Why Erdogan's Turkish empire is an emerging threat – Jewish Policy Center

The world was once a series of empires. The British Empire, at its peak in 1922, covered about a quarter of the Earth's land surface and ruled over 458 million people. The Russian Empire once covered approximately 8,800,000 km², or about one-sixth of the world's land mass, making it the the third largest empire in historybehind only the British And Mongols. A 1897 census recorded 125.6 million people under Russian control. Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire, although short, was the largest contiguous empire in history.

The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1301 to 1922 and at one time included parts of Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Palestine , Jordan and Lebanon. It was, in some ways and at times, a relatively harmless occupation for others, but decidedly NOT for Greeks, Armenians or Kurds.

Why is this important? We no longer make empires. Really ?

It depends. Today, Turkey, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is planning for its next empire a frightening combination of ISIS-linked religious extremism, nationalist prejudice and Western weapons.

Erdogan gave a speech last week. The key paragraph is:

And if you fail to conceive the mission, Bilal Erdogan, his son, clarified for you. At a large rally, he exhorted the crowd: “Yesterday Hagia Sophia (formerly a church in Istanbul), today the Umayyad Mosque (Damascus), tomorrow Al-Aqsa (the site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem) .

Today, Turkey illegally occupies a large part of northern Syria, claiming its only interest is to defeat the PKK, considered by Ankara to be a Kurdish terrorist organization. [For the US, the Kurds were an essential partner in defeating ISIS in Syria and northern Iraq and they remain an ally.] Between October 2019 and January 2024, the Turkish army carried out more than 100 attacks on oil fields, gas facilities and power plants in areas under Kurdish control. According to the BBC in October 2024, Ankara cut off access to electricity and water to more than a million people.

Turkey has operated in northern Syria in collaboration with HTS, the ISIS-linked group that is on the US terror list, but now appears to be seeking legitimacy as Syria's ruler. According to a Turkish news sourceAs a new Syrian military establishment begins to take shape, Turkey will actively provide consultant and expert support to the restructuring process of Syria's maritime, air and land forces. In addition, the Turkish military presence will be included in five different points in Syria.

The new force will number 300,000 troops, according to the Turkish report, including 40,000 HTS fighters and 50,000 Syrian National Army (SNA) fighters. The latter is in reality an auxiliary of the Turkish armed forces. SNA forces have been deployed by Turkey as proxies in Libya and elsewhere.

Ankara also hosts the Hamas leadership, which earns it a rare reprimand from the US Department of State in November 2024, and Hezbollah. It should be noted that Israel's dismemberment of Hezbollah was understood as a defeat for IranTurkey's regional rival.

Turkey's relationships with Hamas, Hezbollah and the emerging Syrian army all threaten Israel. Turkey directs its attacks against Israel, both rhetorical and military, dating back to Turkish sponsorship of the Marmara Blue Flotilla in 2016, but increased after October 7, also pose threats.

Turkey operates across Africa, as Erdogan highlighted in his speech. In January 2020, Turkey sent military forces to Libya to support the Government of National Accord, the Government of Tripoli, followed by as many as 18,000 soldiers from the Syrian National Army (SNA, see above), of which child soldiers. Turkey has defense agreements with Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana. Turkish drones were recently delivered to Chad, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Like many military adventures carried out by the empire, this one seems to have two objectives: first to guarantee access to natural resources, then to serve as a starting point for Turkish social and religious interests. Turkey has built 140 schools for 17,000 students, while 60,000 Africans study in Türkiye.

Turkey has clearly expressed its intention to play the role of a global power. It comes up against Russia and China in Africa, and Iran in the Middle East (Iran is injured, but not defeated). Although there is no mechanism for Western countries to remove Turkey from NATO (this requires a unanimous vote, and Turkey will not vote itself), the United States and its allies in Europe and the Middle East should be very skeptical about Turkey's intentions and be wary. of his abilities.