Aditi Bhaduri

In a moment of friendly candour, recently, US President Donald Trump lifted the veil of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As the latter faced a joint press conference with Trump at the White House, following a visit which signalled the thawing of frosty ties, Trump joked that Erdogan would know about rigged elections, and it was not without reason. 

In power for 25 years now, President Erdoğan has won 5 parliamentary and two presidential elections. A shrewd politician, he has mastered the art of survival, navigated tricky terrain, and steered his party, the Justice and Development Party (the AKP), through numerous adversities to victory. 

Nostalgic about Turkey's imperial past, he seeks to restore the glorious past of the Ottomans in the current world. For this, Islam has been a useful resource that he has deployed both in his domestic and foreign policy. Domestically, it has meant passing religious-based legislation, which has often conflicted with the founding principles 9f Turkey as a secular country. Abroad, it has meant promoting pan-Islamism with Turkey in the driver's seat.

He even took a shot at dividing the ummah by trying to float a world Islamic organisation parallel to the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).  His efforts have earned him the sobriquet of 'Caliph'.

Yet, many of these successes have come at the cost of Muslims themselves - his own people.

Repression At Home

In the run-up to the 2023 elections, which revealed that Erdoğan’s grip on power was slipping, hundreds of his opponents, including his main rival and journalists, were incarcerated. Protests and disturbances reached a peak earlier this year. Yet this was not the first time.

In 2013, during Turkey's infamous Gezi Park protests, police used such force on the protesters that, according to the Turkish doctors' organisation, the protests took a heavy human toll: eight people died, at least four as a result of police violence. About 8,000 were injured, 104 sustained serious head injuries, and 11 people lost an eye, mostly as a result of plastic bullets fired by the police.

Similarly, after the 2016 failed coup in Turkey, wide-ranging purges were carried out, hundreds were incarcerated, and convicted.

More than 4,000 judges—almost 30 per cent of all judges in the country, overwhelmingly Muslim were purged and often replaced with those loyal to the government.  Similarly, almost 9,000 police officers were fired, over 10,000 soldiers were detained, nearly half of Türkiye’s top generals were dismissed or jailed - again mostly Muslims.  

Turkey's Kurdish Problem 

Turkey inherited the Kurdish "problem" from its Ottoman past. Like the Armenians, the Kurds had also revolted for a separate homeland. They are spread across the Middle East, in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and, of course, Turkey, but none has granted them an independent state. They have undergone purges and repression, and in Iraq today, the Kurdish regions enjoy a high degree of autonomy.  They have often been viewed as the fifth column.

The Turkish government has recently entered into a peace agreement with the main Kurdish insurgent group, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose leader, Abdullah Öcalan gave a call for the group to disarm. Analysts, however, say this is a political exigency that has made President Erdogan's government enter into such an agreement. As the AKP party and President Erdoğan find their hold on power increasingly tenacious, the Kurdish vote, which is the swing vote, is beginning to matter. It has so far swung towards the opposition. 

In the 2016 elections, because of their electoral preference for the opposition, Turkey's Kurds faced a nightmare. In November 2016, the government imprisoned Kurdish political activist Salahettin Demirtaş, who has remained imprisoned till now. In the Kurdish areas, the Turkish state, under the pretext of fighting the PKK, attacked Kurdish cities and towns in 2015, with thousands bombed,  killed, or displaced, and their homes burned.

All of them were, again, overwhelmingly Muslim. Yet, Erdoğan tirelessly speaks about "Kashmiri rights" at international forums.

Even with the peace deal, there are allegations that Kurdish activists continue to face repression and restrictions on Kurdish culture and language continue. Moreover, Turkey has been actively battling Kurdish forces in Northern Syria and PKK units in Northern Iraq, which has again destroyed many homes and displaced hundreds.

Islamic Brotherhood with benefits 

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan invokes the glorious years of the Ottoman Caliphate and Muslim fraternity, Turkey has done nothing to intervene on behalf of the people of Gaza, while Israel has carried out a vicious military campaign against the strip since October 2023, when it faced murderous Hamas attacks on its territory. President Erdoğan has been the most vocal critic of Israel, yet halted trade with it only recently. Instead, Turkey has continued to support Hamas, which has brought Gaza and its people to such a plight. On the other hand, Turkey continues to allow gas from Azerbaijan to transit through its territory to Israel, earning hands9me transit fees from it. 

Similarly, Turkey did not intervene on behalf of Iran when it fought a 12-day war with Israel in June this year. Instead, Turkey positioned itself as the victim, which would be next in line of attack by Israel.

Nevertheless, Turkey has embroiled its army in wars in Libya, Somalia and of course,  Syria, where the adversaries have mostly been Muslims. And where handsome booties wait - for instance, oil in Libya, and strategic depth in Syria.

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On a final note, ISIS, which has received covert help from Turkey, has mostly trained its guns on Muslims - whether inside its now lost Caliphate, Iran or Afghanistan.