Erdogan's Turkey emerging as new Mideast power

2011-09-08

ISTANBUL - As the only Muslim member of NATO and the first country in the wider Middle East to forge relations with Israel, Turkey had long been seen as having its diplomatic feet firmly planted in the West.

But under the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it has come to increasingly rewrite the script, not only falling out with Israel and breaking ranks with the West over its response towards Iran's nuclear ambitions but also showing a willingness to get tough with Syria.

According to Bertrand Badie, a Paris-based professor of international relations, Erdogan is filling the breach while Arab leaders are busy trying to cling onto their posts in the wake of popular uprisings.

"There is an empty space (in the region) due to the lack of Arab power. Turkey is filling that space," said Badie, an international relations professor based in Paris.

Erdogan's office announced on Wednesday that the prime minister would next week embark on a regional tour which will take in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia -- the three countries to have overthrown their leaders in the Arab uprisings.

He has already indicated the trip to Egypt could include a visit to the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run enclave wedged between Egypt and Israel, which would underline his commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Erdogan has defended Hamas as "resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land."

Regardless of whether Erdogan actually goes to Gaza or not, his willingness to make such a visit is seen as a veiled reproach to Arab leaders who have shunned the impoverished territory since Hamas seized power in 2007.

Last week's decision to expel the Israeli ambassador and suspend all military and defense industry ties put an end, at least temporarily, to years of friendship and cooperation.

Israel lost an ally, while Turkey lost its role as an intermediary between Arabs and Israel. For example Ankara facilitated indirect discussions between Israel and Syria in the 1990s over the Golan Heights.

Analysts have warned that Erdogan's fall-out with Israel could damage Turkey's standing in Washington, particularly in the US Congress where support for the Jewish state has been particular strong.

However, Erdogan showed his willingness to upset Washington when Turkey publicly opposed new sanctions against Iran drawn up by the United States and the European Union over Tehran's nuclear program.

And yet Erdogan has also been willing to alienate Arab leaders, carpeting neighboring Syria for its bloody crackdown on protests.

Writing in Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper, the columnist Mustafa Akyol said that Turkey was reacting to the reality of a world which "is really less black and white" and that it was no longer to stereotype its allegiances.

"We are an ally of neither Iran nor Syria, as we have been busy condemning the latter’s brutality on its own people," he wrote. "On the other hand, we are an ally of the United States, but not its yes-man."

Nor has the frenetic diplomatic activity been limited to the Arab world. Last month, Erdogan visited drought-hit Somalia, becoming the first non-African leader to visit Mogadishu since the beginning of the civil war in 1991.

"The tragedy going on here is a test for civilization and contemporary values... The civilized world must successfully pass this test in order to prove that Western values are not made up of empty rhetoric," Erdogan said.

In an earlier show of solidarity with Muslim suffering, he paid a visit last year to areas of Pakistan ravaged by floods.

Badie said Turkey's "hyperactive diplomacy" was in part possible due to its burgeoning economy. Gross domestic product grew 8.9 percent last year.

"The privilege of being a developing country is that you have your one foot in the rich countries, and the other in the poor," he said.

And as it takes on a higher diplomatic profile among other Muslim countries, Bradie said there should be no surprise if feathers are ruffled.

"Turkey is becoming a world power, an actor you cannot do without. But to achieve this goal, Turkey must first be a regional power. That's what they are doing," he added.

"But, when you become bigger and more powerful, you can't keep all your friends," Badie warned. "That's what is happening with Israel," he added.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=47974.