Sita’s Vision: A magazine to subvert Arab awareness and promote Erdogan’s Ottoman

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

The colonial states relied in the past on the military occupation, as a means to control the capabilities of other countries, and with the end of this old pattern of direct occupation due to the high cost of human and material resources, the new colonists resorted to another generation of wars represented in the cultural occupation of the targeted peoples.

However, there are countries whose leaders insist on using the two methods together, military and cultural occupation at the same time, as does Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an effort to launch a new Ottoman Empire similar to his predecessors’.

This is what the SITA Foundation embodies and its research papers, such as Turkish Vision Magazine.

Turkish vision

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dreamed of a new Ottoman Empire, and he sought to achieve this, either by military means, as is the case in the Syrian north, or by cultural methods such as the Tika Foundation, the Sita Research Center, and others.

The Sita Center focused on creating a network of research and scientific platforms and websites, which is a repeated scenario from similar media organizations, with the aim of diversifying sources of influence on the public, and ensuring sustainability for the longest possible period.

The Turkish Vision Magazine is one of the most prominent cultural arms of the Sita Center, and according to its official website, it is a gift from the Sita Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Studies in Turkey, and the first research product in the Arabic language.

It is noteworthy that the magazine appeared initially in the English language since 1999, as a seasonal academic journal, and the magazine came in its Arabic version in 2012, that is, a year after the beginning of what was known as the Arabic Spring Revolutions, a period during which Ankara sought to expand within the Arab countries.

The magazine defines itself that it comes after decades of mutual misunderstanding and distortion between Arabs and Turks, where they are rediscovering each other and the magazine hopes that the relations will increase in depth and rationality between the two parties, as it put it.

A means of cultural sabotage

Culture is defined as a tool for building the mind, which affects the reconstruction of countries and societies in the affirmative, but with cultural tools such as Turkish Vision Magazine, the situation is very different and conditions.

The Turkish magazine summarized its editorial policy on various issues, and clearly shows the impact of Turkish government policy and the hidden objectives of the magazine.

A- Seminars with hidden goals

The magazine focused on organizing seminars with the aim of presenting the opinions of a group of experts, but these seminars clearly served Turkish ideas and visions.

In November 2016, the magazine organized a symposium entitled “Turkey and the Arab Maghreb and the Prospects of Cooperation”, attended by Rafik Abdel Salam, director of the Center for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies close from Al-Nahda, Ramadan Yildirim, the editor-in-chief of the magazine.

The symposium aimed to clarify the Ottoman role in the region, and discuss ways to revive this matter again, in addition to discussing the situation in Libya after the Skhirat agreement, and ways to solve the crisis to serve Turkish interests.

In March 2018, the magazine organized a symposium entitled “The Yemeni Crisis and Political Actors”, attended by Ramadan Yildirim, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, and Nabeel Ghanem, the former Yemeni Minister of Health.

The symposium focused on analyzing the situation in Yemen and attacking the Arab coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

B- promotional books

The magazine published 3 books during its existence in the Arabic language, all of which focused on creating a mental image for the Arab reader, in a way that fits with the ideas of the ruling Justice and Development Party, and promotes the aspirations of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The first book, “The Experience of the Justice and Development Party in Governance,” was issued in September 2018, and the book deals with the evaluation of the experience of Erdogan and his party in governance across cultural, economic, political and social levels. The book sought to show that the party was successful in all of its ideas and decisions.

In September 2019, the book “The Presidential System and the Political Transformation in Turkey” was issued, aiming to justify the step taken by Erdogan, on April 16, 2017, by converting the country’s regime to the presidential system.

The book focused on excluding the accusation that the constitutional amendment aimed to give Erdogan absolute powers as President of the Republic, considering that this “logical shift of government” contributes to a better application of the country’s democratic process, and gives the economy a push forward, as they say, which is contrary to the truth.