We are familiar with cases in history in which a country goes "crazy." The heads of government are leading destructive proceedings of mass murder, or serious harm to the citizens of the country and its surroundings. Significant examples of such regimes are Nazi Germany, Full-Pot Cambodia, Rwanda in the early 1990s, and modern-day North Korea. The profound changes that Turkey has undergone in the past year indicate, perhaps, the aggravation of the "mental state" of the regime, headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The longing of his supporters for the days of the Ottoman Empire and the growing nationalist uproar are pushing Erdogan, who was considered a Democratic reformer at the beginning of his career, into a hasty "madness of greatness." Erdogan, who came to power 14 years ago as a great promise of democracy and liberalism, and sought to join Turkey into the European Union, seems to have changed his goals. The moves he has led in recent years indicate that instead of joining the empire - he seeks to establish an empire. Even if it requires him to run over entire publics along the way.
After declaring war on the Kurds in the summer of 2015, he also launched a campaign in the summer of 2016 against the Golanists and the Kemalists. At the same time, his army invaded Syria and reinforced its forces in northern Iraq. Recently, Erdogan opened another front, this time against Europe.
Turkey entered the 21st century as the second largest army in the NATO alliance, as a leading player in the Middle East tragedy, as a significant influence on Central Asian countries, as a waiver of the European dream and as a key player in the energy market - Turkish GDP per capita grew by 30 % Since Erdogan's rise to power. All of these are held as strong cards in her hand, but there is also a joker: the possibility of "flooding" Europe with refugees according to her decision, as she did in the summer of 2015. Since the days of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has not been so strong. Deep and destructive processes, and it is on the verge of civil war. These processes, driven by Erdogan himself, may determine the fate of the delicate democracy that has been built in the country since the beginning of the 20th century. With its great power, and the violence that erupts in it, the Turkish Republic may commit genocide and perhaps even drag the powers into a world war.
A significant milestone in Erdogan's internal revolution is expected to register in a few weeks. On April 16, Turkey will hold a referendum in which its citizens will be required to decide whether to accept or reject constitutional amendments that will allow Erdogan to rule the country until 2029. The amendments will turn the regime from a dual system - president and prime minister - to a pure presidential system. The president will be given powers to elect the cabinet, to elect members of parliament who will serve on behalf of his party, to appoint judges, and rights in the field of legislation. Like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan will have the status of a supreme president, with the power to guarantee him complete control of the country.
In the three weeks remaining until the decisive referendum, we will try to trace the historical process that shaped modern Turkey and try to better understand the context in which it will take place. Starting from Turkey's roots as a 'crazy country', rooted in the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the murder of the indigenous Christian peoples who lived in it; The rise and fall of Turkish democracy - as reflected in those who have been excluded from it: the trade unions, the Kurds, the Alawites, and the religious Muslim public; And an in-depth look at Erdogan himself - a post-modern sultan. The Turkmens are a group of peoples numbering about 150 million people, scattered in about 23 countries. About 40% of them are Turks - Sunni Muslims, Turkish speakers, who mostly live in Turkey, or have immigrated from it; About 38% are Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tatars, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz - Sunni Muslims living in the former Soviet Union in Central Asia, Russia, and Ukraine; about 15% are Azeri-Muslims, Azeri-speakers living in Azerbaijan and the northwest. Iran, about 6% of them are Uighur-Sunni Muslims living in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwestern China; the rest are divided into dozens of peoples and groups in Asia, the Caucasus and the Crimea. , In Buddhism and even in Judaism ("Karaites of Eastern Europe").
The Turkmen peoples see themselves as intertwined. Their language and culture, as well as their history form a connection that is difficult to explain its essence, similar to the connection between Jews in different countries and in different religious streams. Turkey, the country with the largest Turkmen population, sees itself as the leader of these peoples. This view is of critical importance for reading the history of the Ottoman Empire, but also for a geopolitical look at contemporary Turkey.
The ancestors of the Turkmen peoples began to migrate from the Asian prairie region westward toward the Mediterranean, in many waves, probably beginning in the fifth century. At first they migrated as shepherds and merchants, and later as conquerors. They founded the Seljuk Empire which defeated the Arab rule of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 11th century, and took over the Muslim Empire.
Over the centuries, the Turkmens established themselves in Central Asia and the West, dividing into various groups and peoples while partially intermingling with local populations and converting to Islam. The Crusades cut short the territorial continuity of the Seljuk Empire, and the historical continuum of Turkmen rule in the Middle East for some 200 years.
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