Putting The Taliban And Mustafa Kemal On Par: Mullah Omar And Ataturk Would Both Turn In Their Graves – Analysis – Eurasia Review
By James M. Dorsey
Dogu Perincek is celebrating the perceived defeat of US forces in Afghanistan. The staunchly anti-American Turkish politician doesn’t fare well in elections and has no official position in government but his sway on official thinking should not be underestimated.
His response to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan suggests that it is not just Islamists and jihadists who are having a field day with the American setback. So are civilisationalists who think in terms of a civilizational rather than a nation-state and ultra-nationalists who propagate the notion of a Eurasia-dominated world.
“The Afghan nation has waged a war for the past 20 years against the US under the leadership of the Taliban,” Mr. Perincek said on television. “The Taliban have beaten US imperialism. The Taliban were successful in Afghanistan’s war of independence like Mustafa Kemal Pasha did in Turkey.”
The bizarre comparison by Mr. Perincek, a left-wing secularist who has long advocated a Turkish alignment in Eurasia with Russia and China, would likely prompt the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the general-turned-statesman who carved secular Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire, to turn in their graves.
It put two mutually exclusive poles of the Muslim world, an ultra-conservative religious movement and a Muslim proponent of a militant form of secularism, on par with one another, something neither would have appreciated.
In contrast to the Taliban, Mr. Kemal’s Turkish republic in its early years banned religious clothing, sought to remove religion from the public square, changed the Turkish alphabet from Arabic to a modified Latin one, and significantly enhanced women’s rights.
Mr. Perincek’s view nevertheless reflects a sentiment present not only in government circles in Ankara but also in Pakistan where the country’s leaders feel either slighted or unappreciated by the United States.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared to welcome the Taliban victory by describing it as “breaking the chains of slavery” even if Pakistan has said it would not rush to recognize a new government once installed in Kabul and was pushing for it to be inclusive.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi noted that representatives of the Northern Alliance that is opposed to the Taliban had been in his office only last week.
Mr. Qureishi went on to lament the lack of recognition of Pakistan’s contribution to evacuations from Afghanistan against the backdrop of the South Asian nation’s assertions that it is a victim of the fallout of the Afghan wars.
“We are facilitating, our planes are flying into Kabul and getting people out. Our embassy is functioning 24/7 helping people. Diplomatic personnel, international organizations. Are we being acknowledged? No. We are not even being mentioned in the list of countries that are helping evacuate people. Is this an oversight? I’m not sure,” Mr. Qureishi thundered.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan have long ebbed and flowed with US officials at times accusing the South Asian state of having given birth to the Taliban in 1994 and supporting them ever since.
The linkage between sentiment in Ankara and Islamabad in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is significant because it highlights one potential effect of the debacle.
Sentiment in Turkey and Pakistan, two of the Muslim world’s more powerful countries, impacts the geopolitical environment as the United States seeks to concentrate on its rivalries with Russia and China.
Turkey and Pakistan have not only troubled relations with the United States but also less solid ties to China than meets the eye. Turkey, moreover, is both a member of NATO and maintains a fragile alliance with Russia, whose concepts of Eurasianism make them as much allies as rivals.
As a concept, Turkish Eurasianism borrows elements of Kemalism, Turkish nationalism, socialism, and radical secularism. It traces its roots to Kadro, an influential leftist magazine published in Turkey between 1932 and 1934 and Yon, a left-wing magazine launched in the wake of a military coup in 1960 that gained increased currency following yet another military takeover in 1980.
Turkish Eurasianism, like its Russian equivalent, is opposed to liberal capitalism and globalization; believes that Western powers want to carve up Turkey; and sees Turkey’s future in alignment with Russia, Central Asia, and China.
Differences with the United States over the war in Syria and US support for Syrian Kurds boosted Eurasianist thinking as it gained currency among Turkish bureaucrats and security forces as well as in think thanks and academia. The influence of Eurasianist generals was further bolstered in 2016 when they replaced officers who were accused to have participated in a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr. Perincek’s influence was at the time enhanced by, together with the deputy leader of his Patriotic Party, Ismail Hakki Pekin, a former head of military intelligence, mediating a reconciliation between Russia and Turkey following the Turkish air force’s downing of a Russian fighter in 2015. The two men were supported by Turkish businessmen close to Mr. Erdogan and ultra-nationalist Eurasianist elements in the military.
Fitting the pattern of Eurasianism, relations between Turkey and Pakistan have tightened in recent years with nationalistic Turkish tv series that celebrates the Ottomans winning hearts in minds in Pakistan, Pakistani support for Turkish-backed Azerbaijan in last year’s Caucasus war against Armenia, and stepped up military cooperation.
Turkey’s main aerospace manufacturer said this weekend that it had agreed with a Pakistani partner to produce in Pakistan components for a Turkish, medium-altitude, long-endurance drone. Turkish drones have performed well on battlefields in Azerbaijan, Libya, and Syria.
Said prominent Turkish Eurasianist Erol Manisali: “Turkey has common strategic interests with Russia, China, and Iran. Turkey’s improving relations with prominent Asian powers…are, all things being equal, a natural outcome of the local dynamics of the region.”
