The suit tailored by the US and the Turkish-Kurdish-Arab alliance
THE CLASSIFICATION OF TURKEY
Fuller, too, states in the very introduction to the book: “Is Turkey part of the Middle East? The simple answer, of course, is ‘yes’: geopolitically and geographically, Turkey is part of the Middle East… However, the question actually extends far beyond geography; it touches upon issues of identity, orientation and deep-seated desires. Until the 1960s, the US State Department bureaucracy monitored Turkey through the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau. Turkey, after joining NATO, was transferred, with a single stroke of the pen, to the Bureau of European Affairs. Turkey had quite simply been reclassified.”
Fuller argues that Turkey’s geographical location inevitably draws the country into the very heart of Middle Eastern politics, whether the Turks like it or not. The CIA Station Chief formulated America’s approach to Turkey through a geopolitical analysis.
THAT FRAMEWORK WAS IMPLEMENTED WITH THE AKP IN THE 2000S
Step by step, this plan was put into action alongside the AKP. In the early 2000s, the suit was put on Turkey by the “moderate conservatives” – a group described as “let’s not sweep them aside, let’s use them”.
In the 2008 report by Angel Rabasa and F. Stephen Larrabee, ‘The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey’, assessed the new opportunities created for the US by the changing Turkish political landscape, whilst outlining steps the US could take to advance its interests in Turkey and to promote liberal interpretations of Islam worldwide. According to the report, Turkey—a country with a Muslim majority, a NATO member and a long-standing ally of the US—played a key role in the US strategy for shaping the security environment in the Middle East.
Countless similar articles, reports and analyses were published during this period.
The unchanging narrative from the Fullers to the Barracks There is a historical continuity in the framework within which the US has positioned Turkey. Whilst administrations and presidents may have changed, the one constant has been the role assigned to Turkey through the prism of ‘political Islamists’.
CIA directors, the Fullers laid the groundwork, whilst the practical implementation of the matter was carried out by Tom Barrack. Barrack himself is one of the key policymakers of recent times and is setting the agenda not only for Turkey but for the entire region.
The alignment of Syria, Iraq and Turkey with Barrack is linked to the new order being established – or sought to be established – in the region. The Palace regime, which has eagerly assumed the roles assigned by the US within the framework of its Middle East strategy, secures ‘legitimacy’ in return. This situation was explicitly articulated by Barrack and Trump themselves. Indeed, Secretary of State Rubio remarked, “They’re begging for a five-minute meeting with the President.”
Turkey’s deployment to the region is intended to help shoulder the US’s burden alongside other countries.
In the changing climate following 7 October, whilst the Middle East was being laid to waste by the US and Israel, a new alignment was formed, in Barrack’s own words.
Within this equation, efforts have been launched to build a broad military-political front against Iran. The Mecca Pact, established between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, is the product of this initiative. The Mecca Alliance and the Gaza Council, viewed as a Sunni NATO, complement one another in the regional design.
“TURKISH-KURDISH-ARAB ALLIANCE”: QUO VADIS?
The “Turkish-Kurdish-Arab alliance” articulated by Erdoğan, Bahçeli and Öcalan is not independent of the spirit of the new era. The process is in line with America’s plans for the Middle East. Whilst the political Islamist regime seeks to play a role in the labyrinthine corridors of the Middle East, it intends to broaden the front.
The “Yavuz–İdrisi Bitlisi alliance”, based on the concept of the “ummah” and described by Öcalan as “Middle Eastern internationalism”, coincides with the political groundwork the political Islamist regime is attempting to lay.
The main target of Trump’s US, which brought Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to power and linked Syria, Iraq and Turkey as a single package to Barrack, is Iran. Barack had revealed his vision of an Iran-free regional architecture with the words: “You will see a new alignment from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean”. Indeed, a new alignment, positioning and polarisation in the region and the Middle East will cause much more turmoil. These models, imposed from above against the will of the people, are sowing the seeds of new tensions.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled ABD’nin biçtiği elbise ve Türk-Kürt-Arap ittifakı, published in BirGün newspaper on September 8, 2026.