A confusing position

A confusing position

June 09, 2017
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey’s position on Qatar is confusing if not indeed unfathomable. On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was urgently working the telephones talking to Riyadh, Moscow, Doha and Kuwait in what his aides said was a determined effort to ease tensions in the Gulf. The following day the Turkish parliament hurried through legislation that could see the dispatch of up to 3,000 troops to the small base that Turkey has operated in Qatar since 2014.

These two initiatives are clearly contradictory. On Tuesday, Erdogan announces that he is trying to reduce the political stress in the region. On Wednesday, his legislators actually increase the tension with their decision to send troops. Such a deployment might indicate that some believe that there is a possibility that Qatar could be invaded by its neighbors. Such a view is deeply unhelpful. Leaping to Qatar’s defense when there is no threat whatsoever actually ratchets up the tensions and muddies the political waters.

As a result of the land, air and sea blockade led by the Kingdom, the emirate now has some serious questions to ask itself about its consistent support for terror groups to the detriment of those who have long been its friends and allies. Turkey’s spurious military intervention is likely to delay Qatar’s recognition of the harsh economic and political realities that now face it.

Government officials in Ankara are trying to argue that members of parliament acted independently in moving up the agenda the already-contemplated legislation on increased military links with Qatar.
Opposition members sought unsuccessfully to argue two key points. The first was that Turkey had no business saber-rattling in an affair that in no way affected its national interest. The second and obviously more powerful objection was that Turkey’s relations with the rest of the Arab world could be placed in jeopardy.

At the time of the Arab Spring, which turned out to be a disaster for every country involved save Tunisia, where it all began, Erdogan’s Turkey was held up as a shining example of a successful democracy led by a moderate Islamic government. That image became tarnished as it became clear that Turkey was quietly supporting rebels.

Turkey’s international commercial rise has been largely based on its construction, textile and white goods industries, which have established profitable markets throughout the Arab world. This success has been put at risk by the sudden policy shift to back Qatar. Ordinary Turks must be asking what they themselves have to gain from this risky relationship with an extremely rich but now very isolated emirate. There will be suspicions, surely unfounded, that the only possible benefit might accrue to the country’s leadership in Ankara.

Turks are a proud people. Today some may admire this planned projection of their country’s military power. But others will ask why Ankara has abandoned its honorable position as a trusted mediator to become instead a player in an issue that is not its business. Most Turks will actually be confused. The Tuesday Erdogan was a man of peace and negotiation. The Wednesday Erdogan put his hand on his sword.


June 09, 2017
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