Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, accused of
leading his country toward a dictatorship, has drawn most of his foreign
support from the United States, a report said.

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs asserted that
Erdogan’s policy of suppressing dissent and arresting critics was based on
what appeared to be unconditional support by Washington, particularly
President Barack Obama. The institute said Obama has refrained from criticism amid Ankara’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests throughout Turkey.

“Erdogan has been legitimized and elevated by the friendship Obama has bestowed on him,” the report said. “From this point onward, the way Washington treats Erdogan will be keenly observed by all forces in Turkey, and will be a factor determining Erdogan’s future.”

Titled “Getting Erdogan Wrong,” author Svante Cornell, a leading Turkish researcher, said Erdogan’s behavior has alienated many in his own Justice and Development Party as well as NATO allies. Cornell cited the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories voiced by the prime minister and his aides regarding the current unrest, the focus of which began in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.

“The most obvious question is whether Erdogan continues to deserve the level of attention and amity he has enjoyed so far,” the report said. “In fact, Erdogan is increasingly a divisive force that is no longer driving Turkey in a positive direction. Instead, his naked ambition for unlimited power is becoming a danger for the country’s stability and development.”

Still, Erdogan, the first Islamist prime minister in modern Turkey, was
believed to have retained the friendship and support of Obama. The report
said Obama, despite warnings from the State Department, speaks frequently
with the prime minister, whose country was deemed important in U.S. policy
in the Middle East.

“Nevertheless, given the personal relationship between Obama and
Erdogan, the U.S. president is in a unique position to have a positive
influence on the Turkish leader,” Cornell, director and co-founder of the
Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy, said. “Yet in
the public domain, there is no inkling of Obama having raised issues
relating to Turkey’s domestic record in a meaningful way before the Taksim
protests, which forced the administration to urge restraint, while
refraining from condemning the violence against demonstrators.”

The report said Erdogan’s relationship with Obama was being closely
monitored by both the opposition as well as the Justice and Development
Party. Erdogan, compared to ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, was
said to have encountered increasing opposition to his ambitions to become
president by Cabinet ministers and parliamentarians.

Cornell said Washington has pressed Ankara to change its positions,
including on such issues as Iran and Israel. The author urged
Obama to shift his support from Erdogan to Turkish institutions that support
democracy and tolerate dissent.

“It is time for the United States to indicate, by its actions and
statements, that it is supportive of the forces in Turkey that are committed
to democratic reform and Western values,” the report said. “This means
paying less attention to Erdogan and his close circle; and to call them out
on their increasingly objectionable policies and rhetoric, whether it be the
repression of demonstrators or anti-Semitic conspiracies.”

  Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, pro-democracy protests, Report: Turkey’s Erdogan empowered by Obama’s ‘unconditional support’, Taksim Square