Rettelser

In 1996, Samuel Hutington, in the « Clash of Civilization », called Turkey a « torn -country », divided between West and East. to which Ahmet Davutoglu replied 15 years later « Turkey is the country which assembles lots of differents cultures like adhesive would do ».

The comparison must be certainly prettier in Turskish, at least I hope.

But this quotation from Davtoglu, the current turkish prime minister, tells a lot about the not so new neo ottoman strategy that guides the foreign affairs in Turkey.

By neo- ottomanism, it shall mean the ideology thought by Davutoglu that promotes a greater political influence of the Republic of Turkey within former ottoman regions.

And so , indeed,since its victory at the legislative elections in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) deconstructs and disasembles step by step what Mustafa Kemal had instaured in Turkey in the first part of the 20th century – from the secularisation to its pro Western position.

As Ataturk named himself «  the Father of the Turks », Erdogan seems to set himself up as the voice of an broader community of arab oppressed minority and tries now to test its leadership in the Middle East Region.

But in the context of a Middle East shaken by lots of crises and alliances always on the move, are neo-ottomanism and pan-turkism intentions still viable ?

Can Turkey turn itself into « the New indispensable Nation » as Erdogan used to aspire to ?