at very last edition of time magazine (1), turkish prime minister erdogan was on the cover. bobby ghosh remarked in his article that united states president obama and the arab street are of one mind by the help of erdogan and as the journalist mentioned this is a very rare case. i think this is the most essential observation in the article and maybe this is why the magazine chose ‘erdogan’s moment’ as title.(2)
it is a very common manner that the leaders in “east” are being identified according to their relationship with united states or “west”. five years ago united states praised libya leader muammer gaddafi for its “excellent co-operation” in the us-led war on terror (3) but in 2011 same leader became the target of united states and nato. gaddafi put enormous effort to keep peace (4) but he shared the same end as former iraq president saddam hussein. again, it is very confusing that ghosh identified turkish prime minister erdogan as a symbol of democracy although he is “running roughshod over political rivals, tossing enemies into jail and intimidating the media”. if similar events would be reported in a political (or economical) rival of united states, i am very sure that the leader of this country will be named as a definite dictator!
and this is how the magazine defines syrian president bashar assad. two years ago turkey and syria signed an agreement to create a high-level strategic cooperation and held a joint cabinet-meeting (5). in addition to this erdogan was calling assad as “his brother” but now all changed. syria is rightfully accusing turkey for hosting anti-assad terrorist groups. also they have halted the activities of their gaziantep consulate in turkey. (6) media is blaming syrian president for all deads in the country but the news from independent journalists who are reporting from syria are vastly different (7)
in the very first years of erdogan’s regime, he was aiming zero problems with all neighbours. in addition to syria and other neighbours, as ghosh mentioned “relations with tahran have already cooled down since turkey agreed to install new nato radar systems designed to detect missiles launched from iran”. now iran threatens to hit turkey if united states attack. (8) how iran’s nuclear ambitions became a concern for ankara? (9)
in 1980s, turgut ozal, former prime minister and then the president of turkey, was pledging turkey to be “little america”. it is very clear that after these unfriendly politics towards syria and iran, erdogan -very admirer of ozal- will be the leader to reach this “target”. this would be compatible with united states’ plans for middle east but is there any beneficial point for turkey?
