ERDOGAN IS BUILDING A NEW EMPIRE
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 18, 2010
Restoration of the Turkic Empire or establishment of a new one is
impossible with the existence of independent Armenia.
The shortcoming of an imperial thinking is that even over several
generations it remains a dominant way of thinking. Since 2003, with
the advent to power of the Islamist Justice and Development Party led
by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has taken the path of reviving the
Ottoman Empire, and these are neither empty nor fine words. What was
done for the past 7 years is the direct evidence of it. The latest
was the package of constitutional reforms which, according to still
remaining Kemalists, aims to undermine the foundations of the secular
state, laid by Mustafa Kemal.
About a year ago we wrote about the attempts of Turkey to restore
osmanism and we proved to be near the truth. All actions of the
Erdogan government are aimed at the re-establishment of the Empire,
rather than at creating a regional power. This became much more
evident after the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev to Ankara,
during which Turkey achieved abrogation of the visa regime, creation
of favourable conditions for trade and a reasonable price for gas. The
Russian-Turkish rapprochement, which has come to be much spoken about,
is a misleading phenomenon: neither Russia nor Turkey will compromise
their interests in the name of "ephemeral" friendship. Besides, what
friendship can exist between old foes? The Russian Empire used to 3
enemies: the British, Ottoman and Hapsburg Empires. Almost nothing has
changed since then, except that Austria-Hungary and the British Empire
have sunk into oblivion. But Russia has held "special" relations with
the Ottoman Empire – war, armistice, war, once again a peace treaty,
and, finally, the World War I, after which the Ottoman Empire with
the help of the Bolshevik Russia was reborn into the Turkish Republic.
However, it is all history. Currently Erdogan is again building
an empire, and among the first countries that he’ll ‘swallow up’
are Georgia and Azerbaijan. Luckily for Turkey, she meets resistance
from neither of them. It won’t be inappropriate to remind here that
this process was initiated by Heydar Aliyev, who advanced the slogan
"One Nation, Two States". The rest was a matter of technique; simply
the Turkish presidents preceding Abdullah Gul professed Kemalism,
at least by word of mouth. The military elite strongly countered any
attempt of thorough islamization, but… The "Ergenekon" process
actually decapitated the army: the Justice and Development Party
learnt the lessons of the 80s quite well.
As for Azerbaijan and Georgia, unlike his father, Ilham Aliyev
is more susceptible to outside influence, and like any weak leader
prefers to be led by the hand. Moreover, he is looking for a mediator
to reconcile with the United States and believes that Turkey is most
suitable for it. However, Ankara has her own problems with Washington,
and, noticeably, she doesn’t feel like dealing with Aliyev’s intents.
As for Georgia, she is always ready to go under the patronage of any
state that will take care of her people. The whole history of Georgia
is a history of slavery and you can’t go against it. By the way,
for centuries the strongest were selected, but when a stronger state
appeared, the previous owners were easily sold. Unfortunately, there
is not and there cannot be anything new in the history of the region.
Let no one be caught at the efforts of Turkey to "help" Iran, an old
enemy. The same goes for Russia. Nevertheless, times have changed,
and now Ankara has taken a more "civilized" path: she opens research
centers, initiates student exchange programs. And all this is done for
the single purpose of training the world to the potential new empire
in the East. But Islam is a fairly strong argument in this issue –
we should bear in mind that the sultan carried the title of "Caliph of
the Faithful". But what response will this get in Iran, where people
are opposed to the tandem Baku-Ankara, and Turkey’s involvement in the
regulation of Iran’s nuclear program is perceived as a forced measure.
As for Europe, the position of EU is remarkably steady and unambiguous
in the issue of Turkey: there is no room for this Asian country in
Europe. Hardly is it possible that the personality of the President
of France or that of the German Chancellor matters; what matters is
the position of the state. However, when speaking about Germany, it
must be admitted that during the war the Germans were friends with the
Turks. Against Russia, of course. It appears that Erdogan’s joining
the EU now is not a necessity. Simply, the process is under its own
inertia, and from time to time information is tossed so as to say:
we are good, we build democracy, but you do not want us.
But restoration of the Turkic Empire or establishment of a new one
is impossible with the existence of independent Armenia. And it
was especially for neutralizing Armenia that the American project
"Armenian-Turkish relations" was launched. Thanks to God this project
was not implemented and hardly will it have continuation. So let’s
hope that things stand exactly this way and no otherwise.
Nevertheless, we must admit that the Armenian language and Armenia
are better studied in Turkey than the Turkish language and state
in Armenia. The same also goes for Russia. The point, probably,
is not the lack of funds but the lack of desire and want, as the
leaderships of both countries believe. Tomorrow the Russians can see
quite a different country on the site of the Russian Federation. And
what will the Armenians see?… Armenia may simply disappear. In 1914
population of the Ottoman Empire amounted to 33 million people, which
was believed to be quite a lot then. Now the population of Turkey is 70
million people and it is increasing annually to absorb 140 million of
the population of the Russian Federation in 50 years. The demographic
factor, especially in the Islamic world, has always worked faultlessly.