FEATURING:

Burak Bekdil – Turkish Dissident, Journalist, Intellect and Scholar

About this webinar: Although many foreign policy analysts have focused on the Shiite menace emerging out of the Islamic Republics of Iran, there is a Sunni menace who has emerged out of what was once considered the friendly, secular Muslim nation of Turkey. Under the leadership of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has been transformed from a reliable NATO ally into a growing international menace. Since Erdogan’s rise, Turkey has launched three major offenses into Syria, the last one, violently attacking our Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS; it has sent fighters and military supplies to the Government of National Accord in Libya, has deployed ships to the Eastern Mediterranean, it has expanded its military operation in Iraq and it is sending troops and military equipment into Azerbaijan. Erdogan is a strong supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, (Hamas).

Beyond that, Erdogan has made incendiary attacks against French President Emmanuel Macron. This all started as a result of the decapitation of French teacher Samuel Paty, and Macron’s determination to crack down on Islamic extremism within France. This has ignited a separate recent jihadist attacks within France, resulting in the killing of three people in Nice, and a worldwide call to Muslims to boycott French goods.

Who exactly is Recep Tayyip Erdogan and what are his objectives?

Here to tell us this is noted Turkish columnist Burak Bekdil.

Burak Bekdil is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum and has covered Turkey for the U.S. weekly Defense News since 1997. He previously wrote for 29 years at one of Turkey’s leading newspapers, until he was fired in 2016 for writing what was taking place in Turkey for Gatestone. Bekdil also worked as Ankara Bureau Chief for Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC-e television. He contributes to annual national defense sector reviews for anti-corruption institutions like Transparency International and Global Integrity. James Cuno, art historian and President of the J. Paul Getty Trust, describes Bekdil as “a frequent critic of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.” In 2001, a Heavy Crimes Court in Ankara sentenced Bekdil to a suspended, 20-month prison sentence for his column in which he had satirised corruption in the judiciary.