Michael Rubin, Ex-Pentagon advisor and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, claims that he recently was in a meeting with former Pentagon chief Robert Gates and Saudi ambassador to the US Khalid bin Salman and the three have talked about the current affairs of Turkey and the future of Erdogan.
The multidimensional foreign policy
Rubin addressed the opinion of former Pentagon chief and said that Gates believes that the multidimensional policy of Erdogan is leading him to downfall. In recent years, Erdogan knowing the geopolitical importance of Turkey which seems to be a bridge between Asia and Europe tried to carry out a multidimensional policy to look after his interests. A situation which Erdogan considered it as an opportunity is now a challenging threat for him.
Turkey; the enemy of Germany and EU
Rubin also added that recently Erdogan called Angela Merkel as an enemy while I believe the case is vice versa and Turkey is actually the enemy of Germany. The aggressive approach of Erdogan is not only limited to Germany. Today, none in EU is supporting Erdogan. Turkey by taking advantage of its geopolitical influence racketeered Europe in various situations. However, Erdogan’s plots for EU have always backfired.
The other point addressed in the meeting was that since Erdogan could not achieve his ambitious goals for racketeering EU, terrorist incidents took place increasingly in Europe. These three political figures believe that the main accused of these disastrous incidents in Europe is Erdogan as he has provoked immigrants to move towards Europe and also he has deliberately ignored those terrorists using Turkey as their base for moving to Europe.
Erdogan’s opportunistic approach
Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the US, talked about other mistakes of Erdogan in his foreign policy. He believes that the recent request of Turkey for buying S-400 missile system from Russia would result in a closer connection between Turkey and Russia but actually, it was a serious warning to US and European countries.
From a geopolitical aspect, a close connection between Russia and Turkey is a great threat for EU as Turkey has been a key bridge between Europe and Asia. Accordingly, a coalition between Russia and Turkey means Europe has no more access to this bridge. Erdogan knowing the importance of this channel for EU tried to racketeer EU and at the same time warn the US to give him the privileges he asks for his countries interests. Buying S-400 missile system and choosing Russia over NATO for missile defense is the bottom line for the US which could result in a war between the two countries.
On the verge of collapse
The outcome of this meeting, according to Robin, was that Erdogan thinks he can achieve his goals with a wise opportunistic approach. On the one hand, Erdogan wants to put pressure on Pentagon by turning to Russia for defense system and on the other hand, he intends to look after his interests in the relations with EU by terrorism issues. Concurrently, he is willing to have strategic relations with Russia and Iran and also enjoy having connections with Arab countries as a surplus for his foreign policy interactions. The multidimensional foreign policy of Erdogan has undoubtedly made his situation unstable and precarious. Today, all European officials see Erdogan on the verge of collapse and they are waiting for a moment to react against Erdogan’s insulting racketeering in recent years.
