Turkey walking a tightrope over Crimea

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-02-100314.html



Turkey walking a tightrope over Crimea
By Dorian Jones
Mar 10, '14

The Russian-Ukrainian crisis over Crimea is forcing Turkey into a delicate balancing act: Ankara feels a need to be seen as a protector of the peninsula's Tatar minority, yet it does not want to vex Russia's paramount leader Vladimir Putin in a way that complicates Turkish-Russian economic arrangements.

There are abundant reasons why Turkey is taking a close interest in Crimean developments. Crimea operated as a vassal khanate of Ottoman Empire from the 1470s until 1783. In addition, Turks are bound by a strong cultural connection to Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority group that comprises roughly 15% of Crimea's population. The number of ethnic Tatars now living in Turkey - most of them descendants of those who left Crimea following its 1783 annexation by the Russian Empire - is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

For all the historical and cultural factors in play, though, it may be domestic political considerations that are the primary factor in shaping the government's posture on the Tatar-Crimea issue. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been seriously wounded politically in recent weeks by allegations of large-scale corruption within his inner circle and family. He is now scrambling to reinforce his political base as he prepares for his first electoral test since the corruption scandal broke, local elections slated for March 30.

Since Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) draws significant grassroots support from nationalist elements, top government officials are playing up Ankara's role as a defender of Crimean Tatar interests amid Russia's armed occupation of the peninsula, which has belonged to Ukraine since 1954.