1) Turkey's president Erdogan attempted to create an "Islamic Union" by supporting the election of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt and expanding Turkey's influence and control over trade routes.
2) Erdogan's plan was for Turkey to control the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East and Central Asia to Europe, while also challenging Russian influence.
3) However, Erdogan's ambitious plan faced opposition from other countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria who also wanted to increase their own influence and power. Erdogan ended up in conflicts with multiple countries that prevented his Islamic Union from being realized.
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Assessing the Sultan
1. Assessing the
Sultans Policies
Egypt is the queen of the maritime Silk Roads, and Turkey is the queen of
the territorial Silk Roads. They have always been. I mean these pieces of
land whatever they were called.
Map 1
It is not a coincidence that Turkey, together with Iran and Qatar, did
everything she could to bring to power the Egyptian Islamists, and they
finally did it, by spending huge amounts of money, and by promising
everything to the Egyptian people. Mohamed Morsi became President of
Egypt in 2012, and he immediately received in Egypt, and he treated him
2. like a Sultan. Morsi also invited the Iranian President. It was the first visit of
an Iranian President to Egypt since the rise of the Iranian Islamists in 1979.
Morsi also made clear that he would revoke the 1979 peace treaty with
Israel.
Everything was going according to the plans of the Sultan. The Sultan was
creating his Islamic Union. An Islamic version of the Soviet Union, with
Erdgoan in the role of the Sultan. The Sultan would control all the Silk
Roads.
The Sultan would send the natural gas and oil of the Middle East and the
Caspian Sea to Europe through Turkey, and the Islamic Union would make
sure that this time the crusaders (European) would pay fair prices to the
Mulsim people. There would be no more exploitation of the Muslim People
from the crusaders. The Islamic Union would also be able to fight the
infidels (Russians).
The Chinese, the Indians and the Japanese would have to ask the Sultan if
they wanted to send their merchandizes to Europe, either through Egypt or
through Turkey, and the Sultan would tell them what a fair price would be.
A price that would not exploit the Muslim people.
And the same would be true if the crusaders (Europeans) wanted to send
their merchandizes to Asia. Everybody would pay fair prices, and the Sultan
would distribute the wealth equally to the Muslim people.
Map 2
3. It was a simple plan. A very simple plan. Egypt would take Israel, with the
help of Turkey and Iran, and Turkey would take Syria, with the help of the
Sunni majority, which would revolt against the Alawite regime which was
cooperating with the infidels (Russians). This plan did not scare the
Americans as one would have expected.
However in Syria there was the problem with Iran, because Iran did not want
the Sultan to control all the trade routes, and they wanted some control for
themselves. They were selfish. If you want a real cartel you need to have one
ruler. But the alliance of the Iranians with the Russians only made things
worse.
Moreover there were problems with the Saudi King, because the Saudi King
was also selfish, and he wanted to be the leader of the Sunni world too. And
the Sultan finally went to a war with Russia, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia and Syria. It was a simple plan, a very ambitious plan, which seemed
4. to start falling apart. If only the Sultan had more power.And if only the
other Muslim leaders were not selfish
But one could argue that the Sultan has achieved a great deal. That is if one
does not take into account the price paid by the Turkish people. The Sultan
was close to his Islamic Union.
An Egyptian-Israeli war would broke out at some point, if the Saudis and the
UAE hadnt helped the Egyptian socialists to overturn the Islamists.
Moreover Erdogan almost convinced Iran and Qatar to send natural gas to
Turkey, from their huge gas field (South Pars/ North Fields). And all three
countries were supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia against
the Saudi King.
Erdogan also managed to gain influence in the Turkic nations i.e.
Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, and even to put pressure
on China by supporting the Islamists of the Chinese Muslim province of Xin
Jiang.
Erdogan helped the Sunnis of Syria to revolt, and he opened a Sunni corridor
to the Persian Gulf, which had been closed 100 years ago during the First
World War.
Erdogan managed to convince Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and possibly other
Muslim countries, to pay Turkey huge sums of money.
5. Unfortunately all these were achieved by going to a war with Russia, Iran,
Syria, Israel, Egypt, and by paying the price of a revolt at the Kurdistan of
Turkey. Moreover the Sultan almost caused a civil war in Turkey, between
Turkish socialists and Turkish Islamists, and at the same time he flooded the
Turkish economy with Turkish liras, in order to finance his deficits, and he
created a bubble economy. What the Sultan achieved was impressive. At
least if you are not a Turkish citizen you are impressed. And he is still there.
We dont know what else he is capable of. There might be more of that.
In the begining I mentioned Egypts importance for Turkey, and as a final
word I must mention Israels importance for Egypt. Israel has managed to
cooperate with the Egyptian socialists, but the truth is that for Egypt Israel is
a wound. With their Eilat port in the Red Sea the Israelis bypass the Suez
Canal and they reduce Egypts importance in the maritime Silk Roads.
If Egypt was to take Israel Egypt would be the queen of the maritime Silk
Roads, and if Turkey was to take Egypt Turkey would be the queen of all the
Silk Roads. That is if Turkey also managed to conquer Syria. And Erdogan
almost did it.
Map 3