Can Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Generate a New Ottoman Empire?
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan previously served as Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001, leading it to election victories in 2002, 2007, and 2011 before being required to stand down upon his election as President in 2014. Now he is the current president of turkey.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in world history. This Islamic-run superpower ruled large areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for more than 600 years. The chief leader, known as the Sultan, was given absolute religious and political authority over his people. While Western Europeans generally viewed them as a threat, many historians regard the Ottoman Empire as a source of great regional stability and security, as well as important achievements in the arts, science, religion and culture.
At the start of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was already in decline. The Ottoman army entered the war in 1914 on the side of the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and was defeated in October 1918.
Following the Armistice of Mudros, most Ottoman territories were divided between Britain, France, Greece and Russia.
The Ottoman Empire officially ended in 1922 when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. Turkey was declared a republic on October 29, 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer, founded the independent Republic of Turkey.
Turks have never forgotten the Treaty of Lausanne 11, which caused the reduction of the geography of the modern Turkish state, and forced it to give up large territories that were belonging to it.
So it was not strange to be tackled by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during regular meetings with the Turkish mayors to send a historical and political message to outside before the inside, with an interest of Turkey to get rid of the effects of the Convention and the restoration of its rights, which were usurped by the Allies and Turkey considers also the texts of the Convention are unfair to its rights?
The modern Turkish Republic was founded according to the Treaty of Lausanne 1923, which concluded with the victorious Allies in the First World War, they are the United Kingdom (Britain), Ireland, France, Russia, Italy, Britain, noting Britain has developed a number of unfair and painful conditions to the rights of the Ottoman Empire, as the abolition of the caliphate, and the exile of the caliph and his family outside of Turkey, and the confiscation of all his assets, and the declaration of a secular state, and to prevent Turkey from oil exploration and to consider the Bosphorus Strait which links between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, and then to the Mediterranean as an international corridor that it is not entitled to Turkey to obtain fees from ships passing through it.
And by 2023 the period of the treaty ends, which has passed a hundred years, and here we understand Erdogan‘s comments, as Turkey will enter a new era, and will begin oil exploration and drilling a new channel linking between the two seas Black and Marmara as a preparation to start collecting fees from passing ships.
This comes amid growing tension between Turkey and Greece over a dispute on oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
“Greater Turkey” includes vast territories spanning from northern Greece to the east Aegean islands, half of Bulgaria, Cyprus, most of Armenia and large swaths of Georgia, Iraq and Syria.
His move sparked huge controversy at a time when Turkey has intervened in northern Syria, northern Iraq, in addition to Libya, and is involved in a dispute with Greece and Cyprus.
In a series of tweets, Külünk said that Turkey regained the spirit of the Manzikert Victory after the failed coup against Erdogan on July 15, 2016.
After the death of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish people fell under western influence, until they became awakened by Erdogan, he said.
“That’s why the West is currently pressuring us to get us out of these areas, but it is unaware that we have regained the spirit of independence. We are armed with science, technology and power,” he added.
Turkey has recently witnessed discussions on what is called the “blue homeland,” a plan repeatedly mentioned by Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to impose Turkish control on the season its shores (the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea).
But its plans have come under severe criticism by the United States, the European Union and the countries of the region.
Turkey’s presence in northern Iraq and its repeated operations there against Kurdish fighters have angered the government in Baghdad. Ankara’s presence in northeastern Syria, under the excuse of guaranteeing the safety of its border from Syria’s Kurds, has also put it at loggerheads with the US.
According to observers, Turkey’s new approach, which clearly indicates its attempts to reclaim the heritage of the Ottoman empire, has taken a violent turn after it has resorted to military intervention instead of adopting a policy of “zero problems with neighbours.”
With the expiration of the 100-year-old treaty in 2023, Turkey itself will enter a new era by drilling for oil and digging a new channel connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara as a prelude to collect the fee from passing ships. This seismic development coupled with Turkey’s recent military adventurism suggests that the geographic contours of the region are for sure, likely to witness a gargantuan metamorphosis after the demise of the treaty of Lausanne.
Over the past century, particularly within the last decade, Turkey has risen to become a somewhat hegemonic power within the region, with Iran being its only rival in influence and Israel being its only rival in military might. Its proactive stance in the Syrian conflict – through its quite famed “Operation Euphrates Shield” and its current “Operation Olive Branch” – has enabled the country to become a regional power again as to be reckoned as military, economic and diplomatic leader.
We all heard and saw the huge advertising campaign launched by the Turkish AK Party, which is headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current President of the Republic of Turkey, which carried the slogan of Turkey 2023, which was the basis of the electoral program of the party and President Erdogan
So, this history must have become a question mark for many, as many wonders what this year holds for Turkey and even for the world as a whole.
I have previously explained in the article that it is the expiration date of the Treaty of Lausanne, but the importance of the year 2023 does not depend on this matter only, but rather it involves many more and more comprehensive aspects of everything that matters to the country.
The current plan of the Turkish government led by the AK Party lies in rebuilding a strong, modern Turkey that has international weight with an important impact on global issues.
Will Recep Tayyip Erdoğan be able to generate a new ottoman empire and become the sultan of ottoman empire or not? two years left to see what will happen after the end of the treaty of Lausanne.