Is Erdogan trying to split NATO with his East Med gambit?

The celebration commemorating the anniversary of the 1071 Seljuk victory over Byzantine armies turned into a display of nationalist frenzy, which indicates Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasing need to consolidate his support base by expansionist and aggressive foreign policy. 

The Battle of Manzikert took place 949 year ago. In 1071, the Seljuks, the Ottomans' predecessors, defeated the mainly Greek forces of the Byzantine Empire — a victory commemorated in Turkey as the beginning of the gradual Turkification of Anatolia. However, this year’s celebrations were different. All brouhaha surrounding the occasion were washed with chauvinistic metaphors.

Erdogan, accompanied by his wife and his ultranationalist ally Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, took to the stage Aug. 26 to deliver a belligerent speech mainly targeting Greece amid the escalation in the eastern Mediterranean.

Aside from his speech, his messages on Twitter were equally belligerent. One of the metaphors Erdogan invoked in a tweet was referring to the concept of “Red Apple” that is considered as the most important symbol of Turkish nationalism and expansionism. The Red Apple is a symbol of a pan-Turkic movement that aims to unite the Turks in every corner of the globe in order to gain global supremacy. The concept lies at the heart of Turkish expansionism.