Turkey has shouldered heavy criticism from the West for its foreign policies, especially those on regional issues and the Syrian crisis. Western countries have been otherizing and alienating Turkey since the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011.

Turkey has been supporting democratic forces in the Arab world. In this context, Turkey has supported the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliated or similar organizations in different Arab states. As a model regional power, Ankara took initiatives during the Arab Spring and helped Arab states follow similar policies with recently restructured domestic and foreign policies.

Unlike the West, it preferred political stabilization and democratization in the Middle East and tried to contribute to the political stability of vulnerable states, such as Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. Turkey attempted to guide new Arab regimes in developing their democratic structures and later with consolidating democratic systems. However, along with the authoritarian monarchies in the Gulf, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, Western countries supported the Egyptian military coup in 2013 and other authoritarian political groups, such as Gen. Khalifa Haftar in Libya, in the region. Over time, the projections and expectations of Turkey and the West have come to contradict each other in the Middle East.

In other words, Turkey has begun to pursue an independent foreign policy and is actively participating in regional and global projections. Turkey began to ask for a comprehensive reformation in the international system and for a more inclusive approach in which multilateral international platforms such as the United Nations play a bigger role. Furthermore, Turkey has diversified its foreign policy and institutionalized its relations with Russia, China, and other global and regional powers.

These are the main reasons why Western countries have been otherizing and alienating Turkey for the last decade. In principle, Turkey never questioned its longtime relations with the West; however, despite its membership in Western regional organizations like NATO, relationship with the European Council and its EU membership process, the Western perception of Turkey has been extremely negative, and Western countries continue to take measures against Ankara. Here, I will briefly explain several of the main reasons for the anti-Turkish policies of Western countries.

First of all, Western countries have been trying to prevent Turkey’s quest for autonomy. They want Turkey to remain under their control and therefore they want to punish any step taken for further autonomy. For instance, Western countries, the U.S. in particular, imposed sanctions for Turkey’s purchase of S-400 air defense missile systems. Similarly, Turkey cannot improve its trade relations with Iran due to the American sanctions.

Second, they have attempted to create an anti-Turkish regional bloc to contain Turkey’s regional effectiveness. The most recent rapprochement between Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt is one example. These states benefit from regional political instability and have created a fait accompli. They take unilateral steps against other regional actors, including Turkey. Another such anti-Turkish bloc is in the making in the Eastern Mediterranean between Israel, Egypt and Greece.

These states, supported by the West, are trying to form an energy platform, namely the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, to isolate Turkey in the region. Western countries blame Turkey for its energy exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, ignoring the illegal activities of other actors. They try to take measures against Turkish interests.

Third, Western countries insistently support anti-Turkish forces in the region, including terrorist groups. Western officials, bureaucrats, academics and intellectuals opposed Turkey’s military intervention against the PKK terrorist organization and its Syrian affiliates, the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the region northeast of the Euphrates. Even though they also list the PKK as a terrorist organization, Western states, especially the U.S., continue to support the YPG and PYD against Turkey. Western states, who remained indifferent to the killing of more than half a million civilians in Syria, now accuse Turkey of violating human rights. That is to say, their concern is not the loss of human lives, but punishing Turkey.

Considering other regional and global developments, it is difficult to understand anti-Turkish feelings and perceptions in the West. First of all, Western countries insistently ignore or do not take the required measures against the rise of ultranationalism, white supremacy, xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism and populism. Second, there is no unity in the Western world.

The unilateral foreign policy of the U.S. continues to contradict European multilateral efforts. In addition, the EU is on the brink of collapse due to all the anti-EU developments.

Third, Turkey is not out to challenge Western domination. Focusing on Turkey means ignoring the challenging policies of global powers. Fourth, many European countries such as Germany, like Turkey, have been trying to pursue autonomous foreign policies; however, they are still too dependent on the U.S. and Washington does not allow them to do so. All in all, it seems that the Western mindset is confused and does not know how to react to regional and global developments.