Neo-osmanism

This term is used to describe the Turkish foreign policy pursued by the AKP since 2002, when it came to power led by Erdogan, who took over as prime minister . Neo-Ottomanism is a fundamental departure from the ideas of Kemalism , which is an orientation towards the West, and the aim of which is to avoid instability and religious fanaticism of the Middle East. The departure from the concept of Kemalism, which began while Turgut Ozal was in power, is now called the first step towards neo-Ottomanism ^[8] .

The Ottoman Empire was a powerful state, which, during its peak, controlled the Balkans , much of the Middle East , North Africa and the Caucasus . Neo-Ottoman foreign policy is aimed at strengthening Turkey’s influence in these regions, while using soft power to achieve these goals ^[9] . Such foreign policy contributed to improving Turkey’s relations with its neighbors, in particular with Iraq, Iran and Syria . However, Turkey’s relations with Israel, its traditional ally, deteriorated, especially after the war in Gaza in 2008–2009 ^[10] and in 2010, after the conflict off the coast of Gaza ^[11] .

Ahmet Davutoglu , Turkish Foreign Minister from 2009 to 2014 and the “chief architect” of the new foreign policy course, however, himself condemned the use of the term “neo-Ottomanism” to name Turkey’s new foreign policy ^[12] . In his speech, he stated that “the Turkish Republic is a modern national state and it has the same status as other countries in the region. We can build diplomatic relations on an equal footing with any large or small country that was previously part of the Ottoman Empire. This is what the norms of modern diplomacy require. ”

There is a debate about the new course of Turkish foreign policy in the Western media about whether the country's “foreign policy axis” is really shifting, or, in other words, whether Turkey is leaving the West in the direction of the Middle East and Asia ^[14] . Such fears are increasingly appearing in the Western media, especially at those moments when new Turkish-Israeli contradictions emerge ^[14] . However, the former president Abdullah Gul himself rejected the claims that Turkey had changed its foreign policy orientation ^[15] .

“Zero problems” with neighbors is a term that is often used to describe the new foreign policy of Turkey ^[14] . " Soft power " is considered as a particularly useful tool for its implementation ^[14] .

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed that Turkey’s membership in the EU is still a strategic goal ^[16] .

Modern Russian philosopher and political scientist Alexander Dugin in his book “The Eurasian Rematch of Russia” sharply criticized Erdogan’s policy and predicted the imminent overthrow of his government and the collapse of Turkey. He also said that Turkey is in fact aware of the US foreign policy, and the gap with Israel is ostentatious.

In recent years, the moderate Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has moved away from the Eurasian model, which was watched over, despite a tough clash with a group of Eurasian Kealists. During the Ergenekon case, inspired by the CIA provocateurs, thousands of Kemalists and Eurasians, including the entire leadership of the Turkish General Staff, were removed from their posts, and many hundreds of them were imprisoned on false charges of violating all laws. This atlantist and pro-American revolution of Erdogan was called the “neo-Ottoman policy” and meant the new integration of Ankara into the American project of the Great Middle East. Erdogan practically broke ties with Iran, became close to the pro-American Wahhabi regimes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and sharply worsened relations with Moscow. Having set the goal of strengthening its influence in the region with reliance on the Americans and in secret collusion with Israel, who took advantage of the semblance of deteriorating relations with Turkey in order to draw closer to Greece and buy strategically important assets in the field of energy and land, in case of a new and serious clash with the Islamic world - primarily with Iran, Erdogan undermined not only the possible Eurasian axes (in particular, the Moscow-Ankara axis, to which I dedicated a separate book published in Turkish several years ago), but also put it under the threat to the integrity of Turkey - opposing the government half of the population and creating the preconditions for a new wave of Kurdish separatism . In other words, Erdogan’s “Neo-Ottoman Policy” turned out to be a complete failure and threatened the very existence of Turkey. When Erdogan supported Wahhabi pro-American extremists in Syria and was openly on one side of the barricades with Israel, it became obvious that he had crossed the line and that Turkey was doomed. It was not a fluctuation of the coastal zone between Sushi (Eurasian) and the Sea (the United States and its regional sub-imperialist proxies — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Wahhabis, etc.), but an unequivocal integration into atlantism, that is, a direct path to suicide. Erdogan was in the position of Saakashvili in 2008 or Yushchenko . Until the fall of his regime and the collapse of Turkey, there are only a few days left.

• Byzantinism
• Israeli-Turkish relations
• Ottomanism