Is The Most Dangerous Man Alive Living in Turkey?

The nation of Turkey doesn’t get much attention on the world stage. Currently ruled by the self-styled Sultan of Istanbul, Recep Erdoğan. Some leaders think big, their heads filled with sweeping plans for their nation and Erdoğan is no exception. His stated goal is to rebuild the Ottoman Empire and put Turkey into world superpower status. These are important issues to consider because currently, Turkey is on the rise. Under Erdoğans leadership, Turkey has now formed alliances with Russia and Iran. Turkey is aggressively expanding their military. For what purpose does Erdoğan say these things? What exactly is driving this enigmatic leader?

Some background may be required to truly understand what’s happening in the nation of Turkey. Modern day Turkey is fairly new. For centuries the region was part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was the dominant world power for many centuries, until the empire fell in World War 1. Then in 1923 General Mustafa Kemal founded the modern day nation of Turkey. He was nicknamed ‘Ataturk’ or ‘father of the Turks’. President Kemal (or Ataturk) was progressive for his time. During Ottoman rule, only Islam was allowed. More than that, following the way of Islam was required. President Kemal changed that, and made Turkey a more open environment. Tourism was encouraged, Islam was no longer enforced. His example was emulated by his successors for decades. Until Erdoğan came along.

There was no indication that Erdoğan would someday become President of Turkey. He came from what would be considered a middle class family. At a young age he was said to be very devout in his Muslim faith. It was reported by the New York Times magazine that even at a young age Erdoğan would address imaginary crowds with grand speeches like, “my sacred brothers whose hearts beat with the excitement of a big future Islamic conquest!” A cleric perhaps, but nothing indicating President material here.

Then we move to when Erdoğan was in High School. Erdoğan was seemingly on his way to becoming an Islamic cleric. He was attending a religious High School, and receiving good marks. Then something happened. A strange shift took place. For no discernible reason Erdoğan transfers to a secular High School. His religious fervor appeared to dim. He no longer preached Islam as fervently as he once did, he stopped attending open Islamic studies. It was quite the change. Perhaps that’s what lead to Erdoğan becoming mayor of Istanbul in 1994. It was quite the achievement given that Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, and that Erdoğan had no prior political experience. Erdoğan portrayed himself as a moderate. Then another shift took place.

It was rumored that Egodan was never a moderate, Some say that in his secular High School he still attended secret Islamic studies. Some said he was very much a radical Islamist. Who really knows? What is known is that in 1997 Erdoğan started making overtures to a more radical crowd. In a political rally he quoted an Islamic poem, “the mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the faithful our soldiers”. A dramatic departure from the moderate image he’d worked to build. That same year Erdoğan was arrested and charged with inciting hatred on the basis of religion. He served four months in prison and was barred from ever holding political office. But that didn’t stop Erdoğan.

In 2001 he founded a ‘moderate’ political movement, The Justice and Development Party (AKP). 14 months later the AKP won an astonishing 213 seats on Turkeys Grand National Assembly. In 2007 the AKP changed the constitution now allowing Erdoğan to hold office. He was certainly patient, you’ll have to allow him that. He was later elected Prime Minister. As PM Erdoğan still called himself a a moderate, but his conduct didn’t line up with his claim. He lashed out repeatedly to moderate Arab leaders, constantly decrying Western corruption and whatnot.

Then in 2014 Erdoğan was elected President. He then abandoned his moderate image utterly. He dressed in traditional Arab clothes, began enforcing Islam with more intensity than Turkey had seen since the Ottoman Empire. In July 15, 2016 members of the Turkish military launched a coupe. They said that Erdoğan was a threat to national security. Erdoğan responded by mobilizing forces still loyal to him and staving off the rebellion, barely. When it was over, 250 were wounded, and 2,000 killed. In retaliation Erdoğan launched one of the most extreme political crackdowns in Turkish history. He ordered 160,000 civilians arrested, and fired just over 170,000 government employees for supposedly having ties to the coupe. Erdoğan didn’t stop there. In 2017 there was a resolution passed, allowing the President to assume full control of the government.

Erdoğan now drunk with his newfound power is quite vocal about his intentions. He now styles himself the Sultan of Turkey. He has openly stated that his goal is to re-build the Ottoman Empire, and even spoke of rebuilding the Silk Road. He has repeatedly decried the Untied States and her allies. He has also aggressively expanded Turkey’s military, spending hundreds of billions to do so. No question, Turkey is currently on the rise.

Conclusion – What makes Erdoğan so dangerous? It’s his idealism. There’s nothing more dangerous than someone with wild ideals in a seat of immense power. Take the current situation in Iran; Ayatollah Khamanei has repeatedly made insane statements, speaking of bombing nations and making cryptic references to the bringing about the coming of the Mahdi. When President Barack Obama was at the signing of the JCPOA (or the Iran Nuclear Deal), it was reported that the Ayatollah shook hands with Obama and declared “death to America!” Iran currently doesn’t posses nuclear weapons, yet they’ve still managed to be a major problem on the world stage, especially with their funding of terrorist groups. Turkey is without question a stronger nation than Iran, and what’s more, they possess nuclear weapons. Previously Turkey was an open place, a model of democracy. Erdoğan put it well when he commented; ‘democracy is like a streetcar, wen you come to your stop, you get off’. Erdoğan has also allied himself with two very interesting nations; Iran and Russia. Iran being run by a radical nutcase, and Russia being run by Putin, a dangerous man in his own right. These are who Erdoğan has chosen for his friends, which says a lot about the leader.

Iran would love to set the entire world ablaze. The line from “The Dark Knight” comes to mind where Alfred tells Bruce Wayne; “some people just want to watch the world burn”. But Iran lacks the resources to do so, so they resort to funding terrorism. Russia doesn’t want to set the world ablaze, but they would love to tip the balance of power in their direction. Putin is power-hungry, but he isn’t a crazed idealist, he isn’t driven by a sense of being on a divine mission or whatnot. Then we have Erdoğan. An Islamic radical, who does think he’s on a divine mission. Unlike his allies in Iran, Erdoğan does have the firepower to set the world ablaze. For some reason, the media barely even pays attention to Turkey, or its maniacal President. They should. We all should. Because if we don’t address the issue of Turkey very soon, then America could be in for a very rude awakening.