https://eurasiantimes.com/turkey-is-no- ... r-erdogan/
Turkey Is No Friend Of India; Modi Must Decipher Erdogan’s ‘Dangerous Ambitions’ That Threaten India & Beyond
Padma Shri KN Pandita, September 26, 2022
Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began to believe that he had a divine mission of reviving the lost grandeur of the Ottoman Empire, he concluded that a road to achieving that ambition lay through the labyrinth of Islamic revivalism.
In his college days, he was influenced by the Islamic Brotherhood Movement. His pro-Islamist reach is also because of the repeated refusal of the European Union to admit Turkey as a regular member. Deep inside, his inclination towards Islamism springs more from vengeance and much less from conviction in all Islam claims.
“The mask of pro-Europeanism started to erase after continuous attempts by Turkey to be a part of the EU failed. After the 2011 Arab Spring, Erdogan asserted his support for Islamist political forces in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region like Mohammad Morsi in Egypt and the ‘Dawn Coalition’ in Libya,” wrote Tahiroglu in Ankara’s Failure.
Firstly, Erdogan supported the Muslim Brotherhood-led Morsi government so much so that when Morsi was deposed in 2013 by al-Sisi in a military coup, and the latter became the president, Erdogan refused to recognize Sisi as a legitimate ruler of Egypt.
Secondly, when the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood leadership began under Sisi, many of its leaders and sympathizers relocated to Turkey. Thirdly, Erdogan’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood has been one of the main issues of contention between Turkey and its relations with the Arabs.
The UAE, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are also on opposing sides of Turkey in Libya. The Arab monarchies are supporting the General Khalifa Haftar-led Libyan National Army.
Erdogan, who has regional ambitions in the Eastern Mediterranean, firmly supports the Government of National Accord, which has close relations with the Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey’s relations with Saudi Arabia have been badly affected after the killing of pro-US Jamal Khashoggi.
However, Qatar and Turkey share ideological convergence in supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups like Hamas. Qatar also opposed Morsi’s overthrow, like Turkey. This explains the basis of their friendly relationship.
While addressing the Sixth Religious Council meeting of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB) in Ankara in November 2019, Erdogan charged that Muslim countries “look for solutions in the Western capitals for their problems, instead of reaching out to their Muslim brothers and sisters for help.” He contemplates new leadership of the ummah (an Arabic word meaning “community”) and discards the existing one.
Erdogan has been trying to gather international muscle around the idea of reviving the Muslim ummah, which other Islamic states like Pakistan and Malaysia have actively supported.
Erdogan praised the then Pakistan PM Imran Khan for raising the voice for Muslim ummah and the issue of Kashmir at a reception hosted for the participants of the Third Speakers Conference in Istanbul in October 2019.
At the UN General Assembly in 2019, Erdogan raked up Kashmir and criticized the international community for not paying attention to the issue.
This speech came just a month after the Indian government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status (Article 370) in August 2019. He also highlighted the intervention issues in Yemen and Qatar and the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, and Qatar also tried to create an alternative to the Saudi-dominated Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by holding an Islamic summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2019.
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Gautam