Turkey-Syria Normalisation
Ankara has expressed its desire to restore relations with the government in Damascus, through the successive statements of Turkish officials, which may have not stopped yet. The (Bashar Al-Assad) regime has also responded to them through semi-official media channels, political analysts, and statements by its foreign minister, Faisal Miqdad who has indicated initial acceptance of the offer of negotiations. No negotiations took place, according to Miqdad, but it is certain that a security meeting was held in Damascus, under Russian auspices, between the chiefs of the two intelligence services: (Turkey’s) Hakan Fidan and (Syria’s) Ali Mamluk. It was probably not the first of its kind.
This is not the first time that Ankara has proposed reconciliation with the regime in Damascus, during more than 11 years of crisis. During this period Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister at the time, advised Assad to reconcile with the Syrian opposition, led by the Muslim Brotherhood. But when the Assad regime showed intransigence in accepting peaceful solutions, the Turkish regime extended full support to the Syrian political and military opposition with its Islamic offshoots.
The Turkish desire to improve its relationship with Damascus will lead to opening a route for negotiations. But it is a difficult path. The (Assad) regime cannot receive millions of refugees in its areas of control, and cannot regain control over its borders with Turkey, and control it with the movements of Kurdish units, and there is Iran, which is unwilling to reconcile with Ankara and the Syrian opposition.
[by Rania Mustafa in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed]
The Crisis in Iraq
Since the results of the last elections were announced on October 10, 2021, until now, the parties in Iraq have not been able to form the government because of the intransigence of the political forces. These political forces want to continue their factional agenda at the expense of the public interest of the country.
The dispute between Nuri al-Maliki and Muqtada Al-Sadr has taken a more dangerous form than it appears. Both possess political and military tools to confront the other party. Nuri Al-Maliki’s coalition is loyal to Iran. Though it has support of some of the Sunni personalities, Al-Sadr group enjoyed the majority. But it failed to garner support of two-thirds of the house needed to elect the President of the Republic as stipulated in the Iraqi constitution and as per the decision of the Federal Court. This prompted Al-Sadr to protest the judiciary and to withdraw all its members from the council with a collective resignation.
The step made him lose one of his most important political weapons through which he could have used against his political opponents.
Now everyone knows the extent of Iranian interference in Iraq and how and its attempts to control it politically and religiously as well and turn it into a region affiliated with Iran, as it did with the Ahwazi Arabs. It is also clear that the real problem which creates obstacles in Iraq in its standing in the face of Iranian hegemony is the lack of real will of the international community, particularly of the US to restore Iraq’s natural position in the region.
[by Bahaa Khalil in Arabic Post]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque