Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made many statements, most of which are contradictory.

Take, for example, one of his speeches about his country’s intervention in Libya. On January 14, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying, while addressing his party’s parliamentary bloc in Parliament: “We cannot remain idle about what is happening in Libya, and those who stain Libya with blood and fire, are showing at the same time their hatred towards Turkey.”

He said that those who ask about the reason for Turkey’s presence in Libya are ignorant of politics and history. “If Turkey hadn’t stepped in, putschist Libyan leader Khalifa Haftar would have occupied Libya, trapping its people in ‘claws of persecution,’” he said.

Erdogan also said that Turkey has no plans for adventurism in Syria, Libya or the Mediterranean. “Most particularly, we do not have any imperial designs ... We only aim to protect the rights and future of ourselves and our brothers,” he said adding: “Why don’t they understand that Turkey’s security is part of the overall security of Libya, Syria, Iraq, the Balkans and the Caucasus?”

Well, the above talk is from Erdogan, no one else but him! However, in the same speech, which was reported by the Turkish Agency, he continues saying: “In Libya, there are our Arab brothers who stand up against Haftar and he wants to eliminate them. And Haftar is targeted in this country by our brothers - the Berbers, the Tuareg people, and the descendants of Barbarossa (Hyyreddin Barbarossa) and Turgut Reis, the Ottoman admiral who conquered Tripoli.”

Then Erdogan says: “For centuries, Libya had been an important part of the Ottoman Empire ... There are historical, human and social bonds that bind us.”

He then declares: “The victory scored by the grandchildren of our ancestors in North Africa comes at the top of our missions. The sons of Koroglu - the Turks of Libya – are equal for us with the Turkmen of Syria, Iraq, the Balkan Turks and the Turks in the Caucasus. We are aware of our historical responsibility towards our Arab brothers - Amazighs and Tuareg in Libya.

Is this contradiction not a contradiction? He says: “We do not have any imperial designs at all” and then announces that he is interfering because “for centuries, Libya had been an important part of the Ottoman Empire.” And that “the victory of the grandchildren of our ancestors in North Africa comes at the top of our missions!”

The truth is that there is not much to say, because Erdogan himself was retorting to Erdogan, exposing his plans and his Ottoman ambitions in our region. As long as the engine is the Ottoman factor, this means that Erdogan’s expansionist and aggressive appetite does not start in Libya, and does not end there, but that he is looking for every suitable opportunity to expand, and his most prominent tools are the Muslim Brotherhood, wherever they are in our region.

Okaz