Neo-Ottoman Dream (Turkish: Yeni Osmanlıcılık) is a Turkish political ideology that, in its broadest sense, promotes greater political engagement of the Republic of Turkey within regions formerly under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor state that covered among others, the territory of modern Turkey also.
The Ottoman Empire was an influential global power which, at its peak, controlled the Balkans, most of the modern-day Middle East, most of coastal North Africa (at least nominally), and the Caucasus. Neo-Ottoman Dream and its Foreign Policy encourages increased engagement in these regions as part of Turkey’s growing regional influence. This foreign policy contributed to an improvement in Turkey’s relations with its neighbors, particularly with Iraq, Iran and Syria.
When Turkey launched itself as a freelancer into Syrian War, there was a tectonic change in the way Arab rebellions are being handled – this is the first instance of a country which joined Arab Rebellions with the intent of territorial expansion. The world already knew of Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman dream and aspirations – his new map of Turkey where parts of Greece and Syria are shown as to be parts of Turkey and his open calls to scrap off Treaty of Lausanne. It looked as if he primed everything to make Turkey Ottoman again.
There are multiple themes at play here – all of them aimed towards the same thing – Turkey is the new Ottoman Empire and Erdogan the new Caliph. He attempting to use the New Zealand terror attack footage for elections is no coincidence. His overt involvement in Libya is no coincidence. His Syrian ambitions and Greek border clashes is also no coincidence.
Erdogan’s plan seem to be simple – create a refugee situation and threaten the world with unleashing these refugees on the world unless his demands are not met. May be, he expects a Munich 1938 without the World War that followed?
Turkish Aggression in Lebanon – Was Turkey behind the recent Beirut Port Blast?
A recent quarrel between Lebanese of Armenian and Turkish origin illustrates how Turkey’s standing in Lebanon has evolved under Erdogan. In a live program on Al Jadeed TV in June, ethnic Armenian host Nishan Der-Haroutounian called Erdogan “an obnoxious Ottoman” as former Environment Minister Wiam Wahab criticized Erdogan’s regional policies. The show sparked a barrage of insults to Armenians on social media, while members of an Arab community that claims ancestry from Turkey’s southeastern province of Mardin staged a protest outside the TV station. Mounir Hassan, a leading member of the community, posted a video threatening to slaughter Beirut’s Armenians. “We … are proud of the massacre that our Ottoman ancestors carried out against the Armenians because you deserve it,” he said. Ankara, meanwhile, handed a formal note of protest to Beirut and legal proceedings were launched against Der-Haroutounian.
The incident unleashed accusations that Ankara was trying to mobilize communities with ancestries from Turkey to gain a foothold in Lebanon. The daily Al Akhbar wrote that Turkey had been using “smart mechanisms” in the style of the Muslim Brotherhood to cultivate influence in Tripoli and northern Lebanon, where the Sunnis are concentrated, since Erdogan visited the Turkmen village of Kouachra in 2010. The article alleged that the Turkish diplomatic mission and intelligence service were involved in the efforts, along with TIKA, the government’s agency in charge of development projects abroad. More than 10,000 Lebanese have received scholarships to study in Turkey, it said, adding that the Turkish Embassy was encouraging those of Turkish and Turkmen ancestry to obtain Turkish citizenship.
Lebanese authorities reportedly suspect Turkish interference in anti-government protests in the north earlier this summer amid concerns that Turkey might be using humanitarian aid for the needy to cultivate political influence. In remarks in early July, then interior minister Mohammed Fahmi said four people had been arrested after arriving on a private plane from Turkey in possession of $4 million, pointing an accusing finger at Ankara.
As per some sources recent blast in Beirut port though media is branding it as an accident, had Turkish hand to destabilize and cause unrest in Lebanon. We covered about the massive Beirut blast in our previous article Destruction after Blast in Beirut, Lebanon : Aid Pouring In From All Over
Turkey Aggression in Mediterranean – French Naval assets also deployed in Mediterranean
In response to Turkey showing its aggression in Mediterranean, France said that it will boost its military presence in the Mediterranean to show that international law must be respected, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday 12-August 2020, as he criticized Turkey’s oil exploration in the region. Paris deployed naval vessels to the eastern Mediterranean in support of Greece, which is embroiled in a confrontation with Ankara over oil and gas exploration in disputed waters off Cyprus. We covered about Turkey imperialism in Cyprus in our previous article Imperialist Turkey Threatens to Invade whole of Cyprus, Encircles Cyprus
Macron also demanded that Turkey end its unilateral oil exploration, during a phone call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Turkey condemned for converting Hagia Sophia to a Mosque
Before that Turkey came under heavy criticism from France on Hagia Sophia issue. The French government condemned the decision of the Turkish authorities to revert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque. We covered about Hagia Sophia in details in our previous article Turkish Hypocrisy: Do To Hagia Sophia, What They Complain To The World
Turkey – Pakistan Threat to Middle East Kingdoms
Turkey’s closeness to Pakistan is something worth watching. No one wants to cozy up to a failed and bankrupt nation which is a formally designated state sponsor of terror for nothing. Is it Pakistani Nuclear Weapons which Erdogan is eyeing at? Or is it Pakistani mercenaries infiltrated through the refugee ratlines into Europe? Or is that getting Pakistani Mercenaries into Saudi forces who would act as serpents in bosom when the time comes and will switch side to turkey backed forces leading to downfall of Saudi Arabia?
