Türkiye’s axis will change the world!

At a time when Türkiye’s axis shift was used as an accusatory attribute, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s actions were followed more carefully, and he was reminded of the fate faced by previous prime ministers and ministers. Once the everyday events subside, we will analyze those days calmly, but it can be said from now that the axis discussion does not correspond to the ideological approaches Türkiye is familiar with. Back in those days and prior, Türkiye’s economic independence included, the primary matter of discussion was to escape a world that centralized imperialist countries. Traditional groups pushed Türkiye’s struggle into ideological molds, making their own position invincible. They found Mr. Erdogan’s actions dangerous for their own position and essentially wanted to determine Türkiye’s direction and draw a path. This is also the reason the axis shift accusation was presented within ideological molds. 

The ideological accusations were on the agenda during the Feb. 28 process as well, but the U.S. and Israel were at the center of the events. The U.S. had occupied Iraq to invade the Islamic region’s center and took complete control over the Gulf. We saw that Türkiye was on the target board through experience. The U.S. was attacking Türkiye both from outside and within using particularly the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Türkiye was trapped in the secular, anti-secular agenda within, but it had essentially become even more dependent economically on the U.S. and in general the West.  The economic crises of the decade rendered Türkiye inactive on the West’s axis. It was the U.S. that gave identity to dependent structures, or they were generally dependent on the West. Back then, Israeli influence in Türkiye was very obvious. As a result of this, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) was the winner of the Feb. 28 process. FETO and similar groups gaining strength while religious groups were becoming politically pressured, was of course directly related to the axis shift accusation. Thus, the harshest reaction to Mr. Erdogan’s steps towards independence after the 2008 global economic crisis had come from FETO and similar dependent structures. Erdogan would not step back. 

The “axis shift” accusation’s “axis” changed completely after 2012. It no longer made any sense to accuse Erdogan through secularism. The ambiguity became obsolete. Türkiye ended its debt relations with the IMF and focused on infrastructure operations. Airports, bridges, roads, and nuclear plants were on the axis. An era was over for those who thought they cornered Erdogan with the “political Islam” accusation only until recently; their rotes became useless. We have no doubt that the Gezi Park event was the first internal invasion attempt. Türkiye had suddenly faced a major unexpected invasion attempt. But this weakness applied to the aggressors as well. Claiming in the notice they released that the construction of the airports, bridges, and nuclear power plant must be stopped shows they failed to grasp the era as well. These demands showed clearly that they didn’t know what to do in the face of the rapid change in Türkiye. They abandoned ideological accusations, revealing their axis. 

The question of what FETO signified for the West, the U.S., and Israel requires a broader answer. There is no sense in seeking the answer to this question in the legal context. Liberal conservatives clearly expressed their axis after 2012, leaving no room for doubt. They also decided that Türkiye should remain on the West’s axis, and showed they would act on behalf of the West’s axis. Their insistent efforts to shape Türkiye’s agenda, centralizing the law and ethics concepts, is the result of their positioning on the West’s axis. The past’s “political Islam” accusation is no different to the present theory that “the religious community completed the power test with epic failures.” It should be no surprise that the result of Türkiye’s desire to determine its own axis is so striking. Yes, “Türkiye will not sink, if it does, oceans will overflow,” but there should be another dimension to this statement. Türkiye’s axis will change the world’s axis. 

The Türkiye Century is an objective. The series of objectives from the centenary of the Republic, to anniversaries of Istanbul’s conquest, and the Manzikert Victory have been generally named the Türkiye Century. This is a real axis change.