بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Al-Waie Magazine
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Policies on the Islamic Balance
(Part Two)
Turkey's Role in NATO
Hamid Abdel Aziz – Egypt
(Translated)
When studying the political reality, it must be based on understanding devoid of feelings. Judging the political reality must be based on firm principles, meaning that we must understand the reality as it is, not as we would like it to be, and judging it must be based on the Islamic creed and not on unreliable basis that are subject to the manipulation of the waves and winds. Also, judging people and ideas must be based on a fixed basis built upon the Islamic creed. Otherwise, we lose our awareness and will be driven to destruction, while we rejoice gladly; and we see the matter as a mere sign of rain, when it is a wind that carries a painful torment, or as a mirage in a land, that the thirsty will think it is water! And the Ummah should not allow anyone to deceive it and bring it into a state that depletes its energies, capabilities, time and hope, and then make it return to the state of despair, especially since it has in its hands the Book of its Lord revealed as guidance and light; this will protect it from being misled, since it has taken its standards and judgments from it, and based its thoughts upon it. Previously, the Ummah rallied around false leaderships that were created artificially. It cheered and praised them for false stances and heroic rhetoric, although these leaders did not prevent the Ummah from defeats followed by defeats and did not stop an attack against them. Rather they led to its ruin and tampered with its important and vital issues for the interest of the enemy, starting with Mustafa Kamal, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Yasser Arafat, not ending with Turkish President Erdogan.
In 1952, Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was signed on 4/4/1949 in Washington, and considered it an alliance that strengthens Western identity, in addition to its long-term guarantees in the field of defense and security. In June 2005, Turkey established the Supreme Center for Combating Terrorism (TMMM) in the General Staff. This was in the context of the decisions taken to build higher centers that would guide decision-makers, and through its actions at the NATO summit held in Prague in November 2002 in order to combat old and new threats.
It is an international military organization that employs officers from seven NATO member states in addition to Turkey, and it provides services to civil servants and middle and high-ranking officers from NATO member states and countries that have a partnership with NATO in various forums. This center holds seminars, talks, workshops and other events on various topics, such as depleting 'terrorist' financial resources, combating suicide bombers, the relationship between 'terrorism' and the media, and studying the ideological foundations of 'terrorism', and it provides academic contributions to the work that are conducted at NATO headquarters in the area of combating 'terrorism'.
On March 19, 2003, the Turkish Parliament voted to allow American forces to use Turkish bases to invade Iraq. 322 agreed, 202 rejected, and one member abstained. Turkey also allowed the United States to use the Incirlik base in southern Turkey to transport the mujahideen to Guantanamo Bay. This was not the only goal of the base, as it was providing supplies to America, such as food, water, fuel, and medicine to treat the wounded. Turkey is used as a base for the majority of logistical support for US forces stationed in Iraq, and it has also agreed to allow US forces to withdraw from Iraq through Turkish territory.
Turkey allowed the United States to use its bases in the war on Afghanistan, and within less than 24 hours Turkey facilitated the use of its land and airspace for the American forces to start the war on Afghanistan in October 2001, in addition to Turkey sending nearly 1,200 soldiers to provide aid to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of NATO. It also supported the international military intervention in northern Mali. And you can imagine the extent of the destruction and devastation inflicted on Muslims by our Crusader enemies, including killing, abuse, loss of land and violation of sanctities. Turkey participated in all these crimes with its forces.
America and the Western countries are exploiting Turkey's power and its strategically important land to support the alliance's anti-Islam goals, as American planes launch many of their raids against Muslim sons from their bases on Turkish land. Therefore, if Erdogan had a say in his country's decision, he would have withdrawn from this anti-Islam and Muslim’s alliance immediately and without delay. How many massacres the alliance has committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries in cold blood and deep hatred?
Relationship with Russia:
Much of the Russian imperial expansion, starting with the annexation of Crimea in 1783 CE, came at the expense of the Ottoman State along the northern coast of the Black Sea, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. The Russian gains from the decline of the Ottoman State reversed the balance of power in Europe, especially during the Crimean War (1854 -1856) CE. In addition, Russia's ambitions to seize the Turkish Straits and complete the dismemberment of the Ottoman State helped trigger the First World War.
Turkey succeeded in remaining neutral during World War II, but the victories of the Soviet Union revived the ambition of the Russian State to control the Turkish strait. At that time, Joseph Stalin demanded joint Soviet-Turkish control of the strait and the establishment of military bases in Turkey.