Putting the Taliban and Mustafa Kemal on par: Mullah Omar and Ataturk would both turn in their grave
Dogu Perincek is celebrating the perceived defeat of US forces in Afghanistan. The staunchly anti-American Turkish politician doesn’t fare well in elections and has no official position in government but his sway on official thinking should not be underestimated.
His response to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan suggests that it is not just Islamists and jihadists who are having a field day with the American setback. So are civilisationalists who think in terms of a civilizational rather than a nation-state and ultra-nationalists who propagate the notion of a Eurasia-dominated world.
“The Afghan nation has waged a war for the past 20 years against the US under the leadership of the Taliban,” Mr. Perincek said on television. “The Taliban have beaten US imperialism. The Taliban were successful in Afghanistan’s war of independence like Mustafa Kemal Pasha did in Turkey.”
The bizarre comparison by Mr. Perincek, a left-wing secularist who has long advocated a Turkish alignment in Eurasia with Russia and China, would likely prompt the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the general-turned-statesman who carved secular Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire, to turn in their graves.
It put two mutually exclusive poles of the Muslim world, an ultra-conservative religious movement and a Muslim proponent of a militant form of secularism, on par with one another, something neither would have appreciated.
In contrast to the Taliban, Mr. Kemal’s Turkish republic in its early years banned religious clothing, sought to remove religion from the public square, changed the Turkish alphabet from Arabic to a modified Latin one, and significantly enhanced women’s rights.
Mr. Perincek’s view nevertheless reflects a sentiment present not only in government circles in Ankara but also in Pakistan where the country’s leaders feel either slighted or unappreciated by the United States.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared to welcome the Taliban victory by describing it as “breaking the chains of slavery” even if Pakistan has said it would not rush to recognize a new government once installed in Kabul and was pushing for it to be inclusive.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureishi noted that representatives of the Northern Alliance that is opposed to the Taliban had been in his office only last week.
Mr. Qureishi went on to lament the lack of recognition of Pakistan’s contribution to evacuations from Afghanistan against the backdrop of the South Asian nation’s assertions that it is a victim of the fallout of the Afghan wars.
“We are facilitating, our planes are flying into Kabul and getting people out. Our embassy is functioning 24/7 helping people. Diplomatic personnel, international organizations. Are we being acknowledged? No. We are not even being mentioned in the list of countries that are helping evacuate people. Is this an oversight? I’m not sure,” Mr. Qureishi thundered.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan have long ebbed and flowed with US officials at times accusing the South Asian state of having given birth to the Taliban in 1994 and supporting them ever since.
The linkage between sentiment in Ankara and Islamabad in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is significant because it highlights one potential effect of the debacle.
Sentiment in Turkey and Pakistan, two of the Muslim world’s more powerful countries, impacts the geopolitical environment as the United States seeks to concentrate on its rivalries with Russia and China.
Turkey and Pakistan have not only troubled relations with the United States but also less solid ties to China than meets the eye. Turkey, moreover, is both a member of NATO and maintains a fragile alliance with Russia, whose concepts of Eurasianism make them as much allies as rivals.
As a concept, Turkish Eurasianism borrows elements of Kemalism, Turkish nationalism, socialism, and radical secularism. It traces its roots to Kadro, an influential leftist magazine published in Turkey between 1932 and 1934 and Yon, a left-wing magazine launched in the wake of a military coup in 1960 that gained increased currency following yet another military takeover in 1980.
Turkish Eurasianism, like its Russian equivalent, is opposed to liberal capitalism and globalization; believes that Western powers want to carve up Turkey; and sees Turkey’s future in alignment with Russia, Central Asia, and China.
Differences with the United States over the war in Syria and US support for Syrian Kurds boosted Eurasianist thinking as it gained currency among Turkish bureaucrats and security forces as well as in think thanks and academia. The influence of Eurasianist generals was further bolstered in 2016 when they replaced officers who were accused to have participated in a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr. Perincek’s influence was at the time enhanced by, together with the deputy leader of his Patriotic Party, Ismail Hakki Pekin, a former head of military intelligence, mediating a reconciliation between Russia and Turkey following the Turkish air force’s downing of a Russian fighter in 2015. The two men were supported by Turkish businessmen close to Mr. Erdogan and ultra-nationalist Eurasianist elements in the military.
Fitting the pattern of Eurasianism, relations between Turkey and Pakistan have tightened in recent years with nationalistic Turkish tv series that celebrates the Ottomans winning hearts in minds in Pakistan, Pakistani support for Turkish-backed Azerbaijan in last year’s Caucasus war against Armenia, and stepped up military cooperation.
Turkey’s main aerospace manufacturer said this weekend that it had agreed with a Pakistani partner to produce in Pakistan components for a Turkish, medium-altitude, long-endurance drone. Turkish drones have performed well on battlefields in Azerbaijan, Libya, and Syria.
