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Reuters Marco Bello
Barack Obama
Former US President Barack Obama revealed in his new book his position towards Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and expressed doubts that this leader represents a model for moderate political Islam in the region.
In his recently published memoir, “The Promised Land,” Obama acknowledged that during his eight years in office, the Turkish government acted in accordance with the country’s constitution and NATO laws and managed the economy well, in addition to making reforms that Ankara hoped they would qualify for membership in the Union. European.
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On the other hand, the former president emphasized that Turkey’s public support for the “Muslim Brotherhood” and “Hamas” movement was a matter of concern for the United States and Israel.
Obama referred to the positions of some observers who saw Erdogan as a possible model of moderate, modern and pluralist political Islam and an alternative to “autocracies, theocracies and extremist movements” in the region.
Obama confirmed that he himself tried to highlight this optimism about Erdogan in a speech before the Turkish Parliament and during a meeting with students from Istanbul University, noting that the sequence of natural events during his years in office required the establishment of relationships based on common interests with Ankara.
At the same time, the former US president expressed his doubts in this regard, based on the experience of his conversations with Erdogan, and explained that the impression that the Turkish president finally left is that “he will adhere to democracy and the rule of law as long as he guarantee their permanence in power.
In particular, Obama said that the European vision on freedom of expression disturbed Erdogan, recalling the strong opposition of the Turkish president to the appointment of former Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen to the post of NATO secretary general due to the publication in his country from the media in 2005 of offensive cartoons for the Prophet Muhammad.
Source: CNN
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