Franco-Turkish proxy conflict

Franco-Turkish proxy conflict
Part of the French intervention in the first Libyan war, and Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War, and 2020 East Mediterranean crisis
Location of France and Turkey
Date 22 December 2011 – present (12 years and 11 months) Location Mediterranean Sea, Libya, and Near East Result Ongoing French intervention in the first Libyan war Turkish military intervention in the Second Libyan Civil War Turkish exploitation of gas fields in the Mediterranean at the expense of neighboring countries (Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt) Violation of the territorial integrity of neighboring countries by Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean. The severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries in October 2020 and the boycott of French goods due to the controversial law against radical Islamism in France.
Belligerents
Turkey Turkish allied groups: Syrian opposition groups Syrian Turkmen Brigades Government of National Accord Northern Cyprus Diplomatic/Political support: United Kingdom United States Ukraine Qatar Kuwait Italy Israel Pakistan Spain Hungary Malta Bosnia and Herzegovina Germany Tunisia Jordan	France French allied groups: Cyprus Greece Rojava People's Protection Units Kurdistan Workers’ Party House of Representatives Diplomatic/Political support: United States United Kingdom Russia Iran India Syria Spain Lebanon Egypt Chad United Arab Emirates Israel Italy Saudi Arabia Germany Malta Albania Austria Estonia Serbia
Commanders and leaders
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Hulusi Akar Yaşar Güler Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu George Sabra Abdurrahman Mustafa Fayez al-Sarraj Imran Khan Volodymyr Zelensky Viktor Orban Ersin Tatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Pedro Sánchez Kais Saied Abdullah II	Emmanuel Macron Jean Castex François Lecointre Florence Parly Jean-Yves Le Drian Kyriakos Mitsotakis Nicos Anastasiades Khalifa Haftar Vladimir Putin Ali Khamenei Hassan Rouhani Bashar al-Assad Narendra Modi Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Michel Aoun Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Mohammad bin Salman Idriss Déby

The Franco-Turkish proxy conflict of represents a geopolitical struggle between Turkey and the original French government that turned into a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and France after a series of diplomatic scandals in 2011 after the French parliament announced it would recognize the Genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I and the Turkish War of Independence.

The crisis followed the outbreak of the Arab Spring and the joint overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi in the First Libyan Civil War as part of the NATO military intervention in Libya. Gaddafi's overthrow and joint military intervention were soon followed by different political interpretations, which led to more serious political differences, but also to diplomatic and minor military incidents between Paris and Ankara, especially near the Libyan coast a few years later. Increased Turkish military aggression and hostile Turkish territorial responses in Syria after the outbreak of civil war in that country, and especially after the rise of the Islamic State and some other Islamist factions publicly associated with the Turkish such as Al Nusra Front and Ahrar al Sham committed numerous terrorist attacks with major civilian casualties in France, in particular the attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January and the biggest terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 and 14 November 2015. The day after the bloody terrorist attacks in Nice on 14 July 2016, the following evening in Turkey, was an attempt a military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was thwarted the next day.

After these events, relations gradually moved towards increasing escalation. Prior to the attempted coup in Turkey, air confrontations between Turkey and Russia became more frequent from 2012 to 2016. Turkey accuses Russian forces of violating Turkish sovereign airspace and war crimes against Syrian Turkmen. The Russian military has accused Turkey of maintaining illegal economic ties with ISIL and condemned Turkish military interventions in Syria and Libya. However, after the Turkish president apologized for the incident with the downing of the Russian Su-24 fighter on June 27, 2016, Turkey faced a series of terrorist attacks and attempted coups three weeks later. After the unsuccessful coup against Erdogan in Turkey, mass arrests and terror against the opposition followed, which damaged Turkey's relations with the EU, the USA, Germany and especially with France. Shortly after the coup, Turkey improved diplomatic and economic relations with Russia, and then carried out as many as four military invasions in the next three years, after which it carried out a long-lasting military occupation of northern Syria.

Since 2017, when the extremely liberal president Emmanuel Macron won the presidential election in France, relations have begun to deteriorate sharply, especially due to the increasingly active political participation of the new young French president in international politics, but also due to the increasingly aggressive behavior of the Turkish leadership. Mediterranean, where Turkey started exploring oil and gas deposits at the expense of international waters, but also at the expense of its neighbors Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Such an approach of Turkish policy with its neighbors has led to the condemnation of Western countries, among which the EU countries stood out the most. Initially, Germany was the most vocal as the leading economy of the EU, but after the arrival of Emmanuel Macron as President of France, France, as the largest armed and nuclear power in the EU, took over the main role of protector of its allies and EU members. Turkey is the second military power in the NATO pact in terms of the number of military equipment and the number of soldiers after the United States. The matter was further complicated by the migrant crisis, the Second Libyan Civil War, the change of government in Italy, which indirect intervened militarily in the armed conflict on the side of Turkey due to its economic interests in the exploitation of Libyan sweet oil, while Turkey directly intervened in January 2020 ideological and political goals and ambition.

