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Turkey Struggles With Syrian War

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Syrian refugee boys hold up a poster of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Reyhanli refugee camp in Hatay province on the Turkish-Syrian border March 18, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Murad Sezer)

By: Jihad al-Zein Translated from An-Nahar (Lebanon).

Istanbul airport is packed with travelers tourists, businessmen, company representatives. There is tremendous vitality in the country and car traffic is heavy. Turkey is the worlds 16th largest economy, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentione d during his visit to Washington last week. He was accompanied by 90 Turkish businessmen who also visited Silicon Valley, the worlds information technology capital. Erdogan mentioned that Turkey is Europes 6th largest economy. He complained about the big trade imbalance between Turkey and the US in the latters favor. Trade between the two countries amounts to about $20 bil lion a year.
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Summary : Turkey has gotten deeply involved in the Syrian war, which has not gone according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogans plans. Publisher: An-Nahar (Lebanon) Original Title: Turkish Politics Between Two Contradictory Phenomena Author: Jihad al-Zein

First Published: May 21, 2013 Posted on: May 27 2013 Translated by: Rani Geha Categories : Turkey Syria Security

But during Erdogans talks with President Obama, the Syrian issue was a higher priority. Erdogan brought with him a Syrian delegation composed of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who has been immersed in the Syrian conflict from the start, and Turkish security officials, who have been deeply involved in Syrian issues, especially after the Reyhanli bombing. Reyhanli is a Sunni town in a mostly Alawite region. The economic delegation included the ministers of the economy and EU affairs. They were joined by the deputy prime minister, who represented Erdogan in a visit to Fethullah Gulen, the prominent Islamist who lives in Pennsylvania and is considered one of the most important Turkish figures who can influence Islamists in Turkish elections. Gulen sponsors a global network of about 500 schools spread over Africa, Central Asia, Europe and America. I have been visiting Turkey fairly regularly since 1992 (before that, I visited Antakya in 1974). Statues and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the republic, are everywhere. Portraits of other politicians are rare, except during election season. But during my last trip, it was the first time that I had seen pictures of a politician in the streets and in small and large businesses. The pictures were of Erdogan. Let me be clear, Erdogans pictures are not as common as those of Ataturk, but they are so common that it is unlikely to have been an organized effort by Erdogans Justice and Development Party, the AKP. I dont know if the Erdogan phenomenon has a precedent with other Turkish PMs, such as Ismet Inonu (Ataturks heir), Adnan Menderes (the PM in the 1950s), Bulent Ecevit in the 1970s, or Turgut Ozal in the second half of the 1980s. Erdogan is the Turkish leader who moved Turkey into the second republic. The country moved from being under military control to civilian control (with a religious flavor). That process is still ongoing. Reports in the Turkish press and information from Turkish public affairs activists suggest that the Turkish elite is very concerned about the Syrian crisis, especially after the Reyhanli terrorist bombing. Some have talked about disturbing events that wen t unreported. Some media commentators and research center analysts are saying that Turkey has taken a risky position in the Syrian issue. One wrote an article calling on US President Obama to help rescue Turkey from the Syrian morass. The Reyhanli bombing triggered a debate on Turkeys role in Syria. The current dilemma in Turkish politics is that this policy is witnessing two contradictory phenomena. The first is an internal dynamic that is successfully led by the AKP and Erdogan. That has culminated in the path to peace (as they call it in Turkey) with the Kurds. The second phenomenon is the Turkish confusion on Syria, and Erdogans negotiations in Washington revealed a disagreement with US policy on Syria. Turkish critics say th at the source of the problem was Erdogans hasty bet that the Syrian regime would quickly collapse. Turkeys relations with Damascus and Baghdad are connected on more than one level because Turkey is at the heart of the sectarian Sunni map and is facing two Shiite regimes. So it will not be easy to convince Erdogan to be accept a political solution in Syria after the hardline countries on that issue (such as Qatar) are going so far as to risk a regional confrontation, and when Erdogan feels domestically strong. Turkeys confused regional politics, especially in Syria and Iraq, are offset by a strong internal situation, especially if a solution is reached with Turkeys Kurds. The AKP considers its relationships with the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria to be l inked. One commentator said that Erdogan may be planning a Turkish-Kurdish alliance. In Washington, Erdogan met with Obamas top officials for the Iraqi and Syrian files: Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, respectively. Despite their warm relationship with Erdogan, Biden and Kerry disagree with Erdogan on both Syria and Iraq. In Syria, the US prefers a political solution in cooperation with Moscow, even though the US wishes to remove Assad from power. In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has become Erdogans opponent, but the US wishes to protect its Iraqi oil interests and thus has not supported Iraqi Kurdistans oil policy. Turkish economic interests with Iran and Russia are large, especially in the field of gas imports. Washington is annoyed that Turkey is paying Iran via gold bullion, thus bypassing international sanctions on Tehran. There is also a proxy war over Syrian territory between Ankara on the one hand and Tehran and Moscow on the other. This war, which is currently deciding the fate of Iranian influence in the Arab world, will probably decide the political future of Erdogan and perhaps even the AKP.