At first glance the policy of the Turkish state seems quite contradictory if not incomprehensible.
Thus, Turkey is an important pillar of NATO in the Mediterranean and according to the newspaper "The times of Israel" the American army stores there around 50 tactical nuclear bombs in Incirlik in the south of Turkey, 110 km from the border with Syria.
At the same time, Turkey is equipping itself with Russian anti-aircraft missiles. In Syria, it plays an active military role by occupying part of Syrian territory and by supporting armed groups which wage war for its benefit against the central Syrian power allied with the Russians. We find Turkey in Libya, very committed to the government of Tripoli against that of Marshal Haftar in the South supported by Russia, the Arab quartet and... France. These commitments have nothing ideological but are all about the will of the Turkish power to impose itself as a regional power by taking part for its capitalist groups in the plundering of the mineral wealth of the region and especially in Syria and Libya and by bargaining with the highest bidder its strategic location in the Mediterranean. Second-tier power compared to those clashing in the Near and Middle East, according to the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), it tries to secure a place into the mesh of the imperialist system:“The pragmatic policy of the AKP, based on daily maneuvers in the meshes of the imperialist system and its oscillations between the imperialist powers, is losing ground. "because adds the TKP: “The country is experiencing an economic crisis, with unprecedented levels of domestic and external debt. Erdoğan tries to restore his political negotiating power by intimidating other countries, such as actions against France in Libya, military actions on Syrian territory or nationalist conflicts against Greece; but it is obvious that this power is far too limited to frighten the great powers or imperialist alliances, the United States, the EU, NATO and others.”
We find the same analysis grid for the president of Geopragma: Caroline Galactéros, who indicates:"Turkey's unique role is akin to that of a true 'American proxy in the region'.While she does not dispute that Ankara enjoys a certain independence from Washington, Turkey's rise in power remains, according to her, " allowed by his American ally in order to counter the Russian influence, a great enemy of NATO. However, Turkish positions and interests too often diverge with those of other alliance partners. This is currently the case with France and the European Union.
In the Eastern Mediterranean, not far from the Libyan coast, France and Turkey, two prominent members of the alliance, opposed each other while claiming to have acted under the NATO banner."
All this brings us back to the basic question: those of the interests of Turkish capitalism. The Turkish big bourgeoisie and its allies need a strong state muzzling the opposition and especially the working class. To do so there is nothing better than the use of religion to cement national unity. Erdoğan’s AKP, which has ruled Turkey for many years and is the expression of Turkish employers, intends to rally the people on this ground. The AKP is not the only one, all the parties representing the factions of the Turkish bourgeoisie are united around this issue. This is what the Communist Party of Turkey recalls about the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque: “The current debate on the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque was reintroduced by İYİP through a proposal to parliament (The Good Party is a fascist type formation), partner of the social-democratic CHP member of the Socialist International and associate member of the European Socialist Party in the parliamentary opposition alliance,...This proposal has received the support of many members of the opposition parties, such as former CHP presidential candidate Muharrem İnce and the current mayors of major cities, who are affiliated with the opposition. It has not been criticized at all by the opposition from the start. On the contrary, some representatives of the opposition, including members of the pro-Kurdish HDP, expressed their enthusiasm to pray under the roof of Hagia Sophia. "
The capitalist class of Turkey uses religion to maintain and consolidate its class domination. Given the deep economic crisis in the country, poverty, unemployment, desperation and the enormous discontent of the workers, the capitalist class is trying to prevent the politicization of the workers from gaining momentum. The Saint Sophia affair is therefore essentially political; it is an affirmation of the will of the Turkish bourgeoisie to impose its dictatorship under the guise of religion, including by calling into question the progressive values of the bourgeois revolution of 1923, namely republicanism, secularism and modernity.