By Ahval
Turkey is unapologetically flexing its muscles from Iraq to Libya, in defiance of any pro-Western orientation and fully embracing an Ottoman-era nostalgia, wrote Jonathan Spyer, an expert on Syria, Iraq, radical Islamic groups.
Turkey’s arc of military assertiveness also extends to Qatar, Sudan and Somalia, Spyer wrote in the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, while challenging Greece, Cyprus and Israel for the gas resources in the East Mediterranean.
This new Turkey carries ambitions of a Muslim Brotherhood-style Sunni political Islam that will remain unchecked by Turkish voters until the next election slated for 2023, the analyst said.
Last month, Turkey began Operation Claw-Tiger, targeting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in various regions of northern Iraq in response to an increase in attacks against Turkish military forces.
“The Turkish operation is intended to rally the government’s political base through its fear of and hostility to Kurdish aspirations and to distract from socio-economic failure,’’ Spyer wrote, citing Kurdish sources.
Meanwhile, the oil-rich war-torn Libya, Turkey’s support for the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in the battle against the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) has broken the strategic stalemate in the country, ratcheting up tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is looking to keep in place GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, backed by Muslim Brotherhood associated forces, the analyst wrote.
Serraj “represents a last remnant of the hoped for alliance which Erdogan had thought to lead, before the military coup in Egypt of 2013, the departure of the En Nahda party from power in Tunisia and the revival of Bashar Assad’s fortunes in Syria,’’ Spyer wrote.
Turkey is also locked in disputes with both Greece and Cyprus over territorial waters in the Aegean and Mediterranean, sending ships to drill for gas off Cyprus to press its claim to the waters there.
In this region, Turkey’s motivation remains its need for gas supplies, the analyst said, and by laying claim to waters in the east Mediterranean, “Ankara is stymying plans by Israel, Greece and Cyprus to pipe gas to Europe,’’ all the while depicting itself as a dominant force in the region.
