Turkey looks east

Turkey is turning to the Near East by every step it takes. Turkish diplomacy and increasingly important business interests are unfolding smoothly in neighbouring countries like Oran, Iraq and Syria. Turkish export for North African regions is increasing by the year and currently amounts to over USD 30 billion. At a first glance it seems that the Muslim country is turning back to the vast region it largely dominated for several centuries.

The extension of these relations refers to more than just employing the policy of ‘zero problems with neighbours’ actively adopted by Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu.

Efforts to that end have become more focused due to the fact that the doors of the EU remain shut for Turkey. In a recent statement Prime Minister Erdogan said that dissatisfaction with the positions of France and Germany was increasing. He said that the idea that the EU is ‘a Christian club’ that will never let Turkey in, is becoming widespread.

Turkey’s turning east does not just involve economy but diplomacy as well. Erdogan’s publicly expressed criticism to Israel (once a close ally) at the forum in Davos, regarding the invasion in the Gaza Strip is probably the best illustration. Washington either is no longer the unconditional sponsor of its NATO ally and bastion at the Alliance’s east frontier. The gradual freezing of the relations between the two countries, which followed Turkey’s refusal to let its territory for a second front against Iraq, which earned Ankara the Arab world’s admiration, has led to Washington’s objection to Turkey’s territorial claims in the conflict with Armenia.

The situation was not helped by Erdogan’s support for Sudan’s President and his frienly attitude to Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad either.

Despite his democratic and secular rhetoric and the reforms aimed at the country’s compliance with EU standards, the Turkish leader has far failed to disperse suspicions that his long-term intentions are Islamic by nature.

Turkey’s current influence in the Near East is unparalleled. The latter reality, based on the authority vacuum in the region is growing in inverse proportion to Turkey’s decreasing interest in acceding the EU and other Western institutions. This is a tendency of reciprocal mistrust, which, if neglected, may have profound consequences.