There’s been a lot of talk about Erdogan’s efforts to make Turkey a leader of the Islamic world. In some ways, it has achieved a lot. But there are also a lot of obstacles. So, what do you think? Could it ever become a Muslim superpower? As ever, let me know your thoughts below.
Absolutely not. It could at best become an influential local power among Turkic peoples, such as the Azeri and the Kazakh. The Muslims are much more fragmented and mutually suspicious among themselves than most people imagine, quite something similar to the 16-17th centuries in Europe when Christians were at war with each other. In a hypothetical future with no global warming, it might have become a huge power when they are secularized again. But we have global warming, so probably never.
You make me laugh, he can barely make his economy function, he likes to project power, but that is bluster no substance. We in europe laugh at this person.
Great rundown of Turkeys complicated past and future goals. It's quite interesting to see how Turkey has been split between east and west for much of it's history, going back and forth and oftentimes trying to do both at the same time
As a Turk I dont really think that there is a need of a leader for islamic world. I have never heard anyone talk about leading christian, hindu or buddhist world. Russia and Ukraine are both christian countries but they are fighting, Iran and Saudi Arabia are both muslim but they are biggest rivals. I think looking at geopolitics using a religious perspective is wrong most of the time. Even if there would be a leader of islamic world, I dont really think thay turkey would be it. In order to lead such big amount of population, landmass etc. You need to have a very very very strong economy, very unified country and a high tech industry. Turkey has very few or nearly none of these qualities. Love your videos proffesor.
@@VladTevezI attended a really interesting conference last year where commentators argued that tenoning was now in such problems that businesses were really struggling to manage, despite being masters at handling uncertainty. The key arguments was that Erdogan really needed to find a path to proper economic management and abandon some of his more controversial ideas.
@@AliVeli-ig8xk No, they're not really secular. It's in their constitution but the country really is an extremist Islamic country (like they'll eventually all end up).
@@ricardomaximus424 Yes, but according to the constitution, if he does not approve an early election this would be his last term, and he has to leave the office in 4 years. If he manages to win the early election, he would add more years to his term. On the other hand, many polls show opposition is leading ATM. He has to make some hard choices in the following months. Main opposition already said they won't accept any early election date after November 2025. It would make sense to wait his term to end at that point.
Turks indeed had a decisive role in triggering historical major events like the Migration Period, Crusades, Age of Discovery as well as ending the Middle Ages with the conquest of Constantinople, fall of the Roman Empire.
I think it’s best to separate modern turkey with the ottomans. Remember too the Romas were in Asia Minor for longer than the Seljuks have been there. In short - turkey is new to the area historically thinking.
There's not enough religious or cultural cohesion among Muslims globally for one nation to claim that title. Also, Turkey's massive economic problems undermine any superpower hopes in this regard. What I find Far more interesting is Turkey's real desire to become a more active leader of Turkic speaking nations worldwide. This is an area where they are Clearly--and obviously--the leader. How Turkey navigates and develops as a leader among Turkic speaking nations is something I'd LOVE to hear more about!! Please do a video on this!!! I LOVE your videos!!
Turkey's role in various geographies like Cyprus, Karabakh, Libya, N.Syria might be followed by a greater Eurasian project involving the Turkic/Sunni muslim populations of declining Russia. Turkiye is eager to reach out to Russia's mentioned minorities and already began supplementing Russian influence in states like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan
Not to forget it's brotherly ties with Azerbaijan which is going to be an interesting card to play in South Azerbaijan, making Iran pay the debt for her support of Armenia
@@Houthiandtheblowfish Iran's demography is very fragile with regional minorities like South Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Ahwaz Arabs, Balochistan,... Turkiye and Azerbaijan would easily turn Iran into a 2nd Yugoslavia
As a realist Turk, personally, I do not believe Turkey can lead any form of ideological/political pact. Although it's geographically perfectly positioned, internally it's too devised, economically weak and lacks the long term vision to lead any form of pact. Any country that aims to be a leader needs to be strong economically, fundamentally, have strong sense of unity and also should be in peace with it's past and existing values. Turkey possesses none of it.
You spotted many important details in the story. I personally have feeling that Erdogan wants to be important so is often pursuing unachivable goals and mutually conflicting alliances. However it cannot be ignored that one well armed NATO state calls for firm podition against Israel, while completly rejecting any possibility to militarily aid Ukraine.
I think the fact the Muslim identity has gained geopolitical importance in the modern age is curious. The islamist movement grew out of the anticolonial movements, attempting to recreate imagined precolonial identities, which has contributed to this bizarre regression.
