ERGOGAN, TURKEY, AND ISIS

The name Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is not exactly a name one hears dropped casually in kitchen conversations. He is a Turkish politician and has been president of Turkey since August 2014. ISIS set in motion a game changing event in the Syrian-Iraqi (Sunni-Shia) conflict in the Middle East. The ISIS released 49 hostages they held because of this new Turkish leader in Turkey. As are all things in the region, the significance of this is not simple to interpret. President Obama has cited fear for these politically significant hostages as the reason Turkey was not being more cooperative in the fight against ISIS. This is against a background of Turkey opposition against Syrian King al-Assad and the fact that they did overrun the Turkish embassy and capture the diplomats in the first place.

President Erdoğan is a product of an Islamic education. However, a search for evidence of sectarianism is not revealing. He is strongly anti Semitic and the media has quoted him as saying unflattering things about America.  According to his stance in Egyptian affairs and some other international situations such as the European Union, it would suggest he believes in separation of government and religion. I found this conflict between his apparent belief in democracies principle of separation of church and state and his religious education as a bit strange. It only makes sense if we look at it in the context of the “Arab Spring” sweeping that part of the world—a world wide maturing of government philosophy shifting the power from God or royalty to the individual: one-man one-vote, which signals the demise of caliphate governments.

ISIS did not repatriate the 49 diplomats as a sign of capitulation; there was some unknown deal made between them and the Turkish government or an attempt to pave the way for a deal, which obviously would include Turkish support for this radical Muslim sect. Turkey is on their northern boarder and serves as a channel for supplies and radical recruits. Turkey shares a Kurdish population but more importantly, they are trading partners with Iraq; Turkey government signed deal after deal with Maliki, the Shia Prime Minster of Iraq. Thus, Turkey was dealing with Maliki, who was a minority leader, in as much as the majority of Iraqis are Sunni. The friendly trade relationship with Maliki suggested Turkey supported the Maliki government. Of course, the Shia affiliation of Maliki unset their neighboring Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia, but was supported by Syria and Iran a Shia countries. The trade agreements either up set Turkey’s relationship with these countries or strengthen those relationships.

At this point, it is impossible for the world to know what President Erdoğan will do. Given his history, I find it hard to believe he will support ISIS. It is in the best interest of his country to support the United States and the European Union even with his seemingly intense hate for Israel, our strong ally. It would appear that he based his hate for Israel more on his support for Palestinian Arabs. Equally, his hate for America appears to be based more on our countries support for Israel, which is ameliorated by the Obama new approach to foreign policy as demonstrated in Egypt; as long as they do not threaten the U.S. security, as ISIS does, let them settle their own problems. Of course, he is very familiar with the universally hated neo-con philosophy of turning the world into a hegemony controlled by United States business, menacingly hovering like Bain venture capitalists in the wings of American Politic. His support for ISIS will not make ISIS a big winner but neither will his lack of support destroy them but it will make it easier to defeat this growing menace.

President Erdoğan will act but it will be in subtle ways; after all, he is the leader in a Muslim country and as “President”, he is in an important position that has been, up to now, only of symbolic significance. His education would suggest he is a strong Muslim but also that he is a modern political leader. Like our president, who is a strong Christian but is also a modern political leader. They both believe in separation of church and state. Nothing President Erdoğan has done or said suggests he will join in a murderous ISIS crusade to kill all Sunni Muslims on their way start a massive war with all Christians. However, only time will tell.

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