Turkey wreaking havoc with political Islam, Saudi researcher says

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is using the ideology of political Islam to conceal the country’s political economic losses, as it spreads chaos from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Caucuses, wrote Saudi researcher Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi in Al Arabiya.

Turkey’s chaos has spread from Azerbaijan to Libya, through to Syria, whose oil Turkey was exploiting, Al-Otaibi wrote, in addition to the Black Sea region, where the country has experimented with the Russian S-400 missile system above the sea.

Ankara’s aggression in the region has resulted in both U.S and European sanctions looming over Turkey, the Saudi researcher said.

Ankara has stood strongly behind Azerbaijan in its recently flared-up conflict with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and allegedly transported Syrian mercenaries to help its ally.

The country is also involved in the conflict in Libya, backing the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and recently signed a maritime deal with the GNA in a bid to strengthen its hand in negotiations with Greece.

Meanwhile, Turkey maintains military presence in Syria and Iraq, citing Kurdish armed groups operating in the embattled Middle Eastern countries.

“The transformation of Turkey, from a stabilizing state to one that promotes and spreads havoc, is part of a complex and long historical context,’’ according to Al-Otaibi, who maintains that Turkey has come a long way from the vision of its modern founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Turkey’s strongman, Al-Otaibi said, has ruled the state  “with one objective in mind: realizing his personal dreams and delusions of reviving the ‘Ottoman Caliphate’.’’

Erdoğan is spreading chaos in pursuit of economic interests in pipelines, Al-Otaibi wrote,  “through drawing bloodlines on the civilian map of those disaster-stricken areas.’’