Europe needs to take
a tougher stance towards Turkey, as Ankara encourages the rise of Islamic
extremism, which it uses to consolidate its own political influence in the
Middle East, French journalist Pascal Celerier wrote for Boulevard Voltaire.
Turkey's support of
ISIL, the downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber and the interruption of a moment
of silence dedicated to the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks with boos
and yells of "Allahu Akbar" at a stadium in Turkey shows that the
Islamic side of Turkey is strong and present, and the country isn't on the same
page with the EU when it comes to issues of Islamic fundamentalism, the author
said.
Turkey is dreaming
of becoming a great power once again. The country is essentially "an
Islamic caliphate" which is currently in the process of trying to
re-establish the Ottoman Empire, Celerier argued.
The world might soon
witness a confrontation between Ankara and Tehran, as the two cities would
compete with each other to become a leader of a new empire in the Middle East,
the French journalist said.
There would be a rise
of new, more politically and economically powerful "Islamic
caliphates" in the future. Turkey will be one of them, the author said.
The French
government needs to understand that ISIL is simply a tool in the grand scheme
of geopolitics. ISIL isn't a "third Reich" and it would be defeated
soon; however a victory over ISIL would only be a part of a bigger problem that
France and the EU have in front of them — the rise of global Islamic
fundamentalism in its aggressive and expansionist form, Celerier said.
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