Will Erdogan draw lessons from Putin's Ukraine mistakes?
As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watches Russian forces flounder in Ukraine, he may be rethinking his own ambitions — or concluding that Turkey is in a better spot than ever.
Turkey’s diplomatic isolation was the focus of excited punditry in recent years. But today, Ankara is running out of red carpet as a deluge of foreign dignitaries knock at its door.
Over the past week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis have all met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, thrusting him back on to the world stage just as many prophesied pariah status for the second longest-serving leader in modern Turkish history. Even US President Joe Biden made his second-ever phone call to Erdogan since taking office in January 2021.
The immediate reason is the conflict in Ukraine.
Erdogan is basking in the glow of this newfound attention, vindicated as he sees things, that under his leadership Turkey has reclaimed the heft and influence that’s rightfully hers. “I underline this, Turkey and the Turkish people shall, God willing, leave their mark on the 21st century,” Erdogan declared at an awards ceremony in Ankara today.
