Arabs are already dissatisfied with Erdogan, it’s up to anti-Turkish consolidation - expert
Turkish President Recep Erdogan has latched onto Idlib to regain the remnants of his lost “authority” in the Arab world.
Leading researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at MGIMO University of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Yuri Zinin, stated this at a press conference, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“If we look back to 60-70 years, we will see that the Arab region was led by Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, South Yemen, Algeria, which headed for progressive transformations with the support of the USSR and the socialist camp,” the expert said. “This era is a thing of the past, Arab countries have largely lost their positions... Turkey focuses on the idea of neo-Ottomanism, the cultivation of moderate Islam under Turkish banners, behind this lies the desire to restore its influence in economic, financial, political terms.”
According to Zinin, Erdogan had chances for this, he had the support of a certain part of the Arab elites, but after the start of the Arab Spring, the Arab world saw what was behind these slogans. And most countries rejected this path.
And now this is noticeable in the negative reaction to Turkish aggression in Syria by the Gulf countries, which initially supported the anti-Assad, Wahhabi opposition.
“In Idlib, in my opinion, there is an attempt by Erdogan to catch on, to continue the course, but it is unlikely that he will succeed; throughout the Arab world, except for Qatar, they have a negative attitude towards Erdogan’s actions,” the scientist believes. “The way out of the situation is for the Arabs to consolidate to some extent, stop discord and support the (Syrian – ed.) opposition, and then Turkey’s plans are unlikely to come true.”
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