Ankara resisted Stalin's demands, which prompted Stalin to press for a communist revolution in Turkey. In response, US President Harry Truman provided assistance to Ankara in accordance with the provisions of the Truman Doctrine. In 1952, Turkey joined NATO, and Kemalist Turkey became an anti-communist stronghold and a main pillar of the Western alliance. But the Soviet Union never gave up its efforts to weaken Turkey. Among its tools for doing this was the support for the PKK rebellion against Ankara in the 1980s.
Conflict between Ankara and Moscow over neighboring countries continued. In the 1990s, Turkey, with the support of the West, tried to take advantage of historical and cultural ties to replace Russia as the patron of the Turkic-speaking Muslim republics in Central Asia. Ankara and Moscow also supported contradictory parties in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was suspended after the ceasefire agreement in 1994 CE.
Under the January 2002 agreement between the two countries, Russia withdrew its support for the PKK, while Turkey adopted a more hardline stance in Chechnya and other North Caucasus groups operating from its territory, despite the great sympathy they enjoyed among the Turkish people. This enabled the Russians to tighten their grip on Chechnya and eliminate the movements of the Chechen mujahideen in order to get rid of Russian influence.
By 2008, Russia had become Turkey's largest trading partner. The energy field was the most important component of the economic relations between the two countries. Turkey, which possesses few hydrocarbon materials, imported more than 40 percent of its oil imports from Russia in 2009. Russia still supplies the country with about 57 percent of natural gas. Economic ties also extended to include nuclear energy, construction, tourism, and other sectors as well.
After America instructed Russia to intervene directly in Syria following Obama's meeting with Putin on 29/9/2015, it instructed Erdogan to reach an understanding with Putin about the air violations that the Russian air force will carry out during its raids on the Muslim people of Syria, since the air base from which the Russian aggression will launch is close to Turkey. A Russian general explained this on Russia Today TV, as it is inevitable that the Russian air force would penetrate the Turkish airspace during take-off or landing due to the narrow field, and this understanding was announced. Erdogan has committed a major betrayal and became a partner in shedding the sacred Muslim blood.
And it happened that a Turkish plane shot down a Russian plane that penetrated the airspace on 24/11/2015, and the relations between the two parties deteriorated. Putin considered it a (stab in the back), but he did not hold Erdogan personally responsible, and Erdogan worked to correct the matter until he apologized to Russia on 27/6/2016, and then the meeting between them took place on 9/8/2016, in St. Petersburg. Then, during the summit, the Russian air force, next to the tyrant's regime, intensified its raids on the Muslim people of Syria, killing hundreds of them within a few days, and it is still continuing its raids because it is comfortable, and it received approval without objection from Erdogan, who presides over a country whose majority is Muslim, and he lied to the people of Syria that he will support them!
It is known that Erdogan's Turkey is pursuing its policy with America, and has not deviated from it at all throughout his reign, as all of his policies were and are still within the American interests. Therefore, America pushed Erdogan to reconcile with Russia, which provides services to America in Syria, and to forget the issue of the downing of the Russian plane, which everyone saw that it was a mistake. Everyone has noticed how America was able, through Turkey and the Russians, to control the situation in Syria, and to prevent the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime before the alternative is ready, and how the European role completely or nearly disappeared.
On Sunday, 1/3/2020, Turkey announced that it had launched a military operation against the Syrian regime in Idlib in northwestern Syria, in response to attacks that inflicted heavy losses on Ankara. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Operation Spring Shield, which was launched after the heinous attack in Idlib on 27/2, is continuing with success. He added that “Ankara has neither the intention nor the desire to enter a confrontation with Russia”, which supports the Syrian regime headed by Bashar Al-Assad.
It is very clear that Erdogan actively pursued to implement the provisions of Sochi and the opening of international roads, and the systematic destruction and displacement required by that, and to give all cities and villages on the side of the road to the hands of the Assad regime (with official Turkish recognition). Then the Turkish deception points sprung, and were seen as good, but their role revealed that they were for monitoring only of any sincere move against Assad's criminal junta, which the regime contains without clash or hostility.
Then come a frenzied repeated wave of bombing and displacement to break the will of the Ummah, and to subject it to the political solution that America is engineering, so Erdogan was quick to vent the anger. Sometimes the atmosphere is not without comic bursts of passing disagreements to obscure the betrayal, that does not exceed some superficial disagreements, as long as Turkey declares without equivocation or shame that it is pressuring Russia to return to the borders of Sochi to legitimize for it what was surrendered before and during it. At the same time, official statements are issued about the high level of coordination and trade exchange between Turkey and Russia to unprecedented levels, as if we are the goods! Then come the Turkish plays of bombing the regime, which are nothing more than a lifting of its declining shares, and a push for people to clutch on its poisoned ropes. The question that must be raised now is where have the previous de-escalation areas gone (which the guarantors included) and what happened to its people?! Didn't the regime take control of it and displaced its people to the north?