*I don’t get the fact that there aren’t any ‘Leaders’ of the ✝️Christian, 🕉️Hindu, ☸️Buddhist or 🪯Sikh Worlds…so why do we hear about the idea of an Islamic Leader?*
The Christians have the Pope, the Patriarch of Constantinople, etc. Some schools of Buddhism do have a leader like the Dalai Lama, the last Sikh Guru passed leadership onto their holy book if I remember correctly. I'm not sure about there being a HIndu leader though. The point being that many of these religions do have a religious leader
@@dustin3596 How is that different than the Sunni position that believes that the head of the Caliphate should be appointed? The Ottoman Empire had the last Caliph before they dissolved it
What a great analysis. I always believed that Islamic word is divided between three power. Saudi Arabia due to it being home of Islamic places of worship. Pakistan because of it being the only Islamic nuclear state. And Turkey because of its overall military and historical power stemming from it being hone to Khalifa etc.
Is there any evidence Turkey might develop or acquire nuclear weapons? How would that turn of events affect the regional/global geopolitics? I wouldn't be surprised if Turkey did go nuclear since it considers itself a rising power and with Iran next door potentially going in that direction in the near future, as well as Israel having an apparently undeclared nuclear arsenal. Great video James, very informative! 👍
No. As a Turk I can say that in general we dislike sharia law type of system more than western influence. In a perfect world we would be self sufficient/self reliant but geologically that’s impossible. What to do. Don’t forget that Turkey is a secular country. Leaders come and go but this fact will stand as long as Turkiye is a republic.
As for the Ottoman Empire, it was mostly enclaves of fertile land with large populations distanced by mostly deserts. Most of its land area was sparsely inhabited by fiercely independent beduins with weapons. Most of its history the Ottoman Empire was a history of wars with peoples that opposed its power and/or waged small civil wars. It is not "the fault of" Islam or of the Ottoman Empire that it couldn't survive that long, it was simply the wrong land where to erect an empire: too little profit from a too large area of land.
If you are talking about Beduins, they were never a significant military force. Ottoman mostly fought with Venetans in the Balkans and the Russians. They were invited in by the Greeks and Bosniaks, who were enslaved by the Venetians. Since their army had local roots, your idea of them being not disliked by locals is fallacious. Disintegration is the result of massacre of Janissaries. Once you make a serious mistake, it becomes difficult to correct it.
I don’t understand how Turkey both became very secular after WW1 but then at the same time, worked very hard to get rid of any non-Islamic minorities it had, even all the way up to 1955
dear ProF. I think you don't know much about Turkey, Ialso think Muslim countries can't come together, of course if the USA will try to do it poor Muslims maybe try, I thank you so much
Turkey is the English name for the country.. Why don’t you also call other nations by their own preferred name? For example why use Yunanistan instead of Hellas? This example is even more ridiculous when you consider the name Yunanistan comes from the region surrounding Izmir/Smyrna in western Anatolia
Very impartial, some points aren't mentioned as I wished, for example, while Türkiye isn't the largest spender one cannot omit the fact it's a major arms exporter, and every month we are witnessing ambitious undertaking by their arms industry. For example, recent deployment Turkish-made air defences, hypersonic missiles and ballistics projectiles and the aerospace industry. You also haven't mentioned their economic weakness, Turkiye is held by its neck to put it mildly, and it's politically volitile as the West to trying to stoke separatism and the opposition, Erdogan plays along for many reasons an intelligent person would guess. Finally, being secular and the racist opposition in Türkiye both undermine the country's stance in the Arab World and the broader Islamic World, All in all, there's a lot going on for Turkiye but with the coming succession criss it might all go bust or flourish!
Turkey and not Russia is the true and real Eurasian powerhouse. It's a matter of time before Turkey develops its own nukes. With its huge population, multilayered foreign policy and privileged geopolitical location this country will be one of the main players in this century.
Right now is the perfect time for Turkey to flex its muscles but I. The future it looks like Turkey might stagnate as it fertility rate has dropped below replacement rate and the region that hasn’t are mainly inhabited by Arabs and Kurd which will spell conflict between Turk and Kurds in the future
The role of the Turks is different than that of others if you watch written history. You must see Turks as a whole and not Türkiye (not Turkey) isolated. The new Turkic world is being shaped now. In max 2 generations todays Türkiye might be part of a new Turkic state that spans far into the east. Iran will break up, Russia will break up. The west will be reshaped too...
