‘Conflict of interests dominates Turkish relations with Greece’
‘Quarrel over energy sources, land turns murky’
“THE Turkish-Greek relations have witnessed a remarkable decline recently, and the fact is that the crisis between the two countries is ancient-modern since it began in 1897, represented by the so-called the ‘Balkan War’,” columnist Fakhri Hashem Al-Sayed Rajab wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“The conflict in each stage takes a new form, always starting with a move or provocation from one of the parties to the other and since February 2020 the tension has increased, as the Turkish President announced the opening of the doors for refugees to leave Turkey, and the surest and easiest outlet was the land route with Greece.
“On August 27, 2020, the Turkish Navy announced in a maritime notice (Navitex) in order to alert and communicate with ships sailing at sea, (and the device is tasked with alerting to the existence of an air or seismic danger.
“The important thing is that the dispute between Turkey and Greece is the result of a conflict of interests between the two countries. Ostensibly, all international efforts focus on building confidence between the two parties and transforming this conflict into a real partnership between them, but in practice on the ground there are always hidden secrets and interests that the stronger parties conceal and work on both covert and overt sides, to reap the maximum benefit from this disagreement which recently met in Cairo (France, Greek Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Libya), and formed an important alliance to settle scores with Turkey.
“As for the other countries, they also have their accounts, and the issue needs to be considered, and to be reminded that the dispute over the Aegean Sea and the Cyprus issue are the main focus of the conflict between Turkey and Greece which is a topic on which the major countries play as a trump card that is rotated whenever necessary, starting with Greece’s position on Turkey’s entry into the European Union, and passing through the deployment of Russian missiles south of the Aegean Sea in 1998 and the openness of a relationship between Israel and Turkey later, which angered Greece which put it on equal footing with Israel.
“However, recently the Greek security forces opened fire on a Turkish boat, which resulted in injuries. On this background, the Turkish Navy issued a navigational notification in which it said the Turkish navy ship will conduct seismic surveys and this action led to escalation between the two countries.
“Things will remain fine for the dominant countries as long as a person like Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the president of a country that is Turkey. The prisons are overcrowded with thousands of his opponents, under the cover of defending Islam through his speeches, as for the truth, Erdogan has began his political life as mayor of Istanbul and was dismissed from his duties and suspended due to his incitement.
“In spite of the above, however, suddenly, Erdogan became prime minister in 2003 and then he became the president of Turkey in order to carry out the persistent intervention policy in the internal affairs of the states in the region as well as in the Palestinian Cause.
“Not just that, Erdogan was involved in supporting the radical groups, and was honored with the ‘Encouragement Prize’ by the Jewish Congress in 2004.
“For the time being, however, the huge energy fields in the eastern Mediterranean are burning as Turkey announces its exploration plan, and under the hullabaloo over the event, more than a million Syrians are cut off unjustly from the city of Hasakah by force. Where are we heading?”
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“After the recent losses suffered by the ‘Libyan National Army’ forces under the leadership of retired Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar from Al Wattayah base to the city of Tarhuna to Tripoli airport, after which the Libyan West became completely subject to the Government of National Accord led by Fayez al-Sarraj, whose appetite for continued military progress and investment of victory to dominate the east Libya opened,” columnist Abdulla Al-Mesbah wrote for AlAnba daily.
“However, these defeats, caused an upset to Hafter allies in both the Arab region and Europe where these parties, were frustrated as a result of the consecutive losses which Hafter forces had incurred, when the latter had repeatedly failed to enter into Tripoli.
His forces had lost a lot of ground in spite of all the promises that were launched by him during the past period indicating that he will achieve the pledged victory.
“Then the calls for the government of Al-Wefaq to return to the negotiating table, after the balance of power on the ground in Libya changed following the Turkish intervention in favor of Al-Sarraj, Egypt issued the ‘Cairo Declaration for Negotiation’, which some considered an attempt to stop the land losses from Haftar’s hands, and calls escalated to Egypt from inside Libya to intervene militarily, following in the example of Turkey in terms of the latter’s intervention for supporting Al-Sarraj government.
“For its part, the Egyptian parliament, in a secret session had authorized the president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to send Egyptian troops to the Western front to ‘fight the foreign terrorist elements’ given the fact this development is likely to open the door for the prospective Egyptian action that shall take place in Libya.
