Turkey rows against the tide
Ideological assumptions based on Islamist and Sunni sympathies, as well as a series of bad judgments, leave Turkey with diminished influence in a region where it once hoped to play a leadership role.
Turkey is clearly a reluctant member of the coalition being spearheaded by the United States, with support from Saudi Arabia, against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. The reasons for this have been amply covered by Al-Monitor and may be understandable from Ankara’s perspective. Not everyone is that understanding, however.
Turkey’s responses to crises in the Middle East are forcing many to question what Ankara is ultimately trying to achieve in a volatile part of the world where it hoped until recently to be a game changer, but where its plans have foundered.
What is seen instead is a Turkey pursuing objectives out of touch with developments on the ground, and which have resulted in isolation because of miscalculations based on the barely veiled Islamist and pro-Sunni outlook of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Put another way, the dream President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu harbored of making Turkey the leading Islamic country that would guide the region to a better future has turned sour.