Turkey is a central -nationalist state but slightly different from what we understand by nationalism. Turkish nationalism consist of synthesized Turkic- Islam ideology. Islam became a tool for national states in the region from very beginning of 20th century. Most of the Arab states including Iran are same. They have reformed Islam for their national interests. Yet, still the religion, cultural and historical roots are very strong between Islamic world. The Turkish state can be defined non- west but also non- Islamic state either; therefore, I don’t believe that Turkey will manage the “ Islamic alliance” in the region. Neo-Ottoman Empire will destroy the region once more. Neither Islamic alliance nor Turkic world will have huge impact on the region. Middle East gone through massacres, ethnic cleansing, de- humanization etc both at the time of the Ottoman Empire and national states. Democratic confederate states might work rather than Islamic world
It depends on what western world geopolitical views regarding how to shape the region while Russia and china already developing new economic, political and social strategies
@@JamesKerLindsay it is bounded through out there History, there will to defending is marvelous...also to improve in modern warfare ( now&then )...i mean bombs and technolgy is cool yeah but i wont underestimate the mindset u need in real shooting or fighting...we already witness this by defeading outnumbered the allies 1920-22 also in the Korea war the courage they showed hillarious...and the Hope they gave to the Somalie ppl never seen by any other modern Nation...i will say they have a lot of Real good stuff besides tech and power to be proud...and that will make in emergancy the differnce...just my thoughts :)
@@JamesKerLindsay So, technically speaking, what we call the Byzantine Empire knew itself, and was seen by Muslims, as the Roman Empire, or Romania (not that one!), not as a successor state. Most scholars still call it Byzantine out of convention.
@@xunqianbaidu6917Exactly! What is known as the Western Roman Empire is actually the Carolingian Empire; the real Roman State reigned from Constantinople until 1453. “Byzantine Empire” is a post hoc invention by the House of Habsburg; it was used for the first time by Hieronymus Wolf in the 16th century.
*I don’t get the fact that there aren’t any ‘Leaders’ of the ✝️Christian, 🕉️Hindu, ☸️Buddhist or 🪯Sikh Worlds…so why do we hear about the idea of an Islamic World Leader in comparison?*
Can Turkey ever become the unify/lead/ coordinate with the Kurds of Iraq, Syria and Turkey? That is 40 million people and represents a lot of oil wealth and would allow them to project power. Maybe with Davotgulu in charge?
What I do not get from populists like JKL is, why would Turkey want to be a leader of a „particular“ group? Isn‘t it just possible that Turkey wants to find sometimes common grounds with states that follow a similar goal (i.e. against genocides in Palestine ) and sometimes pursues its own national interests (i.e. neutralising terrorist threats in Iraq/Syria)? As far as loyalty is concerned, there is no real loyalty in politics and statehood - nothing nothing beats national interest. See Germany and North Stream against the will of EU and NATO as an example…
He's actually fixing it with the new monetary policy. Turkey, less than a month ago, paid it's debt to Saudi Arabia, this shows its reforms are working
Turkiye is more or less already a political power in east Europe, west Asia & north Africa again, but Islam was never, is not and will never be the main reason for that. Even a lot of people in the "Classic Western Countries" see it different, in the islamic world Turkiye is actually more seen as a part of the western world, just with a muslim population. Funny that these people still has not learned it after decades. It is not only the NATO, the EU ambitions... it is also the open society, the history, the historic and current geography, the ecomomic links and connections and finally, see it from the muslim perspective , the western life style. With this reputation, it is not really realistic to become a "Muslim Leader State". Erdogan had and have no chance to change it, the reputation was and is still too strong. It is more realistic to become a "Superpower" within the turkish "Turan". BRICS membership would accelerate this process. Disappointed from the christian EU & NATO, Turkiye is going different ways. It seems to be undependent enough for this strategy.
