French here. I'm pretty sure Erdogan knows exactly what he's doing. He is using Macron's words (which by the way condemned radical islam only, not all of islam, but I guess it doesn't matter) as an occasion to present himself as the main defender of islam in the muslim world, much like the ottomans used to be.
I completely agree with you. Erdoğan has this bigly project to make Turkey great again, just like Trump or Putin, except on some level I think he really believes that stuff?, whereas the other two are just in it for the money. He went to a religious school, after all, and he’s been in radical Islamic circles since the 1970s. And he has said he wants to become king, so there’s that as well.
The other thing is that Turkey’s been in freefall for years now. Once on the verge to join the EU, it’s now more isolated than ever. The regime shot people in the streets, arrested thousands of ‘political enemies’, overturned or canceled elections, sent its army to 13 different countries and is fighting with pretty much all of its neighbours, not to mention a sizable part of its population. The EU hates it because of the migrant crisis thing, Germany is on high alert after Erdoğan openly stated Turkish nationals in Germany should act as a ‘fifth column’ and ‘conquer it’ or whatever bullshit, and now he’s got into a personal spat with Macron. Meanwhile, the Turkish economy is crashing - wasn’t it last year they had to hand out basic necessities, up to and including onions? - and many educated people or perspective students are fleeing from a school system which is now teaching jihad and forbidding Charles Darwin. Tbh, conflating action against terrorist groups with Islamophobia is about the only card he can play rn. Let’s focus on the evil French so his voters won’t start wondering wtf is happening with their own country.
(What’s horrifying is that it’s always the same playbook pretty much everywhere and there’s no reason it should work, especially now we have access to diverse media and knowledge and can speak to people all over the world - and instead it works every time. Look at Trump voters. Just make people focus on the Hateful Other, who is a THREAT to your Traditional Way of Life, and you’re all set.)
I don’t know. It’s horrifying to see a country with so much potential disintegrate so quickly, and I’m very worried about my Turkish friends, some of whom are desperate to get out. I hope the situation won’t escalate more than it already has.
