100 years ago the mighty Ottoman Empire came to an end Constantinople was renamed IST the 600-year-old Islamic empire that ruled over much of southern Europe the Middle East and North Africa gave way to a new nation turkey the fall of the Empire contributed to Regional instability which would later lead to war in the Balkans and conflicts in the Middle East some say turkey's ottoman past influences the decisions of its current leader Reb TB ardogan whose ambition is to make the country a global Force again the use of these symbols of the Ottoman era serves a purpose and that is to build a new turkey narrative that is based on an exaggerated glorified past so why do turkey's Global Ambitions matter because of its unique location and eran's sphere of influence which spans across continents the landmass of Anatolia where much of modern turkey lies has long been strategically important as a land bridge between continents it is where the Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299 ruled by All Power ful Sultans it was the world's last Islamic empire at its peak controlling land across three [Music] continents but from the 1800s the Empire began to decline it became known as the sickman of Europe facing economic problems and territorial losses growing nationalism led to Independence movements in the Balkans and the Empire began to breakup the disintegration was chaotic and bloody and in 1915 there were mass killings and deportations of ethnic Armenians a massacre that Armenians commemorate as genocide a term turkey rejects defeat to the Allies at the end of World War I sealed the Empire's fate and the automans lost the majority of their territory foreign for speech foreign speech foreign spee for [Music] spe turkey's transition from Empire to nation state started with Mustafa Kamal a charismatic nationalist Army Commander he rejected Imperial control and in 1919 launched the Turkish war of independence his military victories led to the formation of turkey as we know it today atat Turk envisioned a sovereign turkey a modern secular nation state which would catch up with the technological advances of the West in October 1923 turkey was declared a republic with Mustafa Kamal as its first president he became known as atat father of Turks and began modern in the country Islamic institutions were closed the Arabic alphabet was replaced with Latin western style dressing was promoted and women were granted more rights including the right to vote be elected and inherit atuk died in 1938 we record the passing of a wise and good ruler Kamal atat but his legacy dominated Turkish politics for decades to come the man who turned the face of his country from the East to the West turkey after atat kept a food in the west joining nato in 1952 during the Cold War turkey was America's close Ally seen as the alliance's buffer zone to the Soviet Union turkey entered into accession talks to join the EU in 2005 during this man Reb t eran's first term as prime minister but when the bits sto he began to look Beyond turkey's traditional Western links the major difference between atat tur and president erogan is that erogan does not see turkey a part of European or western civilization to his thinking turkey belongs to the world of is Islam first as prime minister from 2003 and then as directly elected president from 2014 arogan flexed turkey's muscles as a regional power and championed Islamic causes in 2017 he Nar won a referendum to expand his presidential powers his policies have included lifting a ban on women wearing head scares and turning the AOS Sophia from Museum to mosque it had been a mosque in ottoman times but Ataturk had converted it into a museum as a symbol of his secular [Music] Republic these moves and AR crackdowns on the Press CTS and LGBT plus communities have leted to criticism he's eroding turkey's tradition as a free secular democracy behaving like a sulan but to his chest followers he's an empowering leader representing traditional Islamic values and the country's proud otoman past he also has religious support Beyond turkey's borders [Music] [Music] foreign his increased Presidential Power and growing popularity across the Muslim world has given erdogan more influence on the global St speech speee speech [Music] speech turkey's position at the crossroads of Europe Asia and Africa contributes to this influence it has control over the trits it is a Transit country uh for connecting natural uh gas and oil to World Markets turkey also has geographical proximity to conflict zones there is civil war in Syria turmoil in Libya tensions in nagaro Kaba and the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Middle East foree ardan maintains close ties with President zalinski of Ukraine and President Putin of Russia he has acted as a mediator in Russia's war in Ukraine and his intervention helped secure a green deal between the two [Applause] and in October 2023 president uan offered to mediate in the Israel Gaza conflict he has long back the Palestinian cause famously walking out of D in 2009 after a heated debate with Israel's president over Gaza supports a two-state solution to the decades old [Music] conflict under Alan turkey has increased its military presence abroad he has threatened trade links with China Russia and India and grown turkey's diplomatic Network especially in Africa foree turkey's Global reach may have grown but High inflation at home has limited its economic [Music] power and in recent years the country's human rights record has impacted its relations with the West turkey is perhaps overplaying its hand and relying too much on its geopolitical significance and using it to quell criticisms regarding its uh Democratic backsliding or its foreign policy choices but the situation is not black and white turkey's application to join the EU may be in deadlock but the block has repeatedly relied on Turkey to control the flow of refugees to Europe for speech foreign foree speech as ardogan leads turkey into its second century the challenge will be maintaining his influence throughout the former ottoman territories and Beyond whilst balancing turkeyy Western alliances