“However, the danger of the exceeding Turkish greediness and expansion in the Arab world is no longer secret and this was evident through the Turkish move in Libya which aims at snatching the Libya wealth and this has increased the fears of the Egyptian president and his allies to such an extent he considers the Turkish move in question as a threat against Egypt’s security.
“But the question is, does sending Egyptian troops to the Libyan border be for the good of Egypt? However, nobody can cast doubts on the ability the Egyptian Army to protect Egypt and defend it and this was evident through what has been achieved by this army during the war of October 1973, as this army was considered as the ninth military might in the world according to the last classification of the Global Firepower Ranking for the year of 2020, while the Turkish army, occupies the eleventh rank on global level.
“It is needless to say, the decision to enter the war is easy, but the decision to exit from it will be very difficult and costly at the military and economic level, and Egyptian military experts are aware of the cost of the adventure of entering a proxy war in the Libyan swamp in such difficult circumstances, as Egypt and its allies are going through difficult economic conditions after what the world economy has suffered from the collapse due to the Corona pandemic.”
❑❑❑ “Sovereign funds are not new in the global financial arena. They began in the 1950s, and grew rapidly at the end of the Twentieth century and beginning of the third millennium,” columnist Hamad Abdulghafour Mahmoud Modowah wrote for
Al-Seyassah daily.
“Kuwait is considered the founder of the first sovereign fund in the world in 1953 - ( the General Investment Authority). After that, in the seventies, other funds appeared in the UAE, Singapore and other countries.
“These funds, which are created by the world’s governments, work to achieve sovereign, economic and strategic goals, in addition to sustainable development goals, and to protect the national economy and the general budget of countries from any crises resulting from fluctuations in the global markets as these funds contain fixed assets like real estate, stocks, bonds and stakes in giant financial institutions.
“These funds also play a major role in alleviating the severity and repercussions of domestic and global economic crises, such as the global financial crisis and the economic repercussions of the coronavirus crisis. They have pumped hundreds of billions into dealing with the economic recession caused by the pandemic, but they have not escaped the negative repercussions as it is expected that the decline in assets in these funds exceeds $300 billion (Institute of International Finance).”
“Do not be deceived by the shuttle delegations of peace, European correspondents or United Nations delegates. Do not rejoice over American statements calling for an end to the sectarian battles and wars in the Arab East. Do not believe those weeping about the hungry and the homeless, and the destruction of their cities over their heads,” columnist Talal Abdulkareem Al-Arab wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“Whenever the parties to a conflict are on the verge of reaching a solution, their torch balls fan the embers of conflict once again. With regard to conferences, meetings and dialogues between them, they only mean one thing - how to exhaust the Arab world, eliminate loyalty to the nation, and destroy any potential power for decades to come.
“The raging sectarian battles did not happen by chance, as they were planned for decades with the aim of changing the map of the Arab East. They began with destroying its military strength and destabilizing national unity by removing its national affiliation and replacing it with a spirit of sectarian loyalty beyond its borders.
“What we see now is a steady and accelerating progress to achieve the goal of establishing a sustainable Arab sectarian situation, led and dominated by the Shiite Arab side - Iran through mercenaries who are now undertaking sectarian demographic changes in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
“As for Turkey, which entered late on the conspiracy line, seems to have set foot in an Arab country, Syria, Libya and Somalia. It has established for itself a militia of mercenaries to spread corruption in their homes and that of their brothers.”
“After the curfew and lockdown that lasted for more than 140 days, life has gradually returned to Kuwait following the corona pandemic which affected all countries,” columnist Khalid Al-Arafa wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“Life has returned, but the return comes with caution and commitment to follow health regulations like social distancing, wearing masks and the use of personal protective equipment whenever one is outside the home.
“Responsibility has now shifted to society, where everyone has the responsibility to protect themselves from this virus. It has become necessary to ensure that health measures are applied and followed, in addition to adherence to the implementation of health recommendations.
“We know very well that the number of infection cases is still witnessing a remarkable increase. This matter is not a cause for concern, because the more swabs and examinations conducted mean higher number of infection. Perhaps, what reassures us now is the stability and decrease in the number of patients in intensive care units.
“The current stage requires all of us to be careful and adhere to the instructions, so we can cross towards safety, with emphasis on punishing every violator or those who do not comply with the regulations.”