Said prominent Turkish Eurasianist Erol Manisali: “Turkey has common strategic interests with Russia, China, and Iran. Turkey’s improving relations with prominent Asian powers…are, all things being equal, a natural outcome of the local dynamics of the region.”
Turkey marks Victory Day at the end of a month of historic wins
Victory Day was celebrated and fallen soldiers were commemorated Monday across Turkey. The day is originally a remembrance of the Battle of Dumlupınar fought by Turkish forces 99 years ago. It falls into the last day of a month known for important milestones and victories in the history of the country, from the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) to the Great Offensive fought against invading Greek forces prior to Dumlupınar.
In 81 provinces, ceremonies were held to mark the day, from parades to visits to the cemeteries of fallen soldiers and wreath-laying ceremonies to honor Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.
In the capital Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other dignitaries, including the Parliamentary Speaker and leaders of opposition parties, started the remembrance by paying their respects to Atatürk at his mausoleum known as Anıtkabir. The president later hosted a reception at the Presidential Complex on the occasion of Victory Day.
“Honorable Atatürk, we are in your presence once again on the 99th anniversary of the great victory, one of the golden bricks on the path to our independence. We remember your excellency and honorable martyrs on this day. We are carrying Turkey to a bright future in line with the goals you set for us,” Erdoğan wrote in a memorial guest book at Anıtkabir. “We are expanding the deterrence capabilities of the Turkish Armed Forces, who have won the hearts of our nation, by steps taken in our defense industry. We are strengthening ties between the Republic and the public with reforms we achieved in democracy, justice, rights and freedoms. The state of the Republic of Turkey you entrusted to us is in good hands. May your soul be blessed,” he added.
The president is set to attend a ground-breaking ceremony later during the day for the “Crescent and Star Project,” a massive complex that will house the Ministry of National Defense, Office of Chief of General Staff and headquarters of the army’s Land, Air and Naval Forces. The building, which will be constructed in the capital Ankara, is likened to the Pentagon in the United States. As its name implies, it will be in the shape of a crescent and star, the main symbols on the Turkish flag.
Erdoğan had earlier issued a written message to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Dumlupınar, which resulted in the resounding triumph of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s revolutionary army against occupying Greek forces. “We are in the bliss of achieving the 99th anniversary of the Great Victory, one of the cornerstones of our centuries-old glorious history. I mark the honor of the August 30 Victory Day of our nation, Turkish Cypriots and our citizens living in various countries around the world,” Erdoğan said. He also commemorated Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the venerated veteran and commander-in-chief of Turkey’s War of Independence, as well as esteemed members of Turkey’s Parliament and the heroic soldiers.
He stressed that Aug. 30 is one of the most critical turning points in the country’s history and paved the way for the foundation of the Turkish republic. “Despite all kinds of poverty and impossibility, the Turkish people have once again shown that these lands, which were made our home with the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, are our eternal homeland,” he said. Turkish control of Anatolia – the vast territory of modern Turkey – began with the Aug. 26, 1071 Battle of Manzikert, which saw the Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Alparslan defeat a much larger Byzantine army. “The spirit, belief and will that inspired the Great Victory are drawing the direction for our nation today, just as it did 99 years ago,” Erdoğan added. He said Turkey has become the hope of not only its 84 million citizens living within its borders but also hundreds of millions from the Balkans to Asia, from Africa to Europe. Turkey will continue to defend the rights of the oppressed against the oppressors and to strive for peace, justice and freedom to prevail all over the world, he added.
The Turkic Council also hailed Victory Day, with a statement by its secretary-general Baghdad Amreyev. on Sunday hailed Turkey’s Victory Day on the momentous 99th anniversary of the resounding defeat of occupying Greek armies at the hands of Turks in the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922. The victory constituted the basis of the foundation of Turkey, Amreyev said. “With its growing economy, strong democracy, commitment to fundamental human values and visionary foreign policy, Turkey has continued to be a source of inspiration for other nations in its region and beyond,” he added. Amreyev also commemorated Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and all the martyrs and veterans of the Turkish Independence War and wished peace, unity and solidarity to the entire Turkic World.
The Battle of Dumlupınar ended with Turkey’s decisive victory against occupying Greek forces in a campaign that took place between 1919 and 1922. Greek forces had invaded most of western Turkey following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Atatürk (then known as the Ottoman Pasha Mustafa Kemal, hit the road in 1919 to mobilize forces to fight for Turkish independence. In a brief period of time, he managed to organize a movement with the support of the public. After dealing a crushing blow to Greek forces in the Battle of Sakarya in 1921, Mustafa Kemal’s forces launched the Great Offensive one year later to push Greek forces further to the west and, eventually, force them to leave Anatolia. Finally, the Offensive began in the last week of August in 1922. Turkish forces one by one recaptured places invaded by Greek forces, forcing them to start retreating to western cities. On Aug. 30, the two sides confronted each other near the town of Dumlupınar, located in the present-day Kütahya province. The victory ensured the recapture of Kütahya while inflicting heavy losses on the Greek forces. It would take another two weeks before the Turkish army captured the last Greek stronghold in the western province of Izmir and cleared Anatolia of Greek forces.