Something like the 'Ottoman Provincial System'?!

While Trump was telling Erdoğan, "We trust you in the region... We will work with you on our regional policies," it was also announced that his closest friend, businessman Tom Barrack, whom he chose as Ambassador to Ankara, was "expected to do extraordinary work."

Barrack, who also came to our country as Trump's Special Envoy for Syria, indeed produced quite a lot of "extraordinary work" in a very short time.

HE MADE PEOPLE LONG FOR LAWRENCE MCGURK

For example, he met twice with Mazloum Kobani, the head of the Syrian PKK, whom Turkey is still seeking with a red notice.

Recall Brett McGurk, the Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS during the first terms of Obama and Trump, who was a chief architect of the division of Iraq and the structuring of the terrorist organization in Syria in this way. Because of his close relationship with the Syrian PKK, he was compared to the British spy Lawrence, who incited the Arabs against the Ottomans. His receiving a plaque from the YPG in 2016 exhausted Ankara's patience, and Erdoğan himself warned McGurk in the presence of then-Vice President Biden, saying, "Don't do it again." When McGurk continued to do as he pleased, it was stated that he "definitely provided clear support to the PKK and YPG," and his replacement was requested.

When Biden became President, he changed McGurk's position, this time promoting him to the position of Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the US National Security Council!..

In 2021, Erdoğan complained about McGurk as follows:

"There is a man called McGurk, a well-known American. This man practically manages and directs terrorist organizations... This man is practically the director of the PKK/YPG/PYD. Of course, this statement of mine will seriously disturb some people. But this is a man who walks hand in hand, arm in arm with terrorist organizations. It seriously disturbs me that he walks arm in arm with them in a region where I am fighting against terrorists. His being intertwined and together with these terrorist organizations already expresses his position."

The government, which showed such reactions to McGurk, did not utter a peep about Tom Barrack being so intimate with Mazloum Kobani.

FROM LAUSANNE TO THE OTTOMANS

Of course, Barrack did not stop. Just like the PKK, he attributed the "setbacks regarding the Kurds" to Lausanne.

Ankara was silent again!..

The rest followed; after explaining that Trump and Erdoğan love and trust each other, and that the Middle East and the New East are witnessing a new era, and after praising that "Turkey has never fully received the value and importance it deserves as a major regional actor," he laid out his new models for the region with the following expressions:

"For me, İzmir is an example where Jews, Muslims, and Christians live together, where these communities are blended. This is a situation that should exist all over the world and in the Middle East... I think Turkey can be the center point of all this, as you see in Syria. A large part of what is happening in Syria is happening thanks to Turkey and its leadership. The millet system in the Ottoman Empire allowed different groups to maintain their existence within a central system for hundreds of years. A new dialogue is needed for current generations. This dialogue is not war."

While many segments wanted Barrack to be declared "persona non grata" following these words, Erdoğan expressed his satisfaction with Barrack as follows:

"The process in the telephone diplomacy between Trump and us has never exceeded 24 hours to date. If we call, the other side returns the call within 24 hours. Anyway, thank God, the new US ambassador to Turkey is very sensitive about these issues."

THE TERRORIST LEADER: "THE NATION ALSO ENCOMPASSES ARABS, TURKS, AND KURDS"

Now it is the turn of the terrorist leader, who has been promoted from a baby killer to a "founding leader."

For those statements of the terrorist leader, whose permission to release a video message from Imralı has not been explained according to any law, Altan Tan, who knows the PKK inside out, said, "Öcalan repeated the things he said 12 years ago." Let us also look at the thoughts of the "founding leader" regarding the Ottoman system, the concept of nation, and the ummah during the first resolution process (from the Imralı Notes).

On February 23, 2013, when Sırrı Süreyya Önder said, "The biggest debate in the Constitution is taking place over the definition of citizenship. Kandil says, 'The existence of the Kurdish people must definitely be mentioned.' Because when minorities are mentioned, non-Muslims are understood, which is an accurate assessment," the terrorist leader had the following "citizenship article" written and said:

"Every individual who expresses their loyalty to the Republic of Turkey with their free will is a citizen of the Republic of Turkey. It may not be the Republic of Turkey here, it could just be Turkey. Do not confuse national belonging with state belonging. The CHP and MHP make people say this. What you call Turkish nationalism is a fascist organization. We cannot be a tool for this. We belong to the state, but we do not belong to Turkish nationalism. Turkish nationalism does not even account for 10 percent of this country. The nation encompasses Arabs, Turks, and Kurds as well. But not the millet-i hakime (ruling nation). The concept of nation is both collective and includes individuality. The nation expresses Islamic internationalism. We are far from the singular. We are members of a common nation... What is our goal? I want to put Kurdish-Turkish relations into a constitutional expression on a free basis. So, what will we do in the future? Kurds will express and govern themselves freely. If we impose a law right now, it will create a great allergy. It could happen in the future. For example, the European Charter of Local Self-Government."

