Who is at the helm of Türkiye’s foreign policy? (Part 1)

According to the report of the International Group Tasnim news agency, these days in many Turkish media, attention is paid to the issue of why the foreign policy team of the Erdogan government is constantly coming and going. are? Is Türkiye following a new path in foreign policy? In this case, who wrote the original version and formula of this new policy and in whose pocket is the original paper to implement the plan?

These questions have been raised while 15 of Turkey’s new ambassadors have been sent to different countries, and perhaps the most prominent of them is Amrullah Ishler, one of the old faces of the Justice Party. and development and is one of the founders of this party.

Eishler does not have much experience in the diplomatic system, but because of two special privileges, he has been appointed as the Turkish Embassy in Saudi Arabia: firstly, he studied in Saudi Arabia at King Faisal University and has a high command of the Arabic language, and secondly, he always He was one of Erdogan’s close confidants. It is clear that the main mission of Mr. Ishler in Riyadh; This is to strengthen the economic relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia and encourage Saudi banks and capitalists to invest in Ankara and Istanbul. He will also try to encourage Saudi Arabia to buy Turkish-made drones and defense weapons. Other ambassadors also have more or less business goals and in the situation where Turkey is caught in economic crisis and lack of foreign exchange resources, they are desperately looking for money.

Turkey’s foreign policy and the always traveling team

Now, in addition to sending new ambassadors to different countries, we are witnessing numerous trips of the main officials of Erdogan’s team to different countries. In an exclusive report about this issue, the Birgun print newspaper of Ankara wrote: “All the men of the presidency are traveling.” Ebrahim Kallen, the head of MEET, has not yet returned from Erbil, and Foreign Minister Khaqan Fidan is going to New York. Before Fidan returns to Ankara, he will go straight to Tripoli, Libya, from there, General Güler, the Minister of Defense, will go to Baghdad, and Ebrahim Kallen too. Before returning to Turkey, he will visit Doha to meet with the head of the political office of Hamas. what’s up? What new project has Erdogan’s government undertaken in the field of foreign policy?”

In the Turkish media and regarding the number of foreign trips of officials, we constantly come across the names of Khagan Fidan and Ibrahim Kalen, and Erdogan himself is always traveling. The propaganda machine of the Justice and Development Party presents Erdogan as the main guide of Turkey’s foreign policy. But the evidence shows that a new division of labor is in the works and someone else has the original ideas.

From idealistic politics to realism

Since the day when Ahmet Davutoğlu wrote the famous book “Strategic Depth Several years have passed since he gained respect and closeness as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and theoretician architect of Turkey’s foreign policy in Erdogan’s administration. Before the 2018 referendum and the transformation of his country’s political-executive system into a presidential system, he said goodbye to Erdogan and left the stage.

Erdogan’s team-affiliated media also subtly and intelligently, all aspects of Turkey’s foreign policy, including the intervention in Syria and the attempt to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s government. They wrote to him! In this way, the assessment was formed in the media that Davutoğlu has ruined Turkey’s foreign policy, and since Erdogan does not trust anyone in this area, Mevlut Cavusoglu is not an innovative minister, but an agent. The diplomatic apparatus sends and moves the foreign policy stage with these people:

1. Khaqan Fidan, head of the intelligence service at the time, is dead.

2. Ebrahim Kalan, the spokesperson of the presidential institution and head of the group of foreign policy and national security advisors.

3. General Hulusi Akar, the then Minister of Defense, who, as a national hero during the 2016 coup, refused to betray Erdogan.

Erdogan with these three people He advanced the foreign policy and by the way, Çavuşoğlu as the then minister and the old ambassadors and diplomats were completely sidelined.

At a time when Erdoğan, using the advice of Fidan, Kalen and Akar, was directing foreign policy, the diplomatic approach of “Turkey’s return to Asia” And getting closer to Russia and China was on the agenda, and Erdoğan, without any doubts or suspicions, took the side of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh war, and many times by taking harsh positions against America and Europe and wanting to develop relations with Beijing and Moscow. created a new atmosphere in foreign policy, which of course has always progressed with ups and downs and trial and error. Although there have been small changes in that team, Fidan and Kalen are still Erdogan’s two main wings.

Who is the architect?

Khagan Fidan, who was once known as a mysterious and legendary figure in Turkey as the head of the Met Intelligence Service, is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs and is behind the scenes. The scene has arrived. But Ibrahim Kalan, who used to be a speaker and in addition to politics and security, also talked about religion, philosophy and mysticism, now he has gone behind the curtain and does not like interviews. Now the main question is: Of these two people; Who are the architects of Türkiye’s foreign policy?

In response to the above question, it should be said: Khaghan Fidan has been promoted from the lowest rungs of the army, and then he was nurtured in the NATO headquarters and scientific and academic societies, as well as in the intelligence service of the Ministry of Defense. He is basically a strong and practical negotiator, not a theoretician. Prof. Kalen Molla Sadrashanas is also not familiar with the philosophy of science, history of Islam and Islamic philosophy, but he is not an expert in the work of diplomacy and security, and he is not a person who has a new road map for the future direction of Turkey’s foreign policy. Erdoğan himself, clearly, in the last ten years, as evidenced by many analysts, has repeatedly damaged Turkey’s foreign policy and national interests with his clumsy and occasional decisions. So who does the ideation? The answer to this question has two different aspects:

a) Now, unlike the past years, Turkey’s foreign policy does not have an idealistic roadmap and the main path is set based on developments.

b) Erdoğan’s team, on the surface, has goals such as expansion towards Central Asia and Turkic countries and showing power. In the eastern Mediterranean, as well as financial and commercial interaction with Arab and African countries, he has put on the agenda, but in the innermost part of the matter, the issue of economy and financing is more important than any other priority, and in this field, this is the importance of Shamshak, Minister of Finance and Finance. It is Turkey that shows the way forward and Erdogan’s team also paves the way to attract capital.

In the next part of this report, we will discuss the issue of Mehmet Shamshak and Dolat Baghçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party and Erdogan’s partner in the presidential coalition, in Turkey’s foreign policy. What is their role?

Continued