Erdogan Re-elected/ Will Ankara’s Regional Policies Change

According to Negaheno report, Head of Center for Archives and Strategic studies of Palestine and West Asia, Mr. Ahmadreza Rouhullah -Zad explained in a note: The presidential elections in Turkey came to an end and Recep Tayeb Erdogan was re-elected by the Turkish voters as the president of the country.

It appears that Erdogan’s most important priority will be economy. Currently, the low value of Lire and the high inflations has failed to bring a bright horizon for the people of Turkey. It so appears that Erdogan has no long- term plan for treating the bankrupt economy of Turkey and maybe he could reduce the pain of inflation in the short run by absorbing capital from Qatar and UAE. Thus, there seems to be no drastic change in Turkey’s governance and within the political and legal scopes and basically, these are not the demands of Erdogan’s followers nor, they ever were as the election slogans were mostly about the economy. Unlike the last term that Erdogan tried to absorb the votes of the Kurdish people, this time he prompted nationalistic slogans and especially, in the second round of elections one of the conditions of Sanan Ogun for joining Erdogan was to omit the Kurdish Democratic people’s party from the government. For this matter, we should await a rising pressure against the Kurds following the new presidential term of Erdogan. A topic that could intensify Turkey’s social polarization and rise in the protests and clashes in particular, in the Kurdish region.

In regards to Syria, Erdogan tried before the elections to have a meeting with Bashar Assad, and to use it as an effective token in the elections without intending to pursue the withdrawal of Turkey’s army from Syria or cut its ties with the terrorist streams however, Assad conditioned any form of meeting to the end of Syria’s occupation and cutting off ties with the terrorists. Now that Erdogan has won the elections without a photo with Assad it seems least likely that he would make any changes in his policies regarding Syria.

With regards to Iraq, it also seems we should not expect any changes. Basically, he still has concerns over the possibility of a Coup d ‘Etat and so involving the army in Iraq and Syria and the dream of the return of Ottoman empire to the society and the army would thwart the possibility of Coup to some extent.

The West headed by the US has always looked at Turkey as a game piece for its regional policies and no more. Considering the role of the west in creating economic crisis in Turkey and its full advocacy of his political rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, we should be witnessing some sort of policies from Turkey that would distance from the west and move towards Russia and China. In particular, that Russia looks at Turkey as an opportunity for bypassing the sanctions imposed by the west and this itself can be an appropriate opportunity to move Turkey out of its economic crisis.

In regards to its relations with the Zionist regime one should not expect any changes for Turkey preserved and even expanded its relations with the Zionist regime both during the ruling of the generals and during Erdogan’s tenure. Therefore, there seems to be no changes in this area unless the regional countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan) expand their relations with Iran both in quality and in quantity which in this case the unification with the triangle of Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia would bring tremendous prosperity for Turkey.

With regards to Iran, considering the needs of both countries in economic and security areas and considering the hegemonic changes in the world and the region and the wise policies of Iran towards the changes in Turkey we should be looking forward to the expansion of relations.

: We should not be expecting Turkey to abandon slogans of pan -Turkism but experts believe that with regards to the historical and civilizational status of the three countries of Iran, Egypt and Turkey and in view of the status of Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the new era, abandoning the slogans of Pan- Turkism, Pan- Arabism and Pan- Iran and forming a new unity in the region could bring the future of the region in the way that it would be worthy of the people of the region.