Erdogan assumes the role of Arab reconciler

PanARMENIAN.Net - For the presidential campaign to run smoothly, the Prime Minister should dismiss the Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu whose activities did nothing but harm to Turkey. During the past few years, the Turkish foreign policy has been focusing on confrontation rather than stabilization of relations with its neighbours. Now, Erdoğan suddenly comes up as an Arab reconciler, which is nonsense. Islamic solidarity is good indeed, yet for the time being. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire has not faded yet, and the Arabs have not forgotten the occupation of their own lands and Turks’ hatred to various Arab tribes.

This is what the Syrian state agency SANA says about Erdoğan: “This is a new sultan obsessed with megalomania who uses the moss-grown wording dating back to the Ottoman Empire the Arab nations rose against. In vain he tries to eliminate the memory of the Arab nation that has once shattered the Osmanism. He seems to have forgotten that Damascus, Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah and other Syrian cities have rejected his ancestors. Today, these very cities reject descendants of those invaders and oppose their mercenaries Erdoğan send to spread death among the Syrian people. Erdoğan who speaks about freedom and independence, is in fact a spear the West targets at the whole region. Also, Erdoğan watches the Israeli slander the Prophet and does nothing to counteract this.”

Turkey’s role in the “fight against dictator Assad” has been much spoken about. Ankara openly funds the militants of Syrian opposition and trains them in the camps allegedly established for the refugees; members of al-Qaeda and other extremist organizations move to Syria through the Turkish territory.

It is worth noting that the Turkish opposition sent a clear message to Erdoğan saying his dreams of Ottoman Empire’s revival are not only unfeasible but also pose danger for Turkey and the whole region. However, the Turkish PM seems to have lost the sense of reality; his statements, if not aimed at domestic audience and cheap populism, resemble a reckless scheme. Securing the support of the new Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi, Erdoğan attempts to launch the revival of Osmanism in Egypt. Actually, Syria is more important for him, but he will hardly succeed here. Morsi does not know either what to do with Syria: either reject the military intervention, or join Assad’s dethronement, in case this does happen. Still, Morsi backs Turkey and Wahhabite monarchies of the Gulf which support the terrorists under the pretext of protecting the human rights and freedoms. There seem to be certain discrepancy here: extremists from the Society of the Muslim Brothers, and human rights along with democracy... But this is what the U.S. wants and provides funding for; hence, Morsi and others will further speak of democracy.

During the past three years, the U.S. Department of State “became known” for its Near East policy which yielded nothing good either for the region or the U.S.. Christopher Stevens’ appointment as the American ambassador in Libya and his assassination in Benghazi showed the unawareness of the Department of State of the situation in Arab countries. And this is just the beginning. Bashar al-Assad will fight until the very end. Meanwhile, Turkey will either have to take a neutral stance with regard to Syria, or collapse; Kurds will “aid” it to do the latter.