ENGHow Turkey’s Hegemonic Bet on Neo-Ottomanism with Pan-Islamist Face is Costing it Friends and Allies
Finding itself at a crossroads,
increasingly isolated by its Western allies, and no longer the dominant Muslim
voice it once was, Turkey is now flexing its pan-Islamist muscles.
At a
pan-Islamism and anti-Islamophobia-themed
meeting, recently held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the
initiative of Turkey, Malaysia, Iran, and Qatar, Turkey’s President Erdoğan seized
the occasion to broadcast what has become a driving principle (in spirit, at
least) of his foreign policy projections: saving the Arabo-Muslim world from
the incessant, perennial onslaught of an essentially anti-Muslim global order.
In the
Malaysian capital, Erdoğan spoke about resistance and the need for a robust
Muslim fraternity so that the the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, surely
under Turkey’s guidance, can rise to the security and socio-economic challenges
of globalization and modernity.
Saving brothers in need, but also
driving friends and allies away
Erdoğan’s
message was clear: now is the time to revive pan-Islamism. This was later echoed
by all participants of the small circle of countries who effectively styled
themselves as the saviors, or the forerunners of a much-needed “Muslim
coalition” to liberate the Muslim world.
There is
nothing new to such pan-Islamism-flavored rhetoric in Erdoğan’s political
communication toolkit. The Turkish leader has to some degree already
effectively styled himself over the years as the “daring one” who stands up to
the West. But the Kuala Lumpur gathering came with a more consequential twist
as the MENA seeks a new economic system to extricate itself from the grasp of
the all-mighty American dollar.
All this was
merely a glimpse of Turkey’s regional ambitions. Just days after the Malaysia
meeting, Erdoğan announced Ankara’s plans to send troops to Libya to support
the beleaguered Tripoli-based and internationally recognized Government of
National Accord (GNA) in its struggle against the troops of General Khalifa
Haftar.
The Turkish
president said he was responding to an invitation from Tripoli as France,
Italy, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, and Russia-backed Haftar prepared to launch a
“final assault” on the capital Tripoli. Ankara, once again the savior and the
righteous voice in a volatile region, was only legitimately flying to the
rescue of the rightful government of Libya. The announcement was green-lighted
by the Turkish parliament on January 2.
To critics
and regional foes, the move was a dangerous threat to regional stability. But Erdoğan
swiftly fired back, arguing that “They are helping a warlord. We are responding
to an invitation from the legitimate government of Libya.”
These two
episodes—the Kuala Lumpur meeting and the decision on Libya—are inextricably
linked; they share the same ethical and ideological underpinnings. What they
convey is the pointed nostalgia of a country determined to claim the prestige
and diplomatic (or geostrategic) prominence and reverence it thinks it
deserves.
Read the
full the version of this article, by Tamba François
Koundouno, on Morocco
World News.