Russia is an enemy of Islam and Muslims; it killed them in Chechnya and Afghanistan and is doing so in Syria now. It used all weapons and missiles to kill the old, women and children. Its massacres on the Muslims are still on going in all areas in Syria now. Allah (swt) has warned us against relying on the enemies and the oppressors, and has promised Hellfire to those who do not abide by that, Allah (swt) says:
[وَلَا تَرۡكَنُوٓاْ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ فَتَمَسَّكُمُ ٱلنَّارُ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مِنۡ أَوۡلِيَآءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ]
“And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped” [Hud: 113]
What Islam does Erdogan want:
In a speech delivered during a ceremony held on the occasion of International Women's Day on 8/3/2018, Erdogan said: “Islam cannot be implemented by rulings issued 14 and 15 centuries ago, and the implementation of Islam varies according to place, time and circumstances, and here lies the beauty of Islam.” If this is Erdogan's view of Islam and that it needs an update to fit the age, then what kind of gradualism towards the implementation of Islam that those who are smitten by him speak?! And what Khilafah (Caliphate) might Erdogan establish one day?! He established in his country a secular system that has no connection to Islam and is based on the same basis of the capitalist kaffir systems, which clarifies the picture more clearly, since the people of Turkey with an Islamic majority practice their lives according to their beliefs and concepts of life, including Muslims, but on the basis of separating religion from the state, so if a Muslim drank alcohol, committed fornication/adultery, stole, killed, or apostatized, the penalties and Shariah hudood (punishment) would not be applied on him.
We even find in some Turkish tourist attractions what is known as sexual tourism, and he does not see that Shariah requires him as a ruler to prevent it. As for the ruling, everything in Turkey continues in the same way as it was before Erdogan came to power, and on Ataturk'sway of ruling.
The only thing that is different is that Ataturk used to adopt a secularism that is hostile to religion, and to Islam in the first place. As we know, he forbade the call to prayer in Arabic, closed many mosques, banned the headscarf, and translated the Qur’an into Turkish. As for Erdogan, he adopted a secularism that was not hostile to religion. And since the majority of people are Muslim, this transformation had a good effect on the souls of Muslims, and it found widespread acceptance among the Muslims of Turkey, especially after they were able, during his rule, to practice their religious rituals of worship that they were previously deprived of, and he opened many closed mosques for them. It also found acceptance among Muslims all over the world, and they began to view this transformation as the required Shariah transformation, and they relied on him for the desired Shariah change. And what made them increase their adherence to him is the secular group's hostility to all his moves, their apprehension by every action he took and the view that he was working to eliminate Ataturk's legacy. And because common Muslims' positions are based on reactions, they have increased their adherence and support for him, and this was evident in his success in the elections, in his support against the military, and in their standing by him against the coup.
Anyone who knows the extent of the arrests, prosecutions and dismissals from the work that Erdogan has carried out against his political, military, media and intellectual opponents will see the enormous efforts he is making to establish his rule and powers in the country, and if we add to that the powers that he was able to extract for himself after the recent elections and constitutional amendments, we would realize the size of the power he now has and the control he has in the country. And with this power and the powers that Erdogan enjoys comes the scene of him failing Islam and Muslims. The ruling system in Turkey is still secular. Its regime fights the advocates of Islam and puts them in prison for many years. And if you discuss with those who love Islam who fell for Erdogan lie on why he does not rule by Islam since he is affiliated with the Islamists, but they say to you: “Erdogan cannot change all at once. Because his opponents are many”!!
Here, the biggest question arises, if Erdogan were able to oppress tens of thousands of military and political opponents, pursue tens of thousands of others, and overthrow generals and senior commanders in the army, and he is still pursuing all the fortresses and castles of his opponents with unprecedented ferocity, all for the sake of his person or his party. Doesn’t Islam, that is much loved, deserve to receive the work he did for himself and his party?! So, he can do everything he did for himself and his prestige and could not do that for the sake of Islam that the people elected him for?
There is no doubt that the answer to this question is very easy for those who want to see the truth; that Erdogan does not want to implement Islam and does not seek to do so, and his hiding behind Islam is nothing but deception for Muslims, and to pass the colonialist’s plots in Muslim countries under the banner and umbrella of what the masses love and desire, which is Islam. We only say this as,
[تَبْصِرَةً وَذِكْرَى لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُّنِيبٍ]
“Giving insight and a reminder for every servant who turns [to Allah]” [Qaf: 8]
Al-Wai Magazine- Issue 408 - Muharram 1442 AH corresponding to September 2020 CE
to read Part 1: Click Here