Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attends the second working meeting of the G20 heads of state and government on September 6, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Alexander Vilf/Host Photo Agency via Getty Images)[/caption]
In recent years, the Turkish government has claimed that Turkey is one of the big powers in the world. Yiğit Bulut, a top adviser to Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, recently stated that Erdoğan is one of the only two leaders in the world. This does not appear to be the reality, as Turkey has been left standing alone in its stances on Syria and Egypt, in its EU accession bid, and in many other international matters.
Despite hosting Syrian opposition meetings in İstanbul and providing all manner of aid to the rebels, Turkish involvement is not strong enough to make a difference in resolving the Syrian issue. This is also the case in Egypt: In the international arena, Turkey stood alone in its strong objection to the Egyptian army’s ousting the democratically elected president, Mohammed Mursi.
Looking at Turkey’s neighbors, each of those countries are backed by another group of countries in the region. Turkey seems to be the only state without any real friends. Iran—whose nuclear program Turkey fought for—has had souring relations with Turkey as a result of the latter’s position on Syria. The Iraqi government strongly criticizes Turkey for harboring its fugitive Sunni vice president, Tareq Al-Hashemi, for whom Interpol issued a red notice. Turkey’s strong economic ties with the Kurdish Regional Government of northern Iraq are another issue that irritates the Iraqi central government. Before the start of the Syrian revolution, Turkey had warmer ties with the Shi’ite block in the region; however, the Syrian scenario has altered Turkey’s relations with all three of its southern neighbors. In addition, Turkey distanced itself from the Gulf countries with which it stands side-by-side on the Syrian issue by being the country that raised the strongest objections to the military’s intervention in Egypt.
Turkey’s relationship with its Western allies is not much different. Following the three-week-long Gezi Park protests, Erdoğan lashed out at the European Parliament as strong criticism from Europe flooded in over the way he handled the protests. "They are out of their minds. They have no sense of fidelity. Do you even have the right to make such a decision?" Erdoğan asked during a speech in İstanbul, in reference to a European Parliament resolution that condemned the police crackdown on demonstrations. Reiterating his charges that the European parliamentarians did not issue similar criticisms of the police response to protests in Britain or France, Erdoğan said to the European Parliament, "You are anti-democratic. . . . I don't recognize such an EU parliament.”
Following the Gezi row with the European Parliament, Turkey was threatened by Germany and the Netherlands with their opposition to the opening of accession talks for Turkey’s bid to join the EU. For many Turkish people, their country’s 54-year-long accession bid seems an impossible mission.
Erdoğan has recently denounced the White House's criticism of his remarks declaring that Israel was behind the military “coup” in Egypt, saying that he cannot understand why it was the US and not Israel that responded to his remarks. After slamming his strongest ally and fellow NATO member state, Erdoğan later touched on the UN team's failure to start an immediate investigation to determine whether chemical weapons were used in Syria in late August, and stated that the UN can no longer ensure peace.
With its single-voiced rhetoric on international and diplomatic issues, Turkey will probably continue to be a loner state in this very important region. If being a big and influential power is Turkey’s main goal, having strong allies is a must. Economic strength is surely one of the important steps towards creating a strong state. But having one of the largest emerging economies and a GDP that has tripled in the space of a decade is no sure-fire route to progress when the country still has to deal with matters such as freedoms, the Kurdish issue, and a police force that has lost the faith of many of its citizens.
