In New York, Erdogan plays to domestic audience

Throughout his speech on the 76th Session of the United Nations Normal Meeting, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has likened the ideological fanaticism within the Western world to the Islamic State’s (IS) fanaticism, sending shockwaves to the worldwide group.

“We because the humanity struggle towards yet one more virus that’s extra damaging, extra deadly and extra insidious than COVID-19. It’s known as the ‘virus of Islamophobia.’ This virus is quickly spreading in nations which have for years been proven because the cradle of democracy and freedoms,” he mentioned. “Islamophobia and xenophobia have now taken captive the politics. They’ve was a damaging development that disrupts Muslims’ every day lives, directs state insurance policies and threatens social peace.”

For worldwide politics, his comparability of alleged Islamophobia within the West to IS and treating it at equal par with the fanaticism of the notorious motion that’s nonetheless alive within the Center East has been probably the most memorable occasion of his four-day New York efficiency. What makes it much more fascinating is that such a vitriolic evaluation of the Western world is offered within the rapid aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

Opposite to the notion of his many critics and opponents, Erdogan’s any step and assertion is a well-choreographed transfer prematurely. Opposite to the widespread perception about him, Erdogan isn’t impulsive. Due to this fact, his lament on the “virus of Islamophobia,” which he outlined as “extra damaging and extra deadly” than the COVID-19 pandemic, goals to raise and current himself because the uncontested chief of the Muslim world. He needs to be acknowledged as “the chief” of the Muslim world, talking on behalf of them on the UN Normal Meeting.

In a method, Turkey’s president is in a quest for the reincarnation of the notable Third World leaders of the Chilly Warfare period. Along with his makes an attempt to posture himself because the chief of the Muslim world, he additionally acts because the self-appointed spokesman of the brand new Third World.

Addressing the Normal Meeting after paying lip service to Turkey’s bid within the European Union membership course of, Erdogan expressed solidarity with the African Union, “drawing on the power of Turkey’s deep-rooted ties with Africa, which dates again centuries.” He pressured that Turkey was consolidating its unifying place between Europe and Asia and the nice significance that Turkey attaches to growing relations with Latin America and the Caribbean area.

He additionally used his go to to New York to launch a guide carrying his title and undoubtedly written by ghostwriters. The 216-page guide, “A Fairer World Is Attainable” revealed in numerous languages concurrently underscores his acclaimed new worldwide ambitions. The enormous billboards at Occasions Sq. marketed the guide with Erdogan’s enormous profile photograph on its cowl.

With all of the fanfare round his New York go to, together with an exaggerated motorcade comprised of scores of armed vehicles and sirens touring the streets of Manhattan, Erdogan’s efficiency was designed for home political functions greater than anything.

For Erdogan, his precedence is to spice up his dwindling picture in Turkey. His survival till the elections in 2023, the centenary of the inspiration of Turkey, is probably the most urgent situation in his political and private agenda. Thus, each step he takes and each assertion he makes goals to advance that political agenda. His go to to New York was no exception on this regard. But he didn’t obtain a lot, regardless of the expectations of his crew earlier than the go to.

The Turkish public was made to imagine that Erdogan would have an viewers with President Joe Biden in New York. A gathering may have signaled that relations between the US and Turkey have been again on a normalization observe following a tumultuous interval. Erdogan and the US president had their first and solely face-to-face assembly on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels in June. In keeping with Erdogan and his inside circle, a follow-up assembly with Biden in New York may have despatched optimistic indicators to worldwide traders and world leaders on how stable Erdogan’s worldwide standing was. Certainly, Erdogan was additionally planning to make use of his days in New York to satisfy with company America and world leaders.

All of those plans have been pre-choreographed to make an influence on his picture inside Turkey. But they failed.

Biden had no time for Erdogan, and after the Taliban’s swift victory in Afghanistan, it appeared there was nothing pressing to speak about between the 2 leaders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met shortly together with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. After the assembly, Blinken’s description of Turkey as a “NATO ally” as a substitute of a “strategic ally” or a “strategic associate,” as American officers beforehand describe the ties over the previous 20 years, was duly famous by worldwide relations specialists.

Nonetheless, some have interpreted the outline as some form of an indication of enchancment in relations coming from an American official who beforehand referred to Turkey as a “so-called strategic associate.”

In New York, Erdogan met with the heads of Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Guinea-Bissau, Georgia, Finland, Iraq, Burundi and Libya — not sufficiently marketable for the Turkish home viewers. He additionally did not meet with any noteworthy representatives of company America.

Nonetheless, Erdogan’s handpicked media entourage and sycophants from his social gathering who accompanied him to New York tried to attract successful story on the go to. Whereas in New York, Erdogan inaugurated the Turkish Home, a 35-floor excessive rise simply throughout from UN headquarters. The inauguration ceremony started with prayers by the top of the Directorate of Spiritual Affairs who traveled to New York for the event. A lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Improvement Get together who was current on the ceremony mentioned the inauguration of the Turkish Home was “some of the exceptional successes of Turkish overseas coverage in 500 years.”

When it comes to Erdogan’s picture inside Turkey, his New York efficiency seemingly did not create a lot influence, neither positively nor negatively. Nevertheless, what worldwide observers mustn’t miss is that the go to, as soon as extra, confirmed the ever-broadening wedges between Turkey and the Western world.

Beneath Erdogan, Turkey is steadily crusing towards a non-Western trajectory in a multipolar world the place China is rising in its East. Erdogan’s cautious tone in regard to the Uyghur situation throughout his UN speech additionally mirrored his efforts to not entice any outrage from Beijing. When it got here to concentrating on the US and the Western world, in the meantime, Erdogan didn’t mince his phrases.