Nearly 50 million Kurds live in the Middle East. “ A nation without solicitor or stateless Kurds” are not mentioned or analyzed at all ! The non- state organizations could balance the regional dynamics even play crucial roles for global stability, peace and security. The global world already witnessed the role of the Kurdish military forces in the fights against radical- Islamist rebels. Kurdistan is divided into four after Ottoman Empire collapsed. The vast majority of the Kurds ( 20 million) lives in Turkey. Kurdistan region still not integrated with the state. The rest live in Iraq, Syria and Iran still have identity, cultural, linguistic barriers to tackle. Since Lausanne Treaty signed, it is estimated around one million Kurds massacred periodically, towns cities and villages buried to the grounds, de- humanization ethnic and cultural genocides committed against them. Unsolved Kurdish question what I think it is an international issue that need to be legitimized and sorted in the region rather than arming and supporting NATO member Turkish state. Without reading the real historic and modern realities of the region neither global nor regional powers are able to reach the consensus that will make them play real game on the ground. Turkey good example in the region. Even hundred years later not capable of being westernized. Western world could help Turkey for being evolved in positive future rather than ignoring minorities. A democratic, multi- cultural state could be easily westernized and make an example for the region. Turkish state real issue is the unsolved Kurdish question. Two state solution, federalism or cultural- linguistic autonomy; within the Turkey or in the whole region an independent Kurdish state will help balancing the regional dynamics forever. Bilhan Tuncel Kind regards
Watch Peter Zeihan instead of this guy. This guy dont know economics. Apart from Turkey, none of S.arabia or egypt has self sufficient agriculture. Especialy Egypt highly dependent on Turkish grain, if not Ukrainian grain passing through bosphorus. Moreover Turkish army trained at NATO standards. S.Arabian, Egyptian or Iranian army basically bunch of militias comparing to Turkish army. Finaly who the fk on Earth said that having both NATO and Brics membership is a bad thing. One of them is military alliance, other is economic community. Turkey also in custom union of EU. Does It makes Turkey weak? No. These economic partnerships mean more relations, more partners, more trade and more wealth. Finally, Turkey has high amount of high skilled labor which most of muslim countries lack of. That enables Turkish domestic 5th gen fighter jets, economical projection thanks to high value added manufacture sector. According to OECD, Turkey will suprass Germany at 2060 and will be the biggest economy of Europe. To sum up, Turkey probably will be the dominant power from Wien to Basra, Nigeria to Tuva but it wont be a 'muslim' superpower, it will be just a economic superpower. Turkey is not a muslim country. It is secular country. Even most of Erdoğan supporters are seculars. This guy tend to have anti-turkism but i dont blame him. Most of western academy couldnt get rid of orientalism and anti-turkism which has ıts roots at middle ages. But instead of this nonsense watch open minded people which are mostly from realist IR tradition.
@@steppenwolf5956 Clearly, you haven't read Islamic history: cumulative the greatest genocides. Maybe you're in doubt: read the Quran. Maybe you still are in doubt: watch any newspaper any day. Yeah: the harsh truth.
@@Jurjen. List out the genocides? I can only name the Armenian, which most of us condemn and consider unislamic act, done in the declining and desperate ottoman empire. It's typical for declining empires to commit desperate and unjustifiable atrocities throughout history
Maybe West just should've left middle east alone, didn't destroy countries then the extremist groups and exodus of immigration to west wouldn't happened just like pre 90's??? Educate yourself with facts and history before spreading hate.
There’s been a lot of talk about Erdogan’s efforts to make Turkey a leader of the Islamic world. In some ways, it has achieved a lot. But there are also a lot of obstacles. So, what do you think? Could it ever become a Muslim superpower? As ever, let me know your thoughts below.
Absolutely not. It could at best become an influential local power among Turkic peoples, such as the Azeri and the Kazakh. The Muslims are much more fragmented and mutually suspicious among themselves than most people imagine, quite something similar to the 16-17th centuries in Europe when Christians were at war with each other. In a hypothetical future with no global warming, it might have become a huge power when they are secularized again. But we have global warming, so probably never.
You make me laugh, he can barely make his economy function, he likes to project power, but that is bluster no substance. We in europe laugh at this person.
0:03 🤣😂Really? Prince Selman must not hear that 😂🤣
5:17 PLEASE SAY AGAİN SİR. 💙🤍
Great rundown of Turkeys complicated past and future goals. It's quite interesting to see how Turkey has been split between east and west for much of it's history, going back and forth and oftentimes trying to do both at the same time
As a Turk i want to say i am a proud islamophobe.
As a Turk I dont really think that there is a need of a leader for islamic world. I have never heard anyone talk about leading christian, hindu or buddhist world. Russia and Ukraine are both christian countries but they are fighting, Iran and Saudi Arabia are both muslim but they are biggest rivals. I think looking at geopolitics using a religious perspective is wrong most of the time. Even if there would be a leader of islamic world, I dont really think thay turkey would be it. In order to lead such big amount of population, landmass etc. You need to have a very very very strong economy, very unified country and a high tech industry. Turkey has very few or nearly none of these qualities. Love your videos proffesor.
Waiting for the comment section 🍿
Thanks. I’m looking forward to hearing views on this.
@@JamesKerLindsay I believe Turkey's immediate aim is to be self-reliant in industry and high-tech, and replace, to an extent, China as a manufacturer
@@VladTevezI attended a really interesting conference last year where commentators argued that tenoning was now in such problems that businesses were really struggling to manage, despite being masters at handling uncertainty. The key arguments was that Erdogan really needed to find a path to proper economic management and abandon some of his more controversial ideas.
@@JamesKerLindsay I want to add that I don't remember in the past so many Turkish Cypriots coming to Protaras to buy goods and HORECA services
@@JamesKerLindsay That returned us like as new taxes.....
Turkey is a secular country, we don't want to be an islamic country. Erdoğan will leave his position in the coming elections
…Didn’t he win an ellection a year ago?
@@AliVeli-ig8xk No, they're not really secular. It's in their constitution but the country really is an extremist Islamic country (like they'll eventually all end up).
