Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected as leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party; this re-electionconfirmed his leading role in the political life of Turkey. In Turkey, the new Constitution is set to enter into force, under which the 2014 presidential election will be open to all voters, and now Erdogan will be able to run for president (whose authority, by the way, is also extended) and to be a key figure in the country for another 12 years.
At the party congress, the speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Cemil Çiçek noted that the fight against terrorism has become a common struggle of all political parties: "Terror is one of the issues that bring us a lot of pain. We see it as a threat to the future of the society. Terror is the biggest threat to peace and stability in the world. This is a common problem for all parties. We have to be more responsive in this regard." In recent months, Turkey has stepped up the fight against terrorism (mostly the Kurdish terrorism) and persistently defends its sovereignty, often using its own armed forces in the territory of other countries. Ankara, which has threatened to break off negotiations on association and integration with the EU during the presidency of Cyprus, keeps its promise. Moreover, Turkey's foreign vector seems to change. Having disappointed in its European future, Turkey pays attention to the Middle East and to increasing its influence on the Asian neighbors.
Remembering old grievances and accusations of European partners in lack of democracy and human rights abuses, today Turkey openly accuses the West of the support to Kurdish terrorists and the connivance of the financial flows from Europe to the needs of the rebels in the south-east of Turkey. According to Erdogan, "13,000 Kurdish fighters are in Germany, and the government somehow turns a blind eye to them. The representatives of the PKK extort money from some Kurdish businessmen to conduct terrorist attacks." The Turkish prime minister said that so far Turkey could not put an end to terrorist attacks, because, he said, that, first of all, the West did not want it to do this.
Today, cross-border operations in Iraq of the Turkish army suppressing the militant bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are not surprising. Ankara tries to approach the leadership of Iraqi Kurdish autonomy, particularly, authoritative Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. Turkey is active in Iraqi Kurdistan, signing with the leadership of the autonomy agreements on the construction of new pipelines to Turkey, the participation of Turkish companies in the exploration and production of energy resources in the north-eastern Iraq. Often this is done without the consent of the official Baghdad, causing irritation of the central Iraqi authorities. Disintegrated and weakening, Iraq is currently not able to counter the influence of Turkey on its most separatist region, but it will try to influence Ankara by means of the U.S., which is also satisfied with the disintegration of Iraq.
In recent days, Turkey has become more active on another direction of its Asian policy, namely, in Syria. Erdogan openly calls to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad and accuses Russia, China and Iran of supporting the dictator, and the West - of the lack of commitment to change the regime in Damascus. The situation on the Turkish-Syrian border is more and more tense, threatening to turn into an open intervention of Turkish army into the territory of the recent ally. On October 4, Turkish parliament granted a one-year mandate for military operations abroad to the Erdogan government, including in Syria, in connection with an incident on the border with the neighboring country. Artillery shells launched from the territory of Syria exploded in the district of Akchakale in southeast Turkey, killing five people and injuring 11 people. Since that day, Turkey has already attacked the Syrian territory several times.
There is no doubt that the calling to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad and thus to minimize the influence of Tehran on Damascus, Turkey would not mind becoming a "patron" of new Syrian authorities including this country in the sphere of its "legitimate interests". Today, Turkey dares such steps only towards the politically and militarily weak neighbors - split Iraq and Syria in a state of civil war. However, given the likely continuity of government in Ankara, there is no doubt that the appetite of the country will grow. "European choice" of Turkey is likely to be more and more abandoned, and the bet will be placed on building Turkish own center of power in the Middle East and seeking to dominate the region, both economically and politically, as well as in the military sphere.
