Save Iraq
Iraq is a neighbouring country of Turkey, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Politicians of all these five countries have their eyes on Iraq. Despite this, Iraq is sick, and nobody knows when it will recover. The illness of Iraq is also affecting the health of the neighbouring countries.
It is historically known that Iraq is difficult to govern. The modern history has its lots of evidence. It is also very difficult for it to resist a repressive dictatorial rule, as is proved by the repressive Baath party rule.
Therefore, it will not be surprising if the deadlines set by the constitution (which is a loose constitution) are violated. It will also not be a surprise if the formation of the government is delayed for an indefinite period.
Nobody can rule out the possibility that Iraq can slip into a bitter long civil conflict which will drain what remains of Iraq’s energy to transform into a state like other countries. However, this possible and undesirable scenario will not escape the evils of the neighbourhood. The slackness of the Iraq as a state, as we see, is the reason for the growth of the Kurdish-Turkish opposition in the north against Turkey and growth of ISIS in its west. Iran may also be using Iraqis to create chaos in the Gulf neighbourhood.
Iraq was a country free of corruption before the overthrow of the previous regime. But now corruption is rampant there.
[by Mohammad Al Romaihi in Ahsarq Al Awsat]
Erdoğan’s Visit to UAE
Several years ago, specifically since the last Gulf crisis, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the UAE was ruled out for the Turks and the Emiratis alike. Turkey completely sided with Qatar during this crisis and made solid strategic alliances with it and clarified its position and biases strongly from the beginning.
The map of Turkish support for Qatar and Qatari support for Turkey during this fabricated crisis expanded significantly through dozens of agreements and protocols of cooperation. Turkey significantly strengthened its presence in the Gulf which was never imagined since the end of the Ottoman state. This was the result of Saudi-Emirati threat to Qatar. The world came to know Turkey’s capability to end the crisis without least possible damages and its regional and international influence on various parties to admit their mistakes and correct their and their allies’ position.
What the Turks can gain from Erdoğan’s visit is not only the development in relations with the UAE, but this visit is also an embarrassment for the regime in Egypt. The Gulf states have vetoed any serious development of relations between Cairo and Ankara are now on their way to a full normalisation of relations and a strong partnership with Turkey, even if this is within the framework of tactical arrangements in the region. Now, it is up to the regime in Egypt to pick up a side of a thread of communication with the Turkish regime and restore relations to what they were at least before 2014.
[by Omar Samir in Arabic Post]
Compiled and Translated by Faizul Haque