@@AliVeli-ig8xk To late.
@@ricardomaximus424 Yes, but according to the constitution, if he does not approve an early election this would be his last term, and he has to leave the office in 4 years. If he manages to win the early election, he would add more years to his term. On the other hand, many polls show opposition is leading ATM. He has to make some hard choices in the following months. Main opposition already said they won't accept any early election date after November 2025. It would make sense to wait his term to end at that point.
@@usernamedemanded still legal democratically elected leader.
Turks indeed had a decisive role in triggering historical major events like the Migration Period, Crusades, Age of Discovery as well as ending the Middle Ages with the conquest of Constantinople, fall of the Roman Empire.
I think it’s best to separate modern turkey with the ottomans.
Remember too the Romas were in Asia Minor for longer than the Seljuks have been there.
In short - turkey is new to the area historically thinking.
@@existentialvoidyou don't make any sense
History Legends did a great video about 6 months ago detailing Turkeys recent military adventures. Eye opening.
Alex from HL does battlefield details good.
That was a good video!
Let's say it this way: Erdogan does not exactly excel in social competence. Not economical either.
Turkish economy is still growing at a steady rate of 4-5% in real terms. Probably will accelerate.
Another great analysis. Thanks
There's not enough religious or cultural cohesion among Muslims globally for one nation to claim that title. Also, Turkey's massive economic problems undermine any superpower hopes in this regard.
What I find Far more interesting is Turkey's real desire to become a more active leader of Turkic speaking nations worldwide. This is an area where they are Clearly--and obviously--the leader. How Turkey navigates and develops as a leader among Turkic speaking nations is something I'd LOVE to hear more about!! Please do a video on this!!!
I LOVE your videos!!
Their investments in military industrial complex and other related industries are increasing projects
😂😂😂 he lost a lot of votes in the last election.
He'll have to leave his chair on the next one ❤❤
Things change fast.
Turkey's role in various geographies like Cyprus, Karabakh, Libya, N.Syria might be followed by a greater Eurasian project involving the Turkic/Sunni muslim populations of declining Russia. Turkiye is eager to reach out to Russia's mentioned minorities and already began supplementing Russian influence in states like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan
turkiye can dream well i can tell you that unti you end nato ocupation we can talk
Not to forget it's brotherly ties with Azerbaijan which is going to be an interesting card to play in South Azerbaijan, making Iran pay the debt for her support of Armenia
@@nenenindonu well if we mean (western iran )Kurdish armenian side of alevi turkey
@@Houthiandtheblowfish Iran's demography is very fragile with regional minorities like South Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Ahwaz Arabs, Balochistan,... Turkiye and Azerbaijan would easily turn Iran into a 2nd Yugoslavia
As a realist Turk, personally, I do not believe Turkey can lead any form of ideological/political pact. Although it's geographically perfectly positioned, internally it's too devised, economically weak and lacks the long term vision to lead any form of pact. Any country that aims to be a leader needs to be strong economically, fundamentally, have strong sense of unity and also should be in peace with it's past and existing values. Turkey possesses none of it.
Well spoken and very sincere knowing you are a Turk!
I am sure you vote for CHP.
You spotted many important details in the story. I personally have feeling that Erdogan wants to be important so is often pursuing unachivable goals and mutually conflicting alliances. However it cannot be ignored that one well armed NATO state calls for firm podition against Israel, while completly rejecting any possibility to militarily aid Ukraine.
I think the fact the Muslim identity has gained geopolitical importance in the modern age is curious. The islamist movement grew out of the anticolonial movements, attempting to recreate imagined precolonial identities, which has contributed to this bizarre regression.
*I don’t get the fact that there aren’t any ‘Leaders’ of the ✝️Christian, 🕉️Hindu, ☸️Buddhist or 🪯Sikh Worlds…so why do we hear about the idea of an Islamic Leader?*
Because Islam is a political ideology
The Christians have the Pope, the Patriarch of Constantinople, etc. Some schools of Buddhism do have a leader like the Dalai Lama, the last Sikh Guru passed leadership onto their holy book if I remember correctly. I'm not sure about there being a HIndu leader though. The point being that many of these religions do have a religious leader
@@Invictus_Mithra No the pope is an appointed position. This video is talking the influence 'islamic countries' have over each other.
@@dustin3596 How is that different than the Sunni position that believes that the head of the Caliphate should be appointed? The Ottoman Empire had the last Caliph before they dissolved it
What a great analysis. I always believed that Islamic word is divided between three power. Saudi Arabia due to it being home of Islamic places of worship. Pakistan because of it being the only Islamic nuclear state. And Turkey because of its overall military and historical power stemming from it being hone to Khalifa etc.