In late 2020, after a series of terrorist attacks that shook France and in which a Chechen terrorist beheaded a professor for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo (formerly the target of terrorist attacks), French President Emmanuel Macron decided to demand stricter laws. It would be a more determined fight against Islamic Terorism in France and the protection of French democracy and freedom of speech. This provoked very harsh condemnations and very insulting messages from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a very undiplomatic way. Some Turkish allies (Qatar and Jordan), as well as Turkey itself, have decided to boycott French goods. After that act, tensions increased between the two countries when the magazine Charlie Hebdo produced obscene representation of the Turkish president and a woman wearing hijab. The publication of the satirical magazine caused mass anger in Turkey, which started street protests and the severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries, but also the initiation of a lawsuit against the satirical magazine.

Countries involved

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has not expressed support for anyone in the conflict, but it has recognized the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord in Libya as the legitimate government in Libya, like most countries in Europe. The United Kingdom was divided by the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, though by far it had opposed the move. The United Kingdom has also criticized indirectly to Turkey following Turkish government's absence on voicing solidarity to the murder of Samuel Paty.

Italy and Malta

Italy and Malta have been supporters to the Islamist government ruling in Libya, which made them indirectly on the side of Turkey in the Libyan conflict. However, Italy and Malta are both members of the European Union with France, which Turkey isn't; and these two countries have also been critical of Turkish militarism in the region, such as the conflict with Greece; thus Italy and Malta often side with France rather than with Turkey in the clash.

Arab nations

As for the result of escalation of Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict, these Arab nations also take significant sides in the conflict. Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and recently Syria, allied with France against Turkey, and issued boycott against Turkish products in response to Turkish leader blasting these nations for terrorism and destabilization. Some Arab countries take Turkey's side, notably Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait, both joined Turkey's anti-French boycott following Macron's criticism on Islam. Other Arab nations expressed neutrality in the tensions.

Iran

Iran has a complicated relationship with Turkey due to conflicted interests in Syria, Kurds, and North Africa; and on the same time Iran echoed support for Turkey against France over criticism on Islam. However Iran has refrained from participating on anti-French boycott.

Russia

Russia has a complicated relationship with Turkey and has been in a proxy conflict with Turkey, and while France has criticized Russia for the Syrian war and promoting Francophobia in Africa, Russia appears to be on the side of France since Paris has rejected any confrontation with Moscow. Russia and France have indirectly together taken side of Khalifa Haftar in Libya, as well as the improvement of relations between Russia and France toward Greece, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, both are also very hostile to Turkey.

United States

As relations between the United States and France remain cordial while relations between the United States and Turkey have worsened, Washington has taken French side in the conflict. The Turkish government has accused the United States of backing Armenia in the Karabakh conflict, although the United States stayed neutral in Karabakh. Previously, the United States had triggered tensions with Turkey after the United States Congress recognized the Armenian Genocide, despite Armenia is Russia's ally and Trump's rejection; Turkey had responded by threatening to recognize the genocide on Native Americans by the United States. The United States also sided with France against Turkey over Mediterranean disputes with Greece. The United States has also been divided by the situation in Libya, where it has both connections with the Islamist-recognized government in Tripoli as well as their close tie to Khalifa Haftar's regime in Tobruk, with Haftar himself once lived in the United States and shared close relations with the CIA. The US meanwhile provided arms sales to Azerbaijan as tensions rose with Iran in 2019, showing its willingness to supply Azerbaijan so it can counter Iran. Still, being NATO members, the United States has sought to reconcile two nations. With Joe Biden elected as President of the United States, and Biden's anti-Erdoğan remarks, growing tensions between Turkey and the United States could further strengthen Franco–American relations.

Israel

Worsening relations between Turkey and Israel have prompted the Israeli government to seek allies to deter Turkey, and this makes Israel on French side, as the Turkish government has blasted both France and Israel for oppression on Muslims, notably Palestinians, and supporting Kurdish nationalist movements. After Turkish leader compared French treatment of Muslims to Nazi Holocaust, it evoked criticism and hostility in Israel. Pakistani journalist working for Haaretz, Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, has pointed out that the Turkish government is openly glorifying mass killings on non-Muslims while trying to create blasphemy and hypocrisies throughout abusing the Holocaust for its political gains.

Ukraine

Ukraine, an ally of the U.S. and NATO, has maintained strong ties with both Turkey. Because Armenia maintains an alliance with Russia, an undeclared ally of France, and supports the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Ukraine has taken the side of Turkey, which opposes Russia's actions. Ukraine has also distrusted France after Paris blocked Ukraine from joining the EU and NATO, prompting its alliance with Turkey to grow closer.

References

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