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Turkey in world politics

Published : Thursday, 9 December, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1383

Afsana Rezoana Sultana

Afsana Rezoana Sultana

Turkey is a country in West Asia on the shores of the Mediterranean. As Turkey is topographically found over two landmasses, Asia and Europe, its significance within the world economy and legislative issues has moved. Present-day Turkey belonged to the Ottoman Empire in the past. In 1299, the Ottoman Empire was established. The perimeter of the empire gradually expanded. The Ottoman sultans ruled distinctive parts of Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Ottoman Empire included several Arab and African territories, including present-day Greece, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Romania, Algeria, Hungary, Macedonia, Lebanon, and Syria. Together with the Central Powers, the Ottomans fought in the First World War. The defeat of the Central Powers in the war brought an end to the Ottoman Empire. Present-day Turkey is a modern, secular state that emerged from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, Turkey was forced to sign the "Treaty of Lausanne" in 1923 under pressure from allied powers. Many unjust conditions were imposed on Turkey through this agreement. The Lausanne deal weakens the Turkish economy.Under the Lausanne Treaty, Turkey has for so long been prohibited from exploring natural resources on its own soil or in any foreign country.

Turkey was unable to collect tolls from ships passing through the Bosphorus, which connects the Aegean and Black Seas. The Treaty of Lausanne was to end in 1923. Turkey will be freed from various conditions. Turkey has signaled a new beginning in overcoming the conditions of the last 100 years. Over the past few years, ithas been seen in regional and world politics.

Turkey joined NATO in 1952. NATO was formed primarily to protect the countries of the North Atlantic from Russian aggression. Russia's relations with NATO members are strained. But Turkey has maintained good relations with Russia for several years. On the other hand, Turkey is getting closer to Iran, the enemies of the Israel and United States in the Middle East.

Turkey is embroiled in a series of regional disputes with Saudi Arabia, the United States' biggest ally after Israel in the Middle East. In fact, Turkey wants to be a regional superpower. At the same time, Turkey has a latent desire to lead the Muslim world. For about 600 years of the Ottoman Empire, Mecca and Medina were under Turkish control.

Most Muslims around the world at that time regarded the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman as their religious and political guide. Some of the recent steps taken by the current President of Turkey, RecepTayyip Erdogan, are reminiscent of those days in the Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk, the architect of modern Turkey,wished to transform the country into a secular modern state.To that end, he banned the practice of Arabic in the country, closed madrassas, and banned the call to prayer. He even used Latin instead of Arabic.

But current President Erdogan gave a new signal to the Muslim world by renovating the museum into a mosque. In recent times, no other leader in the Muslim world has been seen to be as vocal as Erdogan on the Palestine issue, the rohingya issue and the Kashmir issue. Turkey convened a conference of more than 50 Muslim countries in Malaysia after the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) failed to play a constructive role in the Kashmir issue. Many analysts see the conference as an alternative to the OIC. In that case, the Saudi leadership would be threatened in the Muslim world.

Nobody can deny Turkey's ambition to become a regional force. Turkey's military is quite advanced and strong which is the 2nd largest among the NATO member countries. Turkish military forces have intervened directly in Syria and Libya. Turkey has a military base in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, known as the Horn of Africa. Turkey also has a military agreement with Libya'sneighbor Niger. Turkey has provided assistance to several African countries during the Corona transition. It is clear that Turkey wants to exert influence in its vicinity.
Turkey has made economic gains as well. Turkey imports about three-quarters of its energy needs. Turkey has recently discovered 320 billion cubic meters of gas reserves in the Black Sea. The Turkish president has said he hopes the gas will be delivered by 2023. As a result, Turkey no longer has to import a large portion of its energy demand. In this way, the Turkish economy will be able to turn around a lot.

However, Turkey is embroiled in a dispute with Greece over oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean. Egypt, Turkey's regional enemy, has sided with Greece to reduce Turkey's influence in the Mediterranean. An agreement in this regard has recently been signed between Egypt and Greece.

Egypt-Greece sees the agreement as a counter-agreement to the agreement signed between Libya and Turkey in 2019. On the Turkey-Greece conflict, the European Union (EU) has expressed its support for Greece. Perhaps out of fear of opposition from Western allies, the Turkish president has in recent days focused on developing relations with Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China and Southeast Asian countries. Consciously, Turkey-Iran-Qatar alliance has been formed as an alternative to Saudi-Egypt-UAE-Bahrain.

Turkey has a strong position in both world politics and regional politics. Now it's time to move on. The termination of the Lausanne Treaty will undoubtedly smooth the way for Turkey's future. A visionary and experienced politician like Erdogan is currently in power in Turkey. Many of his actions have embarrassed both Israel and the US, but they have had little impact on bilateral ties. Turkey has sent medical supplies to both countries in the Corona crisis. He is also handling the internal politics of the country with a very firm hand. Many political analysts have called him the new sultan. Only time will tell how far this new sultan will take Turkey.

Afsana Rezoana Sultana , student, Patuakhali Science & Technology University












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