Does Pakistan have influence in any country other than Pakistan and Afghanistan?
@@Leiwanderer True true, now they have even lost Afghanistan
Oh no, you have just summoned WhatifAlthist.
The Turkish Cypriot State also has observer status with the OIC 🌙
Is there any evidence Turkey might develop or acquire nuclear weapons? How would that turn of events affect the regional/global geopolitics? I wouldn't be surprised if Turkey did go nuclear since it considers itself a rising power and with Iran next door potentially going in that direction in the near future, as well as Israel having an apparently undeclared nuclear arsenal. Great video James, very informative! 👍
No. As a Turk I can say that in general we dislike sharia law type of system more than western influence. In a perfect world we would be self sufficient/self reliant but geologically that’s impossible. What to do. Don’t forget that Turkey is a secular country. Leaders come and go but this fact will stand as long as Turkiye is a republic.
As for the Ottoman Empire, it was mostly enclaves of fertile land with large populations distanced by mostly deserts. Most of its land area was sparsely inhabited by fiercely independent beduins with weapons. Most of its history the Ottoman Empire was a history of wars with peoples that opposed its power and/or waged small civil wars. It is not "the fault of" Islam or of the Ottoman Empire that it couldn't survive that long, it was simply the wrong land where to erect an empire: too little profit from a too large area of land.
If you are talking about Beduins, they were never a significant military force. Ottoman mostly fought with Venetans in the Balkans and the Russians. They were invited in by the Greeks and Bosniaks, who were enslaved by the Venetians. Since their army had local roots, your idea of them being not disliked by locals is fallacious. Disintegration is the result of massacre of Janissaries. Once you make a serious mistake, it becomes difficult to correct it.
Recheck your history.
Ottomans replaced Romans on the same land both Empires lasted a long period.
I don’t understand how Turkey both became very secular after WW1 but then at the same time, worked very hard to get rid of any non-Islamic minorities it had, even all the way up to 1955
becasue non islamic minorities were rioting and siding with the current enemies of the the turkish state at that time,
Ottoman 2
Turkiye is the only country that has military power that can counter western powers. There is no military power other than Iran in the region.
dear ProF. I think you don't know much about Turkey, Ialso think Muslim countries can't come together, of course if the USA will try to do it poor Muslims maybe try, I thank you so much
Why Islamic world needs to be led? or let's ask it this way, who leads the Christian world? just asking..
Not Turkey. "Türkiye".
Turkey is the English name for the country.. Why don’t you also call other nations by their own preferred name? For example why use Yunanistan instead of Hellas? This example is even more ridiculous when you consider the name Yunanistan comes from the region surrounding Izmir/Smyrna in western Anatolia
Not potato. Potato.
Turkey does not and should not have to choose between this group or that group - it's role is as a connecting regional power that transcends religion.
Very impartial, some points aren't mentioned as I wished, for example, while Türkiye isn't the largest spender one cannot omit the fact it's a major arms exporter, and every month we are witnessing ambitious undertaking by their arms industry.
For example, recent deployment Turkish-made air defences, hypersonic missiles and ballistics projectiles and the aerospace industry.
You also haven't mentioned their economic weakness, Turkiye is held by its neck to put it mildly, and it's politically volitile as the West to trying to stoke separatism and the opposition, Erdogan plays along for many reasons an intelligent person would guess.
Finally, being secular and the racist opposition in Türkiye both undermine the country's stance in the Arab World and the broader Islamic World,
All in all, there's a lot going on for Turkiye but with the coming succession criss it might all go bust or flourish!
For the 8,973rd time, why hasn't Turkey been kicked the hell out of NATO?
Because they have a very valuable strategic position that NATO benefits greatly from.
@@benjauron5873 They're arguably one of the strongest militaries in NATO.
The would be a oxymoronic Idea and lead to a serious weakness in NATO.
They're broke and have enemies on all sides but otherwise things are looking up!
Turkey and not Russia is the true and real Eurasian powerhouse.
It's a matter of time before Turkey develops its own nukes. With its huge population, multilayered foreign policy and privileged geopolitical location this country will be one of the main players in this century.
Right now is the perfect time for Turkey to flex its muscles but I. The future it looks like Turkey might stagnate as it fertility rate has dropped below replacement rate and the region that hasn’t are mainly inhabited by Arabs and Kurd which will spell conflict between Turk and Kurds in the future
It will never be. Its always was Egypt Iraq Syria Iran
Turk was a mistake of Iraq
The role of the Turks is different than that of others if you watch written history. You must see Turks as a whole and not Türkiye (not Turkey) isolated. The new Turkic world is being shaped now. In max 2 generations todays Türkiye might be part of a new Turkic state that spans far into the east. Iran will break up, Russia will break up. The west will be reshaped too...
