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Earlier this month, the Turkish government decided to convert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque after more than 80 years in the museum, and some experts believe that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, through his expansionist policies at home and abroad foreigner, is trying to revive the Ottoman Empire at the expense of Arab countries, according to the website. Voice of America.
Despite worldwide condemnation, the first prayer was held in Hagia Sophia last Friday, and Erdogan attended the service, describing the decision as a “great achievement” and a “renewal of the nation”.
“Erdogan sees himself as a successor to the Islamic world,” said David Phillips, director of the peacebuilding and rights program at Columbia University. He added that Erdogan was pursuing an expansionist policy outside Turkey and that under the pretext of fighting terrorism, he attacked the Kurds in Syria and Iraq and used his army to expand Turkey’s influence in Libya.
In recent years, observers have noticed an increase in the rate of Turkish military interventions, unlike what has happened in a century since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, from destroyed Syria to Kurdish region from northern Iraq, and from oil-rich Qatar to poor countries in East and West Africa, and the Balkans. Towards Libya.
“Erdogan has a small empire,” said Soner Cagaptay, author of “Erdogan’s Empire: Turkey and Middle East Policy”.
In most cases, Turkish forces are welcomed by governments facing serious domestic or foreign threats, but in some cases, Turks have continued to achieve their own goals regardless of host governments’ objections, analysts say.
They claim that military expansion, often followed by investment opportunities for Turkish companies, has angered US allies in Europe and the Arab world.
Syria and Iraq
In Syria and Iraq, human rights groups accuse Turkey and its operatives of serious human rights violations, but Turkey denies these allegations and says its ongoing military operations in Iraq and Syria are acts of self-defense against the PKK.
“In this region, there is terrorism perpetrated by the PKK and the Kurdish people’s protection units, from which we have also suffered,” Gulnur Aybet, senior adviser to Erdogan, told Voice of America.
Although the Iraqi and Syrian governments both condemned the Turkish interventions and considered it a violation of the territories of the two countries, Turkey has announced that it does not intend to withdraw its forces from Iraq and Syria. anytime soon.
Speaking about the Turkish presence in Syria last week, Erdogan said: “We will continue in this country until our neighbors achieve freedom, peace and security.” In northern Iraq, Turkish companies are investing heavily in the oil, banking and construction sectors.
Africa
In Africa, Erdogan began a policy of openness in 2005, when Turkey began to strengthen its military and economic relations with many countries on the continent.
And in 2017, when Somalia was attacked by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, Turkey established its largest foreign military base in Mogadishu, where it began training Somali soldiers.
Turkish intervention in Africa goes beyond the armed sector, as Turkey has opened dozens of embassies in Africa, and it now has 42 embassies, a significant increase since 2003, when it had 12 embassies.
In 2018, Turkey’s trade volume with the continent reached over $ 23 billion, up from around $ 5 billion in 2003, but by expanding its influence in Africa, Turkey appears to have aroused deep suspicion in the country. towards the Arab world.
Arab-Turkish conflict
In 2015, Turkey established a military base in Qatar, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the move comes a year after the withdrawal of Saudi ambassadors, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Egypt Qatar.
And in 2017, when the diplomatic feuds in the Persian Gulf deepened and turned into an economic boycott, Turkey sent more forces to Qatar to prevent a possible military attack on its ally, but nothing more angered them. Arab countries than Turkey’s recent move to oil-rich Libya.
In recent months, Turkish forces have turned the tide of the Libyan war in favor of the Government of National Accord against forces of the< Armée nationale libyenne >> led by Khalifa Haftar, who are supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, which has prompted Egypt to threaten direct military intervention in Libya if the Sirte-Jufrah line is crossed by forces. The government of national accord and Turkey, which prompted the United Nations to warn of a “great danger” of regional war.
Turkish writer Cagaptay said: “In Libya, Turkey has multiple goals. She is trying to ensure that Ankara’s friendly government is not overthrown in the capital, Tripoli, as Ankara seeks debt collection. of the time of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, in addition to his participation in the issue of reconstruction. “
Cagaptay pointed out that the growing hostility between Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is also linked to ideological differences. Erdogan belongs to the Islamist political movement which jailed secular generals, while Sisi is the secular general who jailed political Islamists, in addition to the struggle between the two leaders over the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Arab region in wider.
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