By Laurence F. Sanford

Turkiye (formerly Turkey) is embarked on resurrecting the Ottoman Empire under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan is modeling himself after Sultan Selim, who died in 1520 and grew the Ottoman Empire from a regional power to a world power with Islam as the cultural base. Selim was also Caliph or leader of the Muslim community in the Ottoman Empire, which covered most of the Middle East and North Africa.

Erdogan is promoting Sunni Islam with the building of Islamic schools and converting Christian churches into mosques. The most famous and controversial church conversion was on the Hagia Sophia. For 1,000 years, it was the largest church in Christendom. Built in 537 AD, it served as the cathedral for the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1453 AD, when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the city, turned the cathedral into a mosque, and ended the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).

After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, Muslims controlled the land trade routes (Silk Road) from Europe to Asia. The West European nations of Portugal and Spain then turned to the sea for trade with India, China, and the East Indies. The sea routes:

• South around Africa and then east to Asia
• West to the Indies resulting in discovery of the Americas

England, Holland, and France soon followed in exploring, trading, and colonizing outposts in Asia and the Western Hemisphere.

The Ottoman Empire, being on the German losing side of World War I, was dismembered and the countries of Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon were established. The Hagia Sophia was turned from a mosque into a museum, and Turkiye began to become secular. It applied for membership in the European Union (still waiting) and became a staunch NATO ally against the Soviet Union.

Now, under Erdogan, secular Turkiye is becoming an autocratic Islamic state. Erdogan is fostering Islamic (Sharia) law and persecuting Christians, Shiites, Alevis, and Kurds. Freedoms of speech and press are curtailed, with journalists and intellectuals jailed. Hijabs on women are now common.

Turkiye is expanding its reach into the Turkic and Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslim countries of Asia and Africa. Turkiye’s military is asserting itself in Syria, Cyprus, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan. It is threatening an Islamic takeover of Jerusalem. Turkish military jets routinely fly over Greek islands off Turkiye’s coast. Kurds in Syria, Iraq, and Turkiye are under constant Turkish military attacks.

Erdogan is redefining Turkiye’s role in the world. He is cultivating relationships with Russia by buying its S-400 missile air defense system despite being a NATO member and by acting as a middleman in aiding Russia’s circumventing Western sanctions due to the Ukraine War.

The Ottoman Empire had a unique role in playing the Russian card and leveraging its unique geographical position between the East and the West. Erdogan is following the script by attempting to join BRICS (the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to challenge Western dominance.

A double game on Islamic terrorism is being played. Turkiye’s intelligence service, MIT, had a covert agreement with the Syrian terror group HTS that allowed them to operate freely in Turkiye on the condition that they do not conduct operations on Turkish soil. In exchange, Turkiye provided logistical support to HTS for its terror operations in Syria. After the successful HTS takeover of Damascus and the overthrow of Assad, a Turkish al-Qaeda MIT operative, Ömer Çiftçi, was granted Syrian citizenship and appointed Brigadier General in the Syrian army.

Summary

Erdogan is embarked on an Islamic-based resurrection of the Ottoman Empire. Turkiye is a NATO member but shouldn’t be. He delayed the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO and continually threatens fellow NATO member Greece. His purchase of Russian missile systems should have disqualified Turkiye’s NATO membership.

Turkiye leads the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) of 57 countries in fostering unity and promoting Islam. The term “Islamophobia” originated with the OIC to shut down conversation on negative aspects of Islam. There is no such thing as “Islamophobia.” A phobia is an unreasonable fear; there is nothing unreasonable about fearing Islam.

Erdogan welcomes Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, which threaten Western civilization and Israel’s existence. He is all in favor of establishing a Palestinian state but refuses to acknowledge the existence of Kurdistan with a population of 30 to 40 million Kurds spread out over sections of Turkiye, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Turkiye actively suppresses Kurdish identity.

Action

1. Recognize that Turkiye is working against America and Western civilization.
2. Eject Turkiye from NATO.
3. Begin closing the American air bases in Incirlik and Izmir Turkiye.
4. Support the rights of pro-American Kurds.
5. Increase “Gray Zone” media programs promoting individual freedoms of religion and speech in Turkiye.

Laurence F. Sanford is a senior analyst at the American Security Council Foundation.