Turkey is a central -nationalist state but slightly different from what we understand by nationalism. Turkish nationalism consist of synthesized Turkic- Islam ideology. Islam became a tool for national states in the region from very beginning of 20th century. Most of the Arab states including Iran are same. They have reformed Islam for their national interests. Yet, still the religion, cultural and historical roots are very strong between Islamic world. The Turkish state can be defined non- west but also non- Islamic state either; therefore, I don’t believe that Turkey will manage the “ Islamic alliance” in the region. Neo-Ottoman Empire will destroy the region once more. Neither Islamic alliance nor Turkic world will have huge impact on the region. Middle East gone through massacres, ethnic cleansing, de- humanization etc both at the time of the Ottoman Empire and national states. Democratic confederate states might work rather than Islamic world
That depends on the threats they may be facing.
It depends on what western world geopolitical views regarding how to shape the region while Russia and china already developing new economic, political and social strategies
Already is my friend...
Are you sure? I’d be keen to hear your arguments.
He never was, never will
@@JamesKerLindsay it is bounded through out there History, there will to defending is marvelous...also to improve in modern warfare ( now&then )...i mean bombs and technolgy is cool yeah but i wont underestimate the mindset u need in real shooting or fighting...we already witness this by defeading outnumbered the allies 1920-22 also in the Korea war the courage they showed hillarious...and the Hope they gave to the Somalie ppl never seen by any other modern Nation...i will say they have a lot of Real good stuff besides tech and power to be proud...and that will make in emergancy the differnce...just my thoughts :)
I could provide substantive critique, or I could just complain that you called the Romans Byzantine.
Sorry, you’ve lost me!?
@@JamesKerLindsay So, technically speaking, what we call the Byzantine Empire knew itself, and was seen by Muslims, as the Roman Empire, or Romania (not that one!), not as a successor state. Most scholars still call it Byzantine out of convention.
@@xunqianbaidu6917Exactly! What is known as the Western Roman Empire is actually the Carolingian Empire; the real Roman State reigned from Constantinople until 1453. “Byzantine Empire” is a post hoc invention by the House of Habsburg; it was used for the first time by Hieronymus Wolf in the 16th century.
There's no super power in the Islam the Deen.its only against injustices, inequality. Don't sell false vision of yourself.
*I don’t get the fact that there aren’t any ‘Leaders’ of the ✝️Christian, 🕉️Hindu, ☸️Buddhist or 🪯Sikh Worlds…so why do we hear about the idea of an Islamic World Leader in comparison?*
as a ottoman ............our flag didn't change ..........it was a signal 😁😁😁.........king is back .....
Turkey sti.l tink is 1500😅
Turkish empire
Can Turkey ever become the unify/lead/ coordinate with the Kurds of Iraq, Syria and Turkey? That is 40 million people and represents a lot of oil wealth and would allow them to project power. Maybe with Davotgulu in charge?
Turkey be like: i'm playing both sides so i always come out on top
turkiye can dream well i can tell you that
until you end nato ocupation we can talk
What I do not get from populists like JKL is, why would Turkey want to be a leader of a „particular“ group? Isn‘t it just possible that Turkey wants to find sometimes common grounds with states that follow a similar goal (i.e. against genocides in Palestine ) and sometimes pursues its own national interests (i.e. neutralising terrorist threats in Iraq/Syria)? As far as loyalty is concerned, there is no real loyalty in politics and statehood - nothing nothing beats national interest. See Germany and North Stream against the will of EU and NATO as an example…
Ottoman Raised.
Bahahahah he cant even fix the economy xd
He's actually fixing it with the new monetary policy. Turkey, less than a month ago, paid it's debt to Saudi Arabia, this shows its reforms are working
Nope. Economy is still going south
@@Omer1996E.C " first ruin the economy then barely relive what you caused " , slowing down inflation doesnt mean eradiction of problems
@@emrecanarduc4378 inflation is certainly part of the economy, but it's not the economy itself. Turkey's gdp growth rate is still very strong
@@Omer1996E.C that growth goes to the rich and sadly i am not one .
Turkiye is more or less already a political power
in east Europe, west Asia & north Africa again,
but Islam was never, is not and will never be the main reason for that.
Even a lot of people in the "Classic Western Countries" see it different,
in the islamic world Turkiye is actually more seen as a part of the western world,
just with a muslim population.
Funny that these people still has not learned it after decades.
It is not only the NATO, the EU ambitions...
it is also the open society, the history, the historic and current geography,
the ecomomic links and connections and finally,
see it from the muslim perspective , the western life style.
With this reputation, it is not really realistic to become a "Muslim Leader State".
Erdogan had and have no chance to change it,
the reputation was and is still too strong.
