Turkey’s Erdogan set to take centre stage at G20
Leader of host nation coming o big election win
ANKARA • As leaders from the world’s 20 biggest economies gather for a summit in Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be taking a victory lap.
Erdogan shares concerns about refugees and terrorism from nearby Syria that preoccupy leaders descending this weekend on the port town of Antalya. But despite Turkey’s troubles, he will be a buoyant summit host, basking in a surprise election victory for his party that has left no doubt he is the key regional player for talks on migrants and Islamic extremism.
The summit will be more heavily laden with political themes than usual for what is normally an economic gathering — with the Syrian crisis at the centre of attention. Erdogan has insisted the perils posed by Syria are casting a shadow on world security and stability, and therefore on the global economy.
The spillover from Syria certainly poses a threat to Turkey, which has faced some of the worst suicide bombings in its history in recent months, believed to be the work of followers of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The country is also confronting renewed conflict with Kurdish militants amid the breakdown of one of Erdogan’s signature achievements — a peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. His crackdown on critics of all stripes has intensified concern in the West about his commitment to human rights and the rule of law.
This week, Erdogan personally inspected security and other preparations for the summit in the secluded resort of Belek, near Antalya.
Underscoring the heightened risk of terrorism in Turkey, police last week conducted a security sweep in and around Antalya, detaining 20 people suspected of links to ISIL. Dozens more were detained elsewhere.
The Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News, said the Turkish military would ensure air protection, with the support of U.S. planes based at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey.
Two massive suicide bombings in the Syrian border town of Suruc and the Turkish capital Ankara — blamed on a local cell of ISIL — killed about 130 people in July and October.
Officials said authorities had prepared a second locale as an alternative in case of a security threat on the summit venue.
But as a summit host with a thumping new mandate, Erdogan has a golden opportunity to push his priorities with global leaders. He has been advocating an interventionist vision in Syria for years, while complaining about Western inaction. And he says he’ll lobby at the summit for his proposal for a no-fly zone in Syria that would allow refugees to return to their homeland.
The meeting also comes amid talks with European countries about stemming the deluge of refugees spilling into Europe, with the European Union offering Turkey cash incentives and progress on its membership bid in exchange for doing more to keep migrants within its borders. More than two million refugees are already in Turkey, which has spent more than US$8 billion since 2011 caring for them.
“Of course the economy is the G20’s real reason for being, but in our day it is not possible to consider the economy separately from politics, social developments and security,” Erdogan said this week. “The Syrian issue has created (a) humanitarian dimension, a terror dimension and economic impact.”