by Michael Rubin
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become the most outspoken international leader condemning the coup in Egypt and calling for the restoration of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Certainly, part of Erdoğan’s commitment to Morsi is ideological: Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party is, at its roots, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both share an ideological and religious agenda and hope to remake their societies fundamentally.
It would give Erdoğan too much credit to suggest his only motivation is religious. Erdoğan is no saint; he is vain, coarse, and has amassed an amazing amount of money far beyond his salary or religious alms. In the months before Morsi’s ouster, Turkish defense contractors cultivated Egypt. From Hürriyet Daily News:
An Arab
diplomat in Ankara said he expected “difficult times” in
Turkish-Egyptian relations, which may disrupt economic relations too,
unless Ankara and Cairo prefer to pursue a pragmatic line… In May Turkey
granted Egypt a $250 million loan to finance Turkish-Egyptian joint
defense projects. The loan, the first of its kind, intends to boost
defense cooperation and Turkish defense exports to Egypt. Earlier, Egypt
expressed an interest in buying the new ANKA Medium Altitude Long
Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles built by Turkish Aerospace
Industries (TAI). Egypt was one of the pioneers in unmanned aerial
systems, fielding the Teledyne Ryan Model 324 Scarab high speed drone
and SkyEye tactical UAVs since the early 1980s. The addition of a MALE
platform will fulfill the gap offering better persistence, improved
imagery and multi-payload capacity. The potential sale of six to 10 ANKA
systems to Egypt was discussed during Erdoğan’s visit to Cairo last
November… In a separate deal, Ankara had approved the sale to Egypt of
six multi-role tactical platforms, MRTP-20 “fast-intervention crafts,”
produced by the privately-owned shipyards Yonca-Onuk.
Erdoğan may be angry at the financial hit Turkey took in Egypt, but the episode should also be a wake-up call to the changing military balance in the Middle East. While the United States provides Turkey with high-end military platforms, Turkey has been building up a military industry which potentially can change the military balance in the region. The coup may have voided Turkish military contracts in Egypt, but it is an open question what Turkey has provided to Islamists in other Arab Spring countries.
Michael Rubin
Source: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/08/25/whats-motivating-erdogan-on-egypt/
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