The Ottoman Empire Strikes Back

Judeosphere
24 June '10

Turkey’s role in the Gaza flotilla incident was a dramatic wake-up call that Ankara is serious about pursuing its “regional engagement” strategy and becoming more involved in the affairs of the Middle East.

Yet, despite the schadenfreude of seeing the Israelis subjected to world condemnation, some Arab countries remain suspicious about Turkey’s long-term intentions.

Memri has compiled an intriguing overview of editorials in the Arab press. Newspapers in the Persian Gulf countries were especially critical of Turkey, often referring to it as the “new Ottoman Empire.” Saudi writer Abdallah Nasser Al-Otaibi, for instance, warns that “Erdogan wants to revive the Ottoman belief that in order to be strong and stand proud, they must conquer the Arab minds… The age-old Turkish dream to rule all the Arab lands has now been resurrected, and the Turks have no qualms about exploiting the Arabs’ fateful causes, on which they have been silent in the past 60 years”

Among the Palestinians, Wassef Mansour, a member of Fatah, used language against Turkey and Iran that is usually reserved for Israel:

“Adolf Hitler invented the theory of lebensraum… according to which some countries feel that their status does not match their military or economic power and therefore interfere politically or militarily in [the affairs of] neighboring countries, especially when those countries are militarily weak…Following the demise of the charismatic Arab leaders, the disintegration of Iraqi military power, and the Arab summits’ abandonment of the military option, Iran and Turkey began to see the Arab region as part of their lebensraum…

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