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Erdogan's New

(Hudson Institute-New York) Harold Rhode - Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's recent electoral victory speech puts his true intentions regarding Turkey's foreign policy goals in perspective. He said that this victory is as important in Ankara as it is in Sarajevo, which was an important Ottoman city; as important in Izmir as it is in Damascus, and as important in Istanbul as it is in Jerusalem. The speech signals a wish for Ottoman cultural colonialism and imperialism. The places Erdogan named were all part of the pre-World War I Ottoman Empire. Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu, in the depths of their souls, are fundamentalist Sunni Muslims. The Turkish-Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian alliance, which Erdogan worked so hard to build, has failed. A Shi'ite Iran, an Alawi-ruled Syria, and a Shiite-dominated Iraq are not natural allies for the Sunni Turks. It is in this context that we should understand Turkey's renewed interest in the U.S. and Israel. Erdogan's Turkey does not see long-term interests with either. Given economic developments in Iran, Alawite oppression in Syria, and Shiite dominance in Iraq, Erdogan understands that he must take a temporary hiatus from his goal of reasserting what appears to be his real goal - the Turkish Sunni domination of the entire Middle East. The writer joined the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense in 1982 as an advisor on Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. From 1994 until 2010 he served in the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment.
2011-07-19 00:00:00
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