Erdogan's expansionism isolates Turkey and benefits Greece, says a report

The isolationist doctrine of "peace at home, peace in the world" is the basic principle of the Republic of Turkey since 1920, promulgated by the leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic. Or was. With Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the expansionist wishes have meant the entry into conflicts with the neighbouring countries.

The Turkish Armed Forces have seen how, in the last decade, they increased their resources and their areas of action. Erdogan sent troops to Libya, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, Somalia and Afghanistan, as well as has continued to keep the troops in the Balkans. But Erdogan has not only intervened on the ground. In recent months, his expansion into the waters of the eastern Mediterranean has rekindled an old dispute with Greece and Cyprus over the hydrocarbon-rich Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that is causing serious problems within the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO).

In view of the latest data, military expenditure in Turkey rose from 1.8 percent of GDP in 2015 to 2.5 percent in 2018, according to Bloomberg.  In the early 2000s, Erdogan came to power under the slogan of creating a "New Turkey" with four goals: a democratic country with religious freedoms, a stable and fast-growing economy, a political solution to the 'Turkish problem' and annexation to the European Union.

Almost two decades later, Ankara is still a candidate state to enter the group of 27, and the economic slowdown - aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic - and the escalation of tensions within the country and abroad have made the premises with which Erdogan came to power vanish. The 2010 decade has seen the abandonment of the maxim "peace at home, peace in the world".

The Turkish army's military operation in northern Syria launched in January 2018 is part of the strategy of strengthening the military and political presence in the region. The military incursions in Iraq (2008, 2015), Syria (2016, 2017 and 2018) and Libya (2019) and the big projects for the creation of military bases in the Persian Gulf and Africa have made the countries of the area criticize and not see very well these expansionist ambitions.

 report of the Greek City Times points out that Turkey is losing all its profits in the Middle East and Greece is benefiting from it. "After years of rapprochement with its neighbours in the Middle East, Turkey seems to be losing the reputation it had gained before due to the new Turkish policy," the report begins. "Observers of the region have started to criticize the foreign policy of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who does not hide his expansionist dreams that remind the people of the Middle East of the notorious Ottoman Empire that dominated and exploited the region for centuries", continues the text published by The Greek City Times. 

The report states that after decades of estrangement between Turkey and the Arabs, the situation changed again in 2002, after the victory of the Justice and Development Party, and Ankara adopted a new policy developed by Ahmet Davutoglu, with the aim of strengthening relations with its neighbours. But the Arab Spring made some Arab countries begin to doubt the feasibility of establishing solid relations with Turkey, as it showed a clear ambition of expansion and "began to question the feasibility of having strong ties with Turkey, as it showed a clear expansionist aspiration. For example, it supported the Muslim Brothers in the Middle East and North Africa, which led to a confrontation with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates," the text states.

This loss of good relations with the Arab world by Turkey has become beneficial for Greece. "Tourists have moved their destination from Turkey to places in Greece, which has become an indispensable place for Arab tourists," the report notes. Athens has brought positions closer with Dubai, Cairo and Abu Dhabi, and even in the military aspect these new alliances have been strengthened, as with the sending of Patriot defence missiles to Saudi Arabia to help protect its energy infrastructure

Erdogan's expansionist dreams have led the surrounding countries, which claimed to be his allies, to isolate him and leave him alone in the Mediterranean.