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On March 23rd, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrested his major opposition contender, Erkam Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul. Hundreds of thousands of Imamoglu’s advocates have gathered to demonstrate their support for him and their opposition to the iron-clad rule of Erdogan. Imamoglu has defeated Erdogan’s ruling party three times in local elections. Imamoglu’s home was raided, and he has been charged with corruption and the aiding of the PKK, a Kurdish workers party. The protests have signaled widespread discontent with Erdogan’s leadership, and the belief that the charges against Imamoglu are politically motivated.

Turkey, who has aided Ahmed al Sharaa of Hyatt Tahrir al Shams, (HTS), has begun moves to take control of bases in  the Hama military airport and the Tayis Air Base, (also known  as T4) in Syria. The Israelis, on April 2^nd,  struck the Turkish military capabilities around the Syrian air bases. Israel has accused Damascus of trying to turn Syria into a Turkish protectorate. Turkey, which is a member of NATO, has the formidable, Russian S-400 Missile Defense System,  and has also been looking to buy the powerful F35 system.

In September of 2024, while speaking at the 79^th   United Nations General Assembly, Erdogan compared Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolph Hitler. Following the Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and the outbreak of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, President Erdoğan lauded Hamas as “a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people.” Erdoğan cancelled a planned visit to Israel and on August  2, 2024, and he declared “a national day of mourning for Hamas mastermind Ismail Haniya. And Erdogan has recently called for “the destruction and devastation” of the state of Israel.

As Israel is working to defeat the tentacles of Iran, is Turkey emerging as the next great threat to Israel’s existence?

About Our Speaker: Sinan Ciddi is a non-resident senior fellow at FDD.  He is also an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at Marine Corps University (MCU). Prior to joining MCU, Sinan was the Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University (2011-2020). He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Sinan is the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism (Routledge, January 2009) a book which explains the electoral weakness of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party.

He obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2007 in the field of Political Science.