On January 11, 2014, he commanded: "A radical democratic solution is necessary. Neither the old national-nationalist, fascist nation-state model of the CHP and MHP, nor the neo-Ottomanist, hegemonic Ottomanist model... Neither will work. Both of these understandings are sick. The democratic Middle East model is the ideal model."

On April 26, 2014, while determining the new structure of the HDP, BDP, and the so-called Democratic Society Congress, he spoke as follows:

"It is a model that goes beyond the nation-state parliament... Representation from the regions is important... The second parliament is divided into 25 regions. These regions can be created through cultural, economic, and geographical neighborhood, like the old Ottoman provincial system."

On April 24, 2014, in the 5-page declaration he prepared for the Democratic Islam Conference, which he called "the declaration I like the most" and which began with the address "My believing brothers!", he noted the following:

"The Islamic ummah understanding is essentially incompatible with nation-statism. In fact, the British Empire very consciously placed nation-statism, and its dominant ideology, nationalism, into the bosom, brain, and womb of the Islamic ummah in order to fragment it. The last two centuries of history have been spent experiencing a kind of rape of this mind and womb in the lands and among the peoples of Islam... I find the 'national unity' of the contemporary Islamic ummah meaningful. But this never means the nonsense of 'one state, one nation, one flag.' On the contrary, as required by the provision in the relevant verse, 'We created you as different tribes so that you may know one another,' it expresses a pluralistic, democratic, equal, and free Union of Islamic Nations (other tribes within the Union)."

ERDOĞAN 32 YEARS LATER

After US Ambassador Tom Barrack and the terrorist leader, let us come to the speech Erdoğan made at the opening of the AKP camp over the weekend.

He said, "If Turks, Kurds, and Arabs are together, if they are one, if they are united, then there is the Turk, there is the Kurd, there is the Arab. When they separate, when they divide, when they drift apart, there is defeat, ruin, and sorrow... We lost the First World War, borders were drawn between us, walls were built. Whenever we separated, we lost, we were defeated. Whenever we formed an alliance, we set the direction for history."

Upon CHP Chairman Özgür Özel's reaction to these words, saying "he is practicing ummahism," he emphasized the following in his closing speech:

"Why does our manifesto of brotherhood disturb a person? Why would a child of this country be disturbed by Turks, Kurds, and Arabs embracing and forming an alliance today as they did in history?.. These people do not know what ummah consciousness is or is not. As Muslims, as our Prophet commanded, where is the mistake in us being locked together like 'bricks of a wall,' you heedless people?.. We are of the Turkish nation. We are of the ummah of Prophet Muhammad. We are lovers of the ummah not just today, but since the beginning of time."

Since it cannot be a coincidence that these discussions are taking place while it is being told that the separatist terrorist organization PKK is dissolving itself unconditionally and without any give-and-take, let us also recall Erdoğan's past views.

The "Kurdish Report" he had prepared on behalf of the Refah Party Istanbul Provincial Organization in 1991 contained the following:

"President Özal's announcement for the first time that they recognize the Kurdish existence and his statements in the following days such as 'every issue, including federation, should be discussed,' and his holding meetings at the highest level with the representatives of Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani during the Gulf crisis, provided a comfortable opportunity for the Kurdish issue to be discussed on the basis of a new perspective... It should be clearly stated that the official ideology in Turkey has been denialist, assimilationist, and oppressive regarding the Kurdish issue for 75 years, and we must be able to question the official ideology loudly... We must advocate for the removal of all laws that prevent the recognition of Kurdish identity and the development of Kurdish culture in Turkey, the preparation of legal opportunities for the teaching of Kurdish in the regions where Kurds live, and the granting of all these rights to other peoples living in Turkey (Laz, Circassian, Georgian, Arab, etc.), and in this framework, that Turkey should have a cultural plurality... We must advocate for everyone who wishes in Turkey to be able to receive education in their mother tongue and to benefit from mass media... As much as we condemn PKK terrorism, we must also condemn state terrorism, we must not appear on the side of the state in the State-PKK conflict, and we must not adopt the state's critical style of 'separatist,' 'terrorist,' and 'secessionist'."

The most famous one was what he said in 1993 within the scope of the Second Republic Discussions.

He criticized Kemalism... He stated that the official ideology had a racist personality, that theses such as "Turkey belongs to the Turks" were wrong, and he argued that the existence of 27 ethnic groups living in Turkey should be recognized and that the integrity of these people could be ensured through "unity of faith"...

He answered the question, "If some groups living within the country do not want to remain within the national structure, for example, if the Kurds say 'we want to live separately,' what will happen?" as follows:

"In this case, perhaps something similar to the Ottoman provincial system could be done... I am saying it could be within a provincial-style system."

Upon the question, "Doesn't the national definition mentioned here seem contradictory to Islam's concept of ummah?.. There are different ethnic structures and religious groups. How can you think of them both within the framework of the ummah and within the national state?", he said, "I am not thinking within the concept of ummah, I am thinking within the state plan of Islam."

In short; the intersections in the views of Erdoğan, the terrorist leader, and the US Ambassador are clear... Who might have influenced whom, or what is the common point that provides this unity?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

July 16, 2025