World powers should handle Erdoğan's ‘megalomaniac' approach with care

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
is marketing his world view that the United States and European Union need his
country more than it does them and his "megalomaniac approach"
necessitates careful examination of a powerful regional leader not bound by
existing arrangements, regional affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el said in an opinion
piece on Friday.
“The confrontation with Greece and Europe in general
over oil exploration in disputable areas could transpire as an experiment in
implementing Erdoğan’s new strategy and not
only an economic conflict between two states,” he wrote in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Turkey and EU member Greece have been locked in a
months-long territorial dispute in the eastern Mediterranean that has involved
other EU countries and the U.S. in de-escalating tensions. The EU is scheduled
in December to discuss possible sanctions on Turkey should it continue its
hydrocarbon exploration in internationally recognised Greek waters.
Bar'el said the EU summit, which was set for October
but later postponed, was linked to the upcoming U.S. presidential election in
November. U.S. President Donald Trump, who is rerunning as the Republican
candidate, has warm relations with Erdoğan,
despite a series of spats between their countries including Washington’s objections to Turkey’s purchased S-400
missile systems from Russia.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presidential
hopeful, has expressed a less-friendly policy towards the Turkish government
and its actions at home and abroad.
“If Joe Biden is elected the American policy toward
Turkey will change fundamentally and support the (European Union) in applying
diplomatic pressure on Erdoğan,” Bar'el said.
In spite of whoever sits in the White House, the EU
will not allow the U.S. to “set the rules of the game” in the eastern
Mediterranean, and the Turkey’s threat of allowing a new wave of refugees to
enter Europe will remain, the columnist said.
Turkey’s foreign policy initiatives have not been
limited to the eastern Mediterranean this year. Turkish armed forces have
launched major offensives against Kurdish armed groups in Syria and Iraq,
supplied hardware, fighters and know-how for a military confrontation with the
United Arab Emirates-backed opposition in Libya.
The Turkish government meanwhile declared firm
support for Azerbaijan in its latest bout of fighting with Armenia over a
post-Soviet territorial dispute and has repeatedly lambasted Arab countries for
breaking a decades-long taboo of establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
“From a state seeking a warm corner in the Arab
Middle East, Turkey became a confrontational state seen by many Arab states as
an enemy,” Bar'el said, saying such an Israeli thing to say.
Even Russia said this month it does not see Turkey
as a strategic ally, but a close partner. Russia and Turkey have maintained an
ostensible economic partnership and share a common distrust in the West,
despite backing opposing sides in the Syrian and Libyan conflicts.
“In recent years, despite the growing economic
crisis, Erdoğan has built Turkey up as a
regional and diplomatic power that cannot be ignored or dismissed, one that is
ready to confront Europe, Russia and the United States,” Bar'el said.