Alwaght- Erdogan and Davutoglu, as the architects of modern Turkey, in recent years had put the zero tension policy on the agenda of their foreign policy.

However, after a while, as Turkey got involved in Syrian crisis, and began to interfere with the Syrian affairs and granted its full support for terrorist groups to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, actually it did adopt a policy other than what it had proclaimed. With regard to domestic policies of the Turkish government, Erdogan’s performance could be considered as one of the most totalitarian ones in recent history of Turkey.

The outcomes of both domestic and foreign policies of Justice and Development Party (AKP) are clearly seen today.Die Tageszeitung, a German daily newspaper in its recent issue wrote: the biggest mistake of Erdogan was that he forced all different elements of the Turkish government and even his opponents to follow his policies. The German newspaper argues that the totalitarian behavior of Erdogan, has become the Achilles heel of his government whose security and stability are being threatened.

According to the newspaper, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an made any efforts to strengthen the foundations of his government including: weakening the Kurdish and pro-Kurdish parties, accusing the opposition forces, threatening the right wing opposition to maintain silence, to restrict any protests or demonstrations, to permit the police forces to shoot the protesters in the event of violent behavior of  the protesters.

At the beginning days of his government, Erdogan proclaimed that Freedom of expression is a right for all, but now its conditions are getting worse than before in Turkey. Dozens of journalists have been jailed on charges of making statements contrary to the policies of Erdogan’s government and have been labeled as spies. The European countries have closed their eyes on strict security atmosphere in Turkey, as it has been greatly facilitating the migration challenge for the European countries.

This has provoked the opponents of Erdogan and it is making the situation much worse. Now, three kinds of obvious class divisions are found in the Turkish society: economic, religion, and climate ones, i.e., the differences between rich and poor, secular and religious, and the West and East of Turkey. Die Tageszeitung concludes that the Turkish people are in the worst conditions of legal vacuum and the Turkish authorities receive the least popular support from the society.

Al-Monitor analytical new agency in its latest report described Erdogan as the big loser of the game in the West Asia, the statesman who failed to make ‘a significant move’ towards a solution for the Syrian crisis. Al-Monitor analysts argued that Erdogan's government has been checkmated with a few wrong moves. The first one was that Turkey joined the coalition of 36 Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia; a coalition which certainly sought to weaken the position of Iran in the region. Turkey, placed itself among countries like Nigeria, Mali and the Comoros which are led by Saudi Arabia, and this way it has practically undermined the traditional and historical charisma of Turkey as the leading country of the Sunni states against the Shiite Iran.

Monitor argued that Turkey's policies have put it in the triangle of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey which compete for regional hegemony in the region. This analytical news agency of the West Asia believes the second mistake of Erdogan is that it has turned back to the Israeli regime. On January 2, 2016, Erdogan declared that Turkey and Israel need each other.

Many experts believe this statement suggests that Turkey has perceived the geopolitical changes in the West Asia, and wants to withdraw from the competition with the Israeli regime. Having joined the Sunni anti-Iranian coalition of 36 Arab countries and alliance with Israel, Turkey has wasted all its claims about being a regional power, and has actually entered the unprecedented campaign of confrontation with Iran. Certainly, Erdogan's recent move could be the result of his failure in Syria, and his challenge with Russia. On the other hand, to incline towards Saudi Arabia and the Israeli regime is what the United States wishes as the long-standing friend and ally of Turkey.

The Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been Turkey’s red line. Erdogan, at any event, does not wish the opposition of the Kurds to assume power. Because the extent of their power on the banks of the Euphrates and hundreds miles away from the border between Turkey and Syria, would be a terrible threat to Erdogan’s AKP government and his cohorts. During a visit in January 6, 2016 with General Joseph Dunford, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Turkish Government voiced its deep concerns over the corridor of the Kurds in Northern Syria. Al-Monitor believes that these are just the first issues of all those who added fuel to the fire in Syrian crisis, especially Turkey.

By Alwaght