It is more realistic to become a "Superpower" within the turkish "Turan".
BRICS membership would accelerate this process.
Disappointed from the christian EU & NATO,
Turkiye is going different ways.
It seems to be undependent enough for this strategy.
Tldr nope
unless they secure palestine, nobody would consider turkiey a muslim leader
Nearly 50 million Kurds live in the Middle East. “ A nation without solicitor or stateless Kurds” are not mentioned or analyzed at all ! The non- state organizations could balance the regional dynamics even play crucial roles for global stability, peace and security. The global world already witnessed the role of the Kurdish military forces in the fights against radical- Islamist rebels. Kurdistan is divided into four after Ottoman Empire collapsed. The vast majority of the Kurds ( 20 million) lives in Turkey. Kurdistan region still not integrated with the state. The rest live in Iraq, Syria and Iran still have identity, cultural, linguistic barriers to tackle. Since Lausanne Treaty signed, it is estimated around one million Kurds massacred periodically, towns cities and villages buried to the grounds, de- humanization ethnic and cultural genocides committed against them. Unsolved Kurdish question what I think it is an international issue that need to be legitimized and sorted in the region rather than arming and supporting NATO member Turkish state.
Without reading the real historic and modern realities of the region neither global nor regional powers are able to reach the consensus that will make them play real game on the ground.
Turkey good example in the region. Even hundred years later not capable of being westernized. Western world could help Turkey for being evolved in positive future rather than ignoring minorities. A democratic, multi- cultural state could be easily westernized and make an example for the region. Turkish state real issue is the unsolved Kurdish question. Two state solution, federalism or cultural- linguistic autonomy; within the Turkey or in the whole region an independent Kurdish state will help balancing the regional dynamics forever.
Bilhan Tuncel
Kind regards
Watch Peter Zeihan instead of this guy. This guy dont know economics. Apart from Turkey, none of S.arabia or egypt has self sufficient agriculture. Especialy Egypt highly dependent on Turkish grain, if not Ukrainian grain passing through bosphorus. Moreover Turkish army trained at NATO standards. S.Arabian, Egyptian or Iranian army basically bunch of militias comparing to Turkish army. Finaly who the fk on Earth said that having both NATO and Brics membership is a bad thing. One of them is military alliance, other is economic community. Turkey also in custom union of EU. Does It makes Turkey weak? No. These economic partnerships mean more relations, more partners, more trade and more wealth.
Finally, Turkey has high amount of high skilled labor which most of muslim countries lack of. That enables Turkish domestic 5th gen fighter jets, economical projection thanks to high value added manufacture sector. According to OECD, Turkey will suprass Germany at 2060 and will be the biggest economy of Europe.
To sum up, Turkey probably will be the dominant power from Wien to Basra, Nigeria to Tuva but it wont be a 'muslim' superpower, it will be just a economic superpower. Turkey is not a muslim country. It is secular country. Even most of Erdoğan supporters are seculars. This guy tend to have anti-turkism but i dont blame him. Most of western academy couldnt get rid of orientalism and anti-turkism which has ıts roots at middle ages. But instead of this nonsense watch open minded people which are mostly from realist IR tradition.
To be fair James is miles ahead when it comes to geopolitics whether you like the content or not.
For you, a good leader, for me, a separatist leader, and I am Turkish, you are a British Jew.
He is as honest as Trump and as brave as Biden. Great leader fosho.
Where Islam comes, death and destruction follows.
well who inititaed the ww1 and ww2 ist wasn't a muslim country buddy.
@@steppenwolf5956 Clearly, you haven't read Islamic history: cumulative the greatest genocides.
Maybe you're in doubt: read the Quran. Maybe you still are in doubt: watch any newspaper any day.
Yeah: the harsh truth.
@@Jurjen. List out the genocides? I can only name the Armenian, which most of us condemn and consider unislamic act, done in the declining and desperate ottoman empire. It's typical for declining empires to commit desperate and unjustifiable atrocities throughout history
@@Omer1996E.C About 180 million in (greater) India alone.
Just read the (bloody) history of Islam in Wikipedia.
Maybe West just should've left middle east alone, didn't destroy countries then the extremist groups and exodus of immigration to west wouldn't happened just like pre 90's??? Educate yourself with facts and history before spreading hate.
Hey James, I didn't notice it last week, (this week at 0:33) but I see you got a PhD congrats!! What's it in?
I think he’s had his PhD for a long time, it’s in international conflict analysis
@@g1u2y345 He just started putting it beside his name, so I assumed it was new.
He is a paper coyote. Best friend of Israel.
James senin thomas Edwards lavrengeden bir farkın yok .
@@celalozdemir664 Speak ENGLISH !!!