Outsized ambitions leave Turkey with hefty bill
Turkey is isolated not just by its neighbors but also by nations further afield.
On Dec. 24, 2009, Turkish and Syrian ministers held a joint Cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Damascus. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shook hands with everyone present before Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Mohammed Naji al-Otari, sat down at the table to ink agreements. After they signed 13 accords, their ministers followed suit. No fewer than 51 agreements were signed in a single day. Erdogan warmly addressed his “brother Assad” and declared that Turkey and Syria had ushered into a “new era.”
The Arab Spring brought similar scenes of friendship with Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
The wave that rose with Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution whispered to Erdogan and his then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that “the time is just right” for their covert neo-Ottoman agenda. In February 2011, Davutoglu flew to Tunis and huddled with Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist Ennahda movement, at the Turkish Embassy. The Tunisian version of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was ready to go.
Soon, Libya’s interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil was given a red carpet welcome in Ankara. The Turkish government allocated $300 million in aid to Libya, flying part of it to Tripoli in cash stashed in suitcases. Libya’s AKP was ready to go as well.
