At the following map you can see with red and pink the remainings of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th Century. A few years before the complete collapse of the Empire, during the Italian-Turkish War (1911-1912), during the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), and during the First World War (1914-1918).
With pink you can see Libya, lost to Italy during the Italian-Turkish War 1911-1912, and the European part of the Ottoman Empire, lost to Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913.
Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and the parts of Saudi Arabia that were controlled by the Ottomans, were lost to the Arabs during the First World War (1914-1918).
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kemal Ataturk founded modern Turkey, based on the Western modle, leaving Islam aside. That’s the Turkey we knew until 2003 and the rise of the Islamists to power. Tayip Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoglu, both supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamo-Socialist organization, are trying to revive the Ottoman Empire, both by placing Islam at the heart of the state, and also by extending Turkey’s influence at a level similar to the one at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Through its influence over ISIS, i.e. the Sunni Islamists of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Islamists have again great influence over the Sunni parts of Syria and Iraq i.e. the light brown areas of the following map.
Map 2 Sunni Syria and Sunni Iraq
The Turks also have military bases in Qatar at the Persian Gulf, and they are getting financial aid from Saudi Arabia. In a sense Erdogan is the undisputed Sultan of the Sunni World in the Middle East. Shia Iran is the only Muslim power that can challenge Turkey in the Middle East, both in military terms, and also through the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline.
In Egypt, Turkey and Qatar supported the Muslim Brother Mohamed Morsi who rose to power in 2012. Mohamed Morsi accepted Erdogan as the Sultan of the Muslim World. The Time Magazine wrote that Erdogan was treated like a “rock star” by Morsi. I prefer the term “Sultan” or “Chaliph” rather than the term “rock star”. See Time “Why Turkey’s Erdogan Is Greeted like a Rock Star in Egypt”, September 2011.
Unfortunately for Turkey Morsi was overturn one year later by the Egyptian socialists, with the support of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In Libya, Turkey is behind the Islamic government at the Western part of the country i.e. Tripoli, while the Western countries support the government at the east i.e. Tobruk.
In Greece the Greek communists are cooperating with the Turkish Islamists, and they are bringing millions of Muslims to Europe and Greece. See “Germany’s Defeat by the Turkish Islamists and the Greek Communists”.
Angela Merkel does not want to take initiatives against the immigrants sent to Germany by the Turkish Islamists and the Greek Communists, due to Germany’s Nazi past. Austria and Hungary are fighting the Greek Communists and the Turkish Islamists instead.
Most European leaders see the cooperation between the Greek Communists and the Turkish Islamists, and they say that the borders of the West must be moved from the Greek-Turkish borders to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonian-Greek borders. Bulgaria is a Christian country, and a member of the European Union. Albania is a Muslim country but one of the most pro-American countries in the world, and with a population of less than 3 million people. The Europeans consider substituting Greece with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in order for the European Union to be able to connect to the Caspian Sea, and also for the South Europe and the North Europe to remain connected if Greece goes, or if Greece is expelled.
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a Christian country that wants to join the European Union and NATO, but until now it is mainly blocked mainly by Greece. I guess that if the Greek communists convert Greece to a province of the Islamic Caliphate, the Europeans and NATO will accept FYROM, in order to establish new European borders at the Albanian-FYROM-Bulgarian axis.
Turkey has also great influence over the Caspian Sea due to her alliance with Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Map 6 Southern Energy Corridor
And Turkey has influence at the other countries of Central Asia too, through the various Sunni Islamist groups she supports in Central Asia.
Therefore the Doctrine of Neo-Ottomanism, promoted by Davutoglu and Erdogan is at a quite advanced stage. However to promote this doctrine Turkey has found herself in some kind of war with Russia, but also with the US, since the US support the Kurds in Syria and Turkey supports the Sunni Syrians, and the US supports the Kurds and the Shiites in Iraq while Turkey supports the Sunni Arabs of Iraq. Turkey is at war with Israel too in Gaza, with the Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad in Syria, with Iran in Syria, and with Egypt.
At the same time two civil wars are ready to explode within Turkey, one between the Turkish Islamists and the Turkish socialists, and one between the Turks and the Kurds. Moreover Davutoglu and Erdogan have used a very aggressive monetary policy and the Turkish economy is a bubble.
I must also say that in Europe there is a great difference for the Ottomans, compared to what was happening in the First World War. During WW1, the Empire of Austro-Hungary and the German Empire were allies of the Ottomans, because the Germans wanted to construct the Baghdad Railway, in order to reach the Persian Gulf through Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Map 8 Europe 1900
During the First World War, Russia, France and England were rivals of the German Empire, and the Baghdad Railway that would take the Germans to the Persian Gulf was bringing the Germans and the Ottomans very close.
But today the energy cooperation between Germany and Russia, through the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, threatens the main geopolitical objective of Turkey i.e. the Southern Energy Corridor. In Nord Stream 2 the Russians have given stakes to the Germans, the Austrians, the Dutch, the British and the French.
The Greek communists are the only ally of the Ottomans in Europe, and that’s why many Europeans say that the European borders must be moved to the Albanian-FYROM-Bulgarian axis.
Map 9 Europe 1900
Nord Stream 2 is a direct threat for the Southern Energy Corridor, and the Southern Energy Corridor is located at the core of the Neo-Ottomanism Doctrine.
Italy on the other hand was very disappointed by the cancellation of the South Stream pipeline (Russia-Bulgaria-Greece-Italy), and wants a steak in Nord Stream 2, or at least more money from Germany.
The reason the Turkish Islamist are so bold, is that the E.U. wants to reduce its dependency on the Russian gas, and wants the Southern Energy Corridor to go ahead. Moreover the European Union does not have an army, and Turkey can threaten the European Union quite easily. Finally the Turks are counting on the US-Russian rivalry, because this rivalry forces the Americans to support Turkey and the Southern Energy Corridor.
If the Americans try to support Russia, the Turks will align themselves with Russia, and will promote the Turk Stream pipeline instead i.e. Russia-Turkey-Europe.
The thing is that if Turkey keeps threatening Europe that she will flood it with immigrants, the United States, the European Union and Russia will have to find a way to cooperate against Turkey.