President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that his country will bow to no power but god, as Turkey becomes embroiled in a growing number of regional power struggles.
Turkey is providing military support for Azerbaijan in ongoing clashes with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, while also intervening in a number of other conflicts.
This includes Syria, where Turkey remains a key supporter of the opposition, and the U.S. has warned Ankara against launching an assault on Kurdish-led forces. Meanwhile, Turkish military operations continue against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
Turkish intervention has also recently proved critical in bolstering the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya, and tensions continue with Cyprus and Greece over disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.
“We bow in the presence of Allah… We do not bow before any other power,” Erdoğan said in a video message posted on Twitter.
The comments follow a speech last week in which Erdoğan accused other countries of again trying to exclude Turkey as they seek to restructure the world order.
But Turkey’s assertive stance had given the country “an essential place both on the ground and at the (negotiating) table,” he said.