Why Erdoan suddenly became an environmentalist

Turkish President Erdoan pledged to fight the climate crisis at the United Nations, warning of new refugees in the same breath. What’s behind the change of heart?

You rarely see electric cars in the cityscape of New York. Instead, cars and buses with large internal combustion engines pass through Manhattan. In front of the United Nations Headquarters, two police Chevrolet Camaros race down the street as if they were at a motor show. When it comes to climate protection, Americans also lag behind the demands of their president in everyday life.

The situation is different at the United Nations Building: the fight against the climate crisis is one of the core issues inside and is becoming increasingly important at the highest levels of international politics. However, it is not clear how many states would like to make their mark internationally. Can they and want to implement the ambitious goals being grandly announced in New York? Turkey is also grappling with this question now.

great distrust

President Risp Tayip Erdogan That is, the climate has gone under protectionists. In New York, he announced the ratification of the Paris climate accord – a milestone in Turkey’s fight against global warming that the international community has long been waiting for.

But, as is often the case with Erdoan, his intentions are above all power-political. With Climate Offensive, it seeks to counter rising climate awareness within Turkey’s population on the one hand and present Turkey as a great power that on the other hand takes responsibility for the global community.

However, diplomats are cautious and skeptical about the UN General Assembly. One thing seems clear: Erdoan is not Turkish Greta – distrust is omnipresent and sometimes justified. This is what the experience of the last few years teaches us.

Erdogan speaks to the United Nations: Turkey’s president has called on the international community to do more in the fight against the climate crisis. (source: Reuters)

Big step for Turkey, big step for the world

The Turkish government had in fact already signed the Paris Climate Protection Agreement in April 2016, but did not ratify it until later. Its background was disputed over the question of whether Turkey, despite its classification as a developed state, could take advantage of financial relief to meet climate requirements, which are in fact reserved for poor countries. erdogan Spoke of “injustice”, but “progress” was made recently.

Turkey is one of the few signatories that has not yet ratified the agreement. Others: Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. According to Erdogan, Turkey’s parliament must now decide on ratification within the next month.

The Paris Climate Protection Agreement, passed in late 2015, aims to limit global warming to below two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era and is considered a milestone in the fight against climate change. A recently published United Nations report sees the Earth on a dangerous path of warming by 2.7 degrees without a radical change in direction.

Turkey gets devastating climate certificate

In general, Turkey under Erdogan has relied on economic growth over the past two decades at the expense of the environment. Build, build, build was the motto. The Turkish government invested billions in new bridges, tunnels, huge mosques and Erdoan’s palace. On the contrary ecological concerns never played a major role: The akp – The party of the President of Turkey – made headlines with the fact that environmentalists were chased away with clubs and tear gas, as during the 2013 protests around Gezhi Park in Istanbul.

Under the current leadership environmental problems in Turkey have accordingly worsened. Despite ecological concerns, projects such as the planned “Istanbul Canal” between the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Black Sea are simply being implemented. Meanwhile, the Marmara Sea is covered in places with a toxic sludge – so-called “sea rot” – that kills many marine life. In addition, Turkey is planning another 40 coal-fired power plants, 29 are already in operation, climatologist Ekmel Erlat of the Aegean University in Izmir told television station Yol TV.

Protesters try to block Taksim Square in front of police in Istanbul: they wanted to stop the cleaning of Gezi Park in 2013 (archive photo). (Source: Imago Images)

The country continues to rely heavily on fossil energy sources and does not have a “green” strategy, criticizing the website “Climate Action Tracker (CAT)”, co-financed by Germany with up to 70 percent growth. In “Climate Change Performance Index 2021” places Turkey 42nd Of the 61 countries, their climate policies are rated as “poor”.

Erdoan has explored this topic more and more for himself over the past five years and has supported planting more trees, for example. But overall, Turkey is on par with a developing country in terms of climate policy. On the path to climate neutrality, the current course will need to be completely reversed, both economically and socially. The country will have opportunities, eventually predisposed to solar power and, unlike Germany, hardly have any energy-hungry heavy industries.

Erdoan has many reasons to become a climate defender

In New York, the Turkish president made climate protection the central theme of his UN speech.

Erdogan with prayer: Turkey’s president is also trying to legalize climate protection religiously. (source: Reuters)

Erdoan is mainly pursuing six goals:

1. He cements his self-image as a climate defender: Domestically, Erdoan would like to present himself as a president who protects nature and, in his eyes, is God’s creation. It sells the population very well.
2. He is no longer a scapegoat after natural disasters: Turkey fell victim to a devastating wildfire and flood disaster in the summer. Since then the Turkish government has been attested by the opposition’s inaction on the issue of climate protection. Erdoan himself was also heavily criticized.
3. He reacts to Turkey Greens: In the face of the climate crisis, something is changing in Turkey’s population. A Green Party wants to find itself, but has been waiting for approval for almost a year. a new party Destroying Erdoan’s dream of an absolute majority again, so he is now focusing on climate protection, which he has ignored for decades. That is why the focus on the climate issue is also driven by power politics.
4. He expects a lot of detection with little risk: Climate protection is currently an important topic with which heads of state and government can present themselves well at the international level. Turkey is also aware that many Western countries are also constantly having to revise and correct their climate targets. So Erdogan’s lips are more likely to make concessions.
5. He strengthens Turkey as a great power: Just as Erdoan sees himself as the father of the country, he seeks to sell Turkey internationally as a great power that also takes global responsibility. It also serves as a sign to the neighboring states of the region that, after all, the country sees itself as a leading power in the Muslim world.
6. He reacts to the fear of more refugees: The climate crisis brings with it a new influx of refugees. For example, Erdoan often takes advantage of this issue to put Europe under pressure, but the Turkish government fears more people may come to the country. The president said in New York that by accepting millions of refugees from Syria, the country is at its limit and cannot accept more people.

Of course, the Turkish government is also trying to get financial support from abroad to transition to a climate-neutral economy. Turkey will not be able to face this effort of its own accord, as the consequences of the economic and financial crisis in the country are still dire.

Given these many power-political reasons, it remains to be seen how serious Erdoan really is about climate protection. His announcements in New York received generous comments from international partners, but no major applause. The Turkish government will be measured by deeds.

But he always has a possible excuse ready: Unless Europe and the United States meet their climate goals, Turkey will not, not even with Erdoan, an alleged climate protection activist.