Why You Can't Understand Turkish leaders

Many political analysts, journalists, academics and other interested parties generally in international politics, in particular Turkish politics are having difficulty to make sense of Turkish leaders (Erdogan and company) and their policies. If we exclude their domestic plunders for the moment and focus only on Turkey's relations with her neighbors, it is actually very easy to explain. It gives me great pain not having mentioned it here as part of my predictions, so I can only console myself that I wrote about it on another blog, sadly not in English.

Erdogan and Davutoğlu (he served as foreign and prime minister) share a mental disorder very common in Islamists: They are delusional! They live in a fantasy world where Ottoman Empire will be reborn and connect to its eagerly waiting old members that were once torn apart by heathens (read imperial powers). With the help of the religion of love and peace (sic), this will pave the way to an ultimate Islamic orgy of sorts.

You may think that I am exaggerating. Fine! You can read adventures of HH (his highness) in his conquest of Africa from this perspective or if you would consider it TL/DR, too long, don't read, here is Yigit Bulut, advisor to the president, speaking:

People in the Balkans, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East are asking how they, too, can be governed from Istanbul. People in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are saying, "Never mind the European Union. What new scenario can develop with Turkey?"

Mr Bulut may not be delusional, though. People like Erdogan is surrounded by two groups of people: True believers and con-men. He probably belongs to the latter, enjoying the benefits freshly squeezed from an easy mark. Yes, delusional people make easy marks but with a side effect: They are also dangerous.