Erdogan

Turkey’s Islamist government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing to further indoctrinate Turkish schoolchildren in propaganda regarding Israel, Greeks, Armenians, Cyprus and other issues of history and geography.

New content, named “Turkey’s Century Education Model”, was added to this year’s curriculum and only recently made available for public opinion by the Ministry of National Education.

When, on October 7, the terrorist group Hamas launched a barbaric attack on Israel, killing more than 900 Israeli men, women and children (and wounding thousands more), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, instead of his usual inflammatory anti-Israel rants, uncharacteristically advised restraint to both sides.

The rise of political Islam in Turkey in the past two decades, however, and Erdoğan’s inherent anti-Zionism — he once called Zionism a crime against humanity — have apparently left an indelible mark on the Turkish psyche. In addition to his balanced, ostensibly unbiased, advice for restraint, Erdoğan has also said that a Palestinian state is a requirement that cannot be delayed.

As Turkey’s post-election dust is settling down, the international community has turned its attention to two key appointments announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who on May 28 won his 17th election victory in 21 years, and entered his third decade in power.

Turkey’s two key appointments are new foreign minister and former intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan; and the newly-appointed intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalın, also an Erdoğan confidant.

Old Joe Biden’s congratulatory message to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upon his highly questionable (hey, what election isn’t these days?) reelection was boilerplate from whoever writes his tweets, but nevertheless, it revealed yet again the growing gap between the world views of the two men. That gap has serious geopolitical implications that go all the way back to the anniversary that was observed on the day after the Turkish strongman’s reelection: May 29 marked 570 years since the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks and the extinguishing, after over two thousand years of continual existence, of the Roman Empire.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan handed out money to supporters outside the polling station where he cast his ballot in the runoff election https://t.co/DM7VCR8xW5 pic.twitter.com/4uqeIrattJ

— Reuters (@Reuters) May 28, 2023

h/t Mauser

Western capitals remained silent through Turkey’s presidential campaign – privately hoping Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s erratic 20-year rule would come to a surprise close – but now he has been handed a decisive mandate to serve a third term, the west is caught between fear and hope.

It fears he will exploit the result to take this Nato founder member further from the liberal secular west, but hopes against hope that, not being eligible to run again and thus freed from the need to pander to a nationalist electorate for the rest of his political life, he may at least be open to persuasion and base his foreign policy on something other than self-preservation.

On May 14, 64 million citizens of Turkey went to polling stations in the wake of a punishing economic crisis, widening democratic deficit and a government revealed as totally helpless in relief efforts after February 6 earthquakes killed more than 50,000 people. The opposition bloc had never been stronger against an autocratic regime that is giving serious signs of metal fatigue.

Turkey is a poor country where per capita income is barely $9,000. Budget and current account deficits have been ballooning, annual inflation is running at 43% (official) to 105% (unofficial) and unemployment is soaring.

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes which have struck southeastern Turkey, a major cover-up operation has been set in motion to save President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reputation. Construction, rather than production, has long been the hallmark of Erdogan’s rule. And like in Jericho, the walls have come tumbling down. With an economy in freefall and a general election scheduled to happen later this year, Erdogan’s fate may now be in the hands of the United States.