurds are turning out to be the most effective allies in the fight against ISIS, both for Washington and Moscow. Therefore experts are convinced that Turkey’s president is becoming a major headache for both the US and Russia, states which are in two different camps regarding the Middle East today but still share a common goal of fighting ISIS.
No matter what your position is, it doesn’t seem that Washington is particularly ecstatic about its former lapdog going berserk.The Wall Street Journal openly states that:
Turkey’s growing hostility to one of America’s most effective allies in the fight against Islamic State—Syrian Kurdish fighters—is undermining efforts to step up the campaign against the extremist group, U.S. officials say.
Moreover WSJ states that US officials regard Ankara’s statements regarding Syrian Kurds arming PKK units to be completely unfounded. They believe that Turkey is becoming a hotbed of tension and Erdogan nothing more that a political problem, especially for his allies.
However, Tayyip Erdogan prefers to turn a blind eye to such warnings since he has completely lost touch with reality. After making a major stake on the creation of a Neo-Ottoman Empire, the Turkish president, even after a meeting with US Vice-President Joseph Biden that was held in late January, is still willing to bomb American allies in Syria. The Associated Press notes that in his euphoria, Erdogan has been demanding the US to make a choice between cooperation with Turkish authorities and the Kurds.
Erdogan carried on blackmailing Washington after the recent tragic events in Ankara, when Turkey’s president placed the blame on Syrian Kurds for the brutal terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 28 people, notes The New York Times.
According to the Turkish journal Hurriyet, recent events have clearly shown that Turkey’s politics in Syria have been an utter and complete failure both in militarily and political terms. This media is convinced that Erdogan has lost Washington’s trusts and, what’s even worse, depleted all of his options that could make any difference in this situation.
Erdogan, has lost a sense of reality and has decided that he can use any option against opponents of his policy for a “future world domination by the Ottoman Empire”, he even went as far as mocking Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Bloomberg notes Erdogan’s comments: “What are you doing in Syria? You’re essentially an occupier.” Perhaps Erdogan has forgotten that Russian military forces in Syria have arrived after the request of the legitimate government of Syria to help it fight terrorists in accordance with international law, and therefore they would be the last ones to be called “invaders.“
It’s ironic that Erdogan fits the description of an “occupier” better than anybody else. How else can one label the ongoing shelling of the Syrian military in north-west Latakia? Or the incursion of Turkish forces into Syria, that has even become the subject of a UN Security Council discussion? The massacre of the Kurdish population along both sides of Turkish-Syrian border reminds one of the Armenian genocide, which Turkey has denied to this day despite universal condemnation.
It’s been reported that after crossing the border with Syria, Turkish military units have started digging trenches within 200 meters from the border. At the same time Turkish artillery units continued shelling Kurdish forces and civilians alike near Afrin and Aazaz.
It has been underlined more that once that Turkey’s policies have become increasingly unhinged, due to oppressive policies of Tayyip Erdogan. According to the American political scientist David Goldman, in the nearest future Turkey runs the risk of becoming a “failed” state. This is the direct result of misguided Turkish authorities and the oppression of the Kurdish people, which started with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and is being carried on to the present day. And Erdogan’s recent actions can be labeled as a veritable genocide that should be condemned by the international community. Western military analysts also believe that, if there is no change in the political leadership of the country, in the medium term, Turkey won’t be able to preserve its borders, and Kurdish separatism will become the start of an end for it.
Martin Berger is a Czech-based freelance journalist and analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.