Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a step that none of the leaders had taken in the history of world diplomacy before him: he ordered Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to expel from the country the ambassadors of the United States and nine other Western states - Canada, Germany, France, Finland, in one fell swoop. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand.
The reason for the unprecedented gesture of the Turkish leader, who, judging by the first reaction, plunged the Western allies and partners into a state of shock, was the recent joint statement of ten heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Ankara, who demanded an end to the criminal prosecution of the French-born Turkish Osman Kavala. A man who was born and made a fortune in Paris, but at the same time, over the past decade, sought to make a significant contribution to the rocking of Turkish power, which he considered the main obstacle to Turkey's integration into the world of liberal democracies.
Initially trying to do this from abroad with the help of the Anadolu Kültür AŞ cultural foundation he created, exactly four years ago, in October 2017, Osman Kavala flew to his historical homeland to plunge headlong into politics and fight the regime of President Erdogan already in Turkey.
In a matter of days after his arrival in the country, Osman Kavala was arrested for "an attempt to change the constitutional order and to oust the current government." Initially, he was accused of supporting mass protests in 2013 launched by the Turkish opposition in connection with the decision of the authorities to clear Istanbul Gezi Park, which interfered with plans for the development of urban infrastructure. And when, in February 2020, the defense achieved the acquittal of Osman Kavala, the Istanbul prosecutor's office issued a new arrest warrant. This time, President Erdogan's longtime opponent was accused of using his considerable opportunities to support the part of the army elite, dissatisfied with the president, who in July 2016 tried to carry out a coup d'etat in the country.
Recall that then the Turkish leader could well have lost not only his power, but also his life, and in those decisive few hours, when the balance was shaking and it was unclear who would take, the United States and its Western allies were clearly in no hurry to condemn the unconstitutional attempt to change power.
Western leaders paused, hoping that the unacceptable President Erdogan would soon be gone.
And thus, the problem in Turkey's relations with the West will resolve by itself: no Erdogan, no problem.
But it didn't happen like that.
The Turkish authorities resisted, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of course, perceived what happened as a betrayal by those with whom he did not agree, with whom he argued, conflicted, but at the same time tried to play fair.
And in the end he received a blow in the back, which, fortunately for him, turned out to be strong enough and withstood the blow.
Without curtailing relations with the West, President Erdogan, of course, did not forgive the betrayal of the allies and learned the main lesson from that story.
This lesson is that it is necessary to continue to exclude any possibility and to suppress any attempts to participate in the internal political struggle in Turkey, taking place within the framework of the democratic process prescribed in the constitution, by some third external force.
A force that is of non-Turkish origin, but at the same time claims to be the supreme arbiter, standing over the Turkish court, parliament, government and president.
As a matter of fact, it was this that dictated the move of the Turkish leader, who decided to declare ten ambassadors of Western states persona non grata. “Is it your business to teach Turkey a lesson? Who you are? Leave Kavala. Do you leave murderers, terrorists and bandits in your countries? They always answer: "The court is independent." That is, your court is independent, and ours, therefore, is dependent? Our court is setting the best example of independence, ”the president was indignant, explaining his decision.
In fact, the expulsion of ambassadors in relations between states is rare, given that a more radical step can only be the severing of diplomatic relations.
For this reason, states still prefer to use less harsh measures, such as recalling their ambassadors for consultations or expelling lower-ranking diplomats, which allows after a certain time to play the situation back.
One example is the scandal six months ago in Russian-American relations following President Biden's statements on the air of ABC who agreed to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a “killer” and threatened that Moscow would “pay for meddling” in the 2020 presidential election.
After that, the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, was recalled to Moscow for consultations, and the American ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, went to Washington.
However, when the acute phase of the crisis passed, the heads of the diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States returned to their embassies and continued their work.
This decision became known after the summit of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva.
Meanwhile, if the ambassador is declared an undesirable person, his return to his former place of work, as happened with Ambassadors Antonov and Sullivan, is usually impossible.
And the appointment of a new ambassador is a complicated procedure, while it is obvious that diplomatic contacts will be paralyzed for a long time.
Considering the very likely huge costs, President Erdogan's move may seem like an emotional outburst, inadequate for the moment, an unnecessary measure, given that the Western ambassadors only called for "a just resolution of the issue" of Osman Kavala as soon as possible.
In the end, you never know in the West all sorts of statements about "undemocratic regimes" are heard.
And what, every time to send ambassadors?
Was it really impossible to just ignore this next morality deafening?
However, going to aggravation, President Erdogan took a step that seems irrational only at first glance.
In fact, he played ahead of the curve, reminding Western allies and partners that there are red lines in relations with Ankara, the crossing of which will cost them dearly in the future.
Because these red lines are like wires under a high voltage current with the sign “Don't get in - kill”.
What the denouement of this dramatic story will be remains unclear: the Western ambassadors in Ankara have not yet received an official notification ordering them to leave the country.
According to the ANKA agency, citing diplomatic sources, the Turkish Foreign Ministry until the last moment tried to persuade Recep Tayyip Erdogan to prevent such a development of events, but he decided to go all the way.
And thus he created a precedent that can now be used by other world politicians, like the Turkish leader, who are demonstratively skipping lessons in the school of Western democracy.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.