dr. Adrian FILIP^

Abstract. The grip of Turkey’s president on his country is unquestionable after the failed coup d’état of July 2016. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan survived the attempt on his freedom and possibly his life and unleashed a storm of obvious neo-Ottomanic rage with dramatic results both internally and geopolitically. The relations with Israel, Russia, Iran and notably, NATO and the US, were reshuffled in an astonishing about face, which brought the question of a possible chess like move on Vladimir Putin’s side, as Russia benefited the greatest on this situation. Both the nuclear deterrence and the military / intelligence establishment of the United States had to suffer a great deal after Erdoğan’s new prove of unreliability and unpredictability. Turkey is no more the country that joined NATO and stayed the course of secularism even at the price of military coups. The country is sliding towards Islamism and reviving a form of Ottoman stance under Erdoğan’s rule.

Keywords: Turkey, neo-Ottomanism, Middle East conflicts, geopolitical changes, global balance of forces, international risks