Turkey : how far Erdogan will go there ?

President Erdogan during a prayer in the basilica of Saint Sophia, which has recently become a mosque, in Istanbul, on July 24, 2020. MUSTAFA KAMACI / AFP

Editorial of the " World ". This is a very long time that Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a past master in the art of provocation. Encouraged by the softness of the reactions of the West and galvanized by its nationalist ambitions on a background of nostalgia for the grandeur of the ottoman, the Turkish president ahead methodically his pawns, multiplying the strokes of brilliance, pushing back each time a little more the limits of the acceptable for the european Union (EU) and its allies in NATO.

In his maneuvers, he does not hesitate to have recourse to the whole range of bullying acts in the most symbolic to deliberate attacks. It is to test opponents and partners, who are struggling to take the measure of his hard-line position, while seeking to enhance his popularity in a country that is deep in the economic crisis.

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The staging held Friday, July 24, around the first great islamic prayer at the famous hagia Sophia of Istanbul, transformed into a mosque a few days ago, owes nothing to chance. This date corresponds to the 97th anniversary of the signing of the treaty of Lausanne, which marked out the borders of modern Turkey, Mr Erdogan dream to redraw.

"Bukhara in Andalusia"

This act is a challenge to the western world. The Turkish president speaks of a" new conquest ". This theme is now ressassé to the environment in the Turkish media pro-government. It applies equally well to the hagia Sophia to the expansionist aims throughout the world, in the Mediterranean, in Libya, in Syria, in the north of Iraq, where the Turkish army has recently launched a major offensive against rebels of the Kurdistan workers ' Party (PKK).

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On July 11, Mr. Erdogan has posted a video on Twitter in which he states that the resurrection of the hagia Sophia as a mosque, has one value for the whole muslim world, of the " Bukhara in Andalusia ", paving the way for the "liberation" of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

In the meantime, the symbol is only made worse the relations with the EU, and particularly with Greece. The question of Cyprus are added to the share of the windfall gas and the route of the continental shelf. On July 22, a Turkish ship has not hesitated to conduct exploration offshore, with the support of military vessels, in the maritime area of Greece, making up a notch the tension in the eastern Mediterranean.

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at this point, nothing seems able to stop the expansionist aims of Turkish. It is high time that the partners from Turkey include how it is transformed. The country has nothing to do with the one who was knocking at the door of the EU, there is a fifteen years. More religious, and more aggressive on the international stage, Turkey is pulling away inexorably of its ties to the european.

France tries modestly to make room for expansionism Turkish, but remains isolated within a NATO that is reluctant to lower the ambitions of Ankara. By doing this, Erdogan is only adapt to the lack of strategy in its traditional partners. The us retreat and the absence diplomatic of Europe have created a vacuum in which the Turkish president did not hesitate to rush.

the beard of the west, his army is installed permanently in Libya by the force of his drones, and sending thousands of fighters to syria. With the endorsement of the presidents of the Russian federation and the us, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, a protectorate of turkey has been established in the north of Syria, where the currency is Turkish, the book, a course now. How far Mr Erdogan will go there ?

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