ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has likely never had greater international influence. On Thursday, he will host the first direct peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in three years, only days after the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), his nation’s violent rival, was disbanded.
Turkiye’s increasing regional importance is being fuelled by his growing prominence as an international statesman who is striving for stability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and has received praise for it from US President Donald Trump. However, many people at home find the timing strange and even painful, since they worry it would support his domestic political objectives.
Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan’s principal political opponent, was arrested and imprisoned in March and April, sparking the biggest demonstrations in ten years over what detractors described as a politicised and anti-democratic judicial onslaught.
While Ankara refutes the accusations of dictatorial behaviour, Imamoglu disputes the claims against him.
However, these seemingly competing local and international worlds highlight Erdogan’s propensity, during the course of his 22-year rule, to turn his attention overseas when internal political or economic issues are developing.
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