Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s covetous ambitions are various. From seeking gas in the Mediterranean and the “Blue Nation” lie, to his aspirations for Libya's oil crescent, his intervention in the Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, coveting Azerbaijan’s oil, and his adventures in Iraq and Syria, his greed has led him to adopt belligerent policies. Turkey is consequently quarreling with and making enemies out of everyone and playing a malicious role in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and even Armenian.
Erdogan has opened several fronts, from getting Turkey tangled up in Iraq with his attacks on the Kurds, as well as Syria and Libya, to supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and seeking to enable them to control most of the Middle East. Turkey’s blatant interventions escalated after the fall of the Brotherhood’s rule in Egypt, dealing a devastating blow to Turkish plans to control the Middle East and subsequently bring the project for a second Ottoman Empire to life.
Erdogan, out of frivolity and political ignorance, drained Turkey’s economy by opening political as well as military fronts against major Arab and Islamic, rather, Sunni states, especially Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At the same time, he aligned himself with the Iranian axis of evil. Indeed, Turkey’s hopeless attempts at playing a role it is not equipped to fulfill took him as far as Yemen and Somalia, while Erdogan’s defeats and losses almost bankrupting Turkey’s treasury. It was only saved by Qatari resuscitation and his imposition of royalties on some of those he supports, such as the Government of National Accord in Libya, which paid to rent Erdogan’s mercenaries in dollars taken from the Libyan treasury.
Artsakh, as it is referred to in Armenia, also known as the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which translates to the black garden in the mountains, is a mountainous region, part of which is in the South Caucasus, where the overwhelming majority of the population, about 95 percent, is Armenian. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over the contested area since the fall of the Soviet Union, and several attempts have been made to quell tensions and resolve the matter through negotiation, given the region’s delicacy. But Turkey’s intervention foiled all the attempts to compel a rapprochement between the two sides and settle the dispute over the area that either calls itself the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh or Artsakh.
Erdogan, who is supporting Azerbaijan, said that “Turkey will not hesitate to stand against any attack on Azerbaijan’s rights and land”, although the disagreement is geographical, over where to draw the borders, and has been on-going since the Soviet era. Redrawing the borders is being proposed by both countries, but Turkey’s intervention in support of oil-rich Azerbaijan is what ignited the war in the region, especially given the historical hostility between Armenia and Turkey because of the 1915 Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
Erdogan’s Turkey's ambitions for the Caucasus’ oil are obviously the real reason for Turkey’s conspicuous alignment with Azerbaijan and its intervention in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
In light of the reports confirming that Turkey had transferred Syrian mercenaries from Libya to Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia’s prime minister accused Turkey of directly intervening in the conflict and sending and transporting fighters and drones to Azerbajain, saying: “The international community cannot but view these actions as ethnic cleansing, and we will not allow for a second genocide to be committed against us”.
The Russian Interfax news agency quoted the Armenian ambassador Vardan Tajanyan as saying: “Turkey has transferred about four thousand fighters from northern Syria to Azerbaijan,” in a repeat of Turkey’s intervention in Libya.
Turkey’s Erdogan seeks to bring a second Ottoman Empire to life in the Caucuses and repeat the Armenian genocide. Turkey’s intervention in favor of Azerbaijan cannot enhance the region's stability; indeed, it will complicate the situation, as stressed by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who said that “Turkey’s military intervention might exacerbate and internationalize the conflict.” In fact, Turkey has sabotaged all attempts at a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the disputed Armenian-majority region.
Erdogan’s multiple fronts are all being fought for oil, demonstrating that the Turkish president is merely greedy for it. He had been taking it from Syrian, buying it from ISIS at the cheapest of prices, and he tried to steal it from Libya and the countries of the Mediterranean by drawing and conjuring up fanciful maps that disregard history and geography. But he doesn’t stand a chance… Reality will trump his covetous ambitions soon.
