Brinkmanship from Erdoğan ahead of elections?

There is no doubt Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan excels on brinkmanship, both internationally and domestically.

On the international front, he lashes out against the European Union. As he goes to Brussels, everyone expects Erdoğan to do or say something that will break apart relations. But all of a sudden, he is no longer the angry man.

On the domestic front, he used that brinkmanship especially on the Kurdish issue. On the eve of the general elections in 2007, Erdoğan had an extremely hostile rhetoric against the Kurds after his government’s opening on the Kurdish issue did not proceed the way he wanted. He even lashed out against the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), asking them why they had not hanged Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Öcalan had escaped the death sentence due to the consent of the MHP, which was part of the coalition government when the PKK’s leader was caught and brought back to Turkey. Many believed Erdoğan had parted from his earlier more “pacific/democratic” approach to the solution of the problem.

Yet it was the same person a few years later who took the historic bold step, instructing the National Intelligence Agency (MÄ°T) to conduct peace talks with the PKK.

With big aspirations to become a regional leader important enough to assume global roles, the Justice and Development Party, (AKP) believed in the necessity of solving Turkey’s internal problems, as well as problems with its neighborhood, in order to fulfill these aspirations. You can’t have big ambitions on international fronts if you have a serious domestic problem tying your hands. So it was only natural to see the AKP coming up with a...