New Military Bases for Turkey

By Scott A Morgan

You have to hand it to President Erdogan of Turkey. He has probably been able to orchestrate one of the best Maskirovkas in recent history. His claim of a coup attempt by the Gulenists was just a cover for a move to consolidate power.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes the Turkish Government has been making some moves on the international front that people will be interested in knowing about. The Turkish Military has set up not one but two bases overseas. The location of the bases are most interesting but history shows that intel analysts should not be surprised.

The first country is Qatar. Earlier this year, Turkey set up a base in Qatar. Both countries have similar interests such as perceived support of Al-Qaida, in Syria. The actions of Erdogan suggest that this could be an attempt to restore its influence in the region that was at one point part of the Ottoman Empire. This can be seen as a joint effort by both counrties as an effort to curtail Saudi influence in the Gulf States.

The other country is Somalia. It should be noted that both countries were the initial founders of the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Congress) back in the early 1960's. Since the collapse of and the restoration of a centralized government in Somalia, Turkey has spent copious amounts of money rebuilding the infrastructure in Mogadishu and other cities.

It should not be a huge surprise to learn that in recent weeks the Turkish Military has officially opened up a new Military Base in Somalia. The question is what type of operations will be conducted there. Will they support the Somali Government as it conducts anti-Shabaab Operations? Will they use the base to support some of the Islamist Groups in Africa as they have a habit of doing?

Turkey has been conducting a unique Foreign Policy when it comes to the region. It has a love-hate relationship with Israel and the United States. It has also sought to restore some normalcy with Russia. Having a policy of expanding its influence outside of Southwest Asia, aka the Middle East, should be food for thought for those who are intel analysts.

So we will have to scrutinize the actions of Erdogan no matter what he says or does as potentially having an ulterior motive. Is he acting for the benefit of Turkey or are these actions on behalf of a unique form of Islamism? Time and History itself will be the ultimate judges of these actions...

[The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dissecting Society]