What ever his reasons are, Erdogan has bit a bullet bigger than what he can chew by openly siding Pakistan and against India.
Azerbaijan – Armenia added to an already explosive equation
The Pakistan equation has given Turkey another friend – Azerbaijan unnecessarily raking up the century old Armenian Genocide things. Azerbaijan-Armenia border situation is well known. A hard pressed Aliyev seems to be searching for allies and it is understood that, a year ago, Azerbaijani Defence Minister was in Pakistan for defence procurement. A country which didn’t have normal terms with Azerbaijan for decades suddenly cozies up with the country after decades. A Turkish military contingent is already sent to Azerbaijan in the name of military exercises. What if Armenia links the existing fight to the 1915 Armenian Genocide? Is it something an average Turk will take lightly?
China Support
After Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi burnt the bridges with Saudi which is impossible without Turkish intervention (China is not known to be openly against Saudi Arabia), the OIC has opened a new front – UAE has normalized it’s terms with Israel in President Trump backed Israel-UAE peace deal. US President has already appealed to other countries to enter into similar agreements with Israel. There are rumors that other countries will follow suit. This act of UAE has unhinged Erdogan more than anyone – in an ironic twist of events, Turkey, which maintains close terms with Israel has decided to shudown it’s diplomatic mission in UAE in protest.
Related Article Erdogan’s Imperialist Neo-Ottoman Empire: Who is Financing it?
US presence in Gulf was kind of providing security and unhindered supply of petro-dollars as Turkey and Iran couldn’t think of attacking middle East because of US presence
None of the countries in middle East have credible Navy and Army of its own. Saudi Arabia depends on hired slaves from Pakistan who in the last hour of attack, can surrender to enemies and can open Saudi gates to its enemies from within. This was recently witnessed. Houthi rebels who were fighting with the Saudi-led forces in the Arabian peninsula in September 2019, claimed to have captured hundreds of Saudis and Pakistani mercenaries, with thousands of others surrendering before the armed group, including three brigades of mercenaries led by former-Pakistan Army chief Raheel Sharif from Pakistan during a clash between the Saudi and Houthi forces in the southern Saudi region of Najran.
Related Article Largest Drone Attack against Saudi Oil Facilities of Aramco
Now with US leaving the middle East, it will be an open battlefield for Turkey and it’s supported terrorist organisations like Hezabullah, Houthis, Pakistanis to attack Saudi and other middle East countries with impunity.
Turkey combined with Pakistan can act as a spoiler of Decades of accumulation of wealth and petro-dollars under protection of US presence more like an insurance policy
Because of US presence, Sea routes to Gulf were safe. Oil could be delivered to all customers with surety. Now with US leaving the region, all the nations would have to defend their own asses themselves.
This is foreseen by UAE. Already the dynasties in Middle East have issues and not all gel with each other very well. 70% of residents are workers from other countries who have built Empires in middle East nations. Since there are enough enemies within middle East, all nations need partners with bigger powers. At that moment UAE has chosen to side with Israel.
Other big player in the nearest region is India with the second largest Army in the world and the 4th strongest Military in the world.
With its Arch rival Pakistan training and exporting thousands of Islamic Radical Terrorists in the different conflicts in Middle East, it is important to form alliance with Israel and India.
Downfall of Turkey and Erdogan
As it stands today, this is the situation – Erdogan has lost both Istanbul and Ankara to opposition and he may lose the elections this time. This is all an attempt to create a situation where no one will be in a position to mend bridges after he leaves – and on the other side, try to stay in power for ever. Turkey is retreating in Greece, in Libya, in Syria on the diplomatic front against the whole world, it has burned bridges with every oil producing country in the neighborhood except Azerbaijan and is fast following Pakistan towards sovereign default and bankruptcy. It needs to be seen who will undo Erdogan – the Turks themselves or the wider world.
Turkish Economy is the most vulnerable among all the big economies of the world. It’s a known and proven fact. But, in the last few months, we have seen Turkey unleashing waves and waves of refugees on Greek Border, smuggle weapons into Libya and even conduct air raids there, large scale murder of Kurds, and block supply of water to vast swathes of Syria in the name of fight against Chinese Virus COVID-19.
Clearly, Turkish Economy is not capable of waging a multi-pronged war like this, even though Erdogan’s Neo-Ottoman imperialistic agenda always dreamt of that. A proof of this comes from the utter mishandling of Chinese Virus COVID-19 crisis in Turkey. Journalists are arrested for “misreporting”, people arrested for “spreading rumors” and rumors of people dying but not acknowledged by the government.
Points to Ponder
In last couple of Decades we have heard of Erdogan’s Imperialist Neo-Ottoman dream. Be it Cyprus, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon and lately Europe, the influence of Turkey to establish itself as leader of Muslim Ummah is ever increasing.
Will Turkey be successful in establishing Neo-Ottoman Empire? If it is successful, it means many countries including the Middle East nations of Saudi, UAE and others may see toppling of their governments by Islamist Radicals and some Terrorist organizations like ISIS, Hezbollah and Pakistanis backed by Turkey.
Twitter Handle: @newscomworld
Instagram Handle: @newscomworld
Parler Handle: @newscommuniquecom
Subscribe our : YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnKJQ3gFsRVWpvdjnntQoAA
Like our Facebook Page https://m.facebook.com/News-Communiquecom-103788531007438/
3,088 total views