Why is Pakistan clamouring for a Nobel Prize for Turkey’s Erdogan?
Chairman of the Pakistani Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has written an official letter to Norwegian Nobel Committee on behalf of the Senate and registered the nomination of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the “Nobel Peace Prize” for his efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict. Shocking! Isn’t it? Who would believe that a failed state with a falling economy should propose the name of an authoritarian ruler of Turkey who, for all practical purposes is leading his nation down the same path of ruin economically as Pakistan. Well, stranger things have happened before, but this one has caught the world off guard. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the unchallenged President of Turkey for the last two decades and he faces an upcoming election in 2024. That provides the setting for this new proposal for him to be given the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in the Ukraine conflict.
Speaker of the Turkish parliament, Mustafa Shentop, had said that he had initiated (TASS, 28 December 2022) the nomination of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the Nobel Peace Prize. Şentop stated that the Speakers of Parliament from other countries would also support his campaign. The first support for Erdogan’s Nobel candidacy came from the President of the Pakistani Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani. Muhammed Sanjrani in his letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee claims that “Russia-Ukraine war had quickly turned into a nuclear flashpoint that could have ended in catastrophe for the whole world. Due to his (Erdogan) untiring efforts, timely and effective interventions with both sides, he singlehandedly averted a global disaster.”
Terming Erdogan as “a true statesman and leader, who always strives for the betterment and prosperity of not just his country, but the region and the world in general”. Sanjrani underlined that the Turkish President “carries the true message of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his teachings of peace, tolerance and love for all humanity, as he continues to dispel the myths and misconceptions related to Islamic teachings”(The Express Tribune, 4 January 2023). Pakistan, which is an all-weather friend of Turkey, has chosen this point in its journey as a nation to praise Erdogan. Obviously, this cannot be without wanting something in return. The Pak-Turkey duo has been at the forefront of the anti-India stand globally and are responsible for pushing more falsehood on Kashmir than any other country. A recent report in Nordic Monitor(24 October 2022) states that Turkey secretly helped Pakistan set up a cyber-army camouflaged under the bilateral agreement which is used for domestic political goals as well as directed against the US and India and undermine criticism levelled against the Pakistani rulers.
For the moment though, let us return to Erdogan and his supposed endeavours to bring peace to Ukraine. The record shows that the Turkish President has played his double game of hedging, while pursuing his nation’s interests in the Ukrainian conflict. In September last year, President Erdogan called for a “dignified way out” of the crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone moments before addressing the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly with an urgent appeal for peace. “Together, we need to find a reasonably practical diplomatic solution that will give both sides a dignified way out of the crisis,” Erdogan subsequently told the United Nations. He said a lasting peace must be based on protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Türkiye will continue with its efforts to end the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, “In order to resolve this crisis, I will have talks with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin…. Likewise, there will be one with (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy,” Erdogan said in an address during the TRT World Forum in Istanbul. The Turkish leader also said his government wanted to strengthen the grain corridor deal that Türkiye helped to finalise.
In July 2022, Türkiye, Russia, and Ukraine signed a UN-backed agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which had been paused in February, due to Russia’s armed conflict with Ukraine. Days before its scheduled expiration, the landmark grain deal was extended for another 120 days, beginning 19 November 2022.” Although the Istanbul process seems to have been interrupted by developments in the field, it still remains the ideal negotiation ground for lasting peace,” the Turkish leader then claimed. In other words, Erdogan was using the grain deal as a stepping-stone for acting as a mediator in the larger conflict.
While efforts at making peace in Ukraine by Turkey must be felicitated, it must be noted that Istanbul has not been a neutral mediator. It has supplied weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. Turkey began sending to Ukraine US-designed, artillery-fired cluster bombs in late 2022.Turkey has also supplied Ukraine with armed Bayraktar TB2 drones that have helped to break Russia’s advance on Kyiv (Foreign Policy, 10 January 2023). At the same time, Turkey has continued with its purchases of Russian weapons. Ukraine has also used the Turkish-made TRLG-230 Multiple Rocket Launch System, which is supposed to work more effectively when combined with the TB-2 Bayraktar drones to identify, coordinate, and engage its rocket artillery fire on ground targets.
Erdogan has maintained regular contact with President Vladimir Putin and, in keeping with Turkey’s policy of only following UN Security Council-approved sanctions, has kept up economic ties. Maintaining economic links is important for Turkey facing its worst economic downturn in decades. Consequently, trade between Russia and Turkey has blossomed since January 2022.Turkey’s exports to Russia increased by 86 per cent (October 2022) to US$1.15 billion while imports from Russia more than doubled to US$5.03 billion(Al Jazeera, 15 November 2022). Further, Russians have been flocking to Turkey’s beaches, with 3.8 million arriving in the first nine months of 2022, the second-largest group after Germans. Tourism and other foreign income have proved vital as Turkey faces its worst economic crisis under Erdogan.
Interestingly, President Putin had floated the idea of Turkey becoming a hub for the sale of Russian gas to the European market, an attractive incentive for a cash-strapped Turkey. Natural gas from Russia filled 45 per cent of Turkey’s needs in 2022 and Ankara has reportedly asked for its payments to be deferred to 2024. Another instance of Russian indirect assistance to Turkey has been the inflow of large sums of mostly untraceable foreign cash into Turkey, US$24.9 billion between January and September 2022, according to Central Bank figures. More than double the same period in 2021, these inflows have helped prop up Turkey’s growing current account deficit.
One analyst suggests that these inflows are predominantly that of Russian money, with President Putin now firmly backing Erdogan to ensure his re-election. Thus, President Erdogan has cast his fishing net, far and wide to ensure his re-election, with the Nobel Peace Prize gambit being the opening shot in this endeavour. Pakistan is in dire straits facing an imminent collapse. For such a nation to have publicly supported President Erdogan for the Nobel Peace Prize shows its incapability of making rational foreign policy choices. For far too long, Pakistan has remained a client state of China. In the present circumstances, it will not be long before a similar situation obtains with Turkey. Such is the plight of Pakistan!
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Source: https://sabahnews.net/english/news/chairman-senate-through-a-letter-officially-registers-nomination-in-favour-of-recep-tayyip-erdogan-for-the-nobel-peace-prize/
