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Alliances shifting: Saudis getting cozy with Turkey

Reader comment on item: Turkey's Unimportant Election

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jun 9, 2015 at 04:47

I am increasingly interested in Saudi Arabia's response to events in Turkey. As of a few months ago, I thought Saudi Arabia was pretty solidy locked into an alliance with Egypt, the UAE and other Sunni Arab states; and that Turkey and Qatar were in a camp of their own. Lately, I realize that:

  1. The new king of Saudi Arabia is apparently a devout Wahabbi, sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood -- which, in turn, is championed by Turkey and Qatar but banned in Egypt and the UAE
  2. There seems to be a shift in alliances in the making, with Saudi Arabia drawing nearer to Turkey's Ergogan and Egypt drawing nearer to Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan. I suppose the UAE is still strongly tied to Egypt in LIbya; and Morocco, being ever at odds with Algeria over Western Sahara, will therefore get closer to Turkey.
  3. Closer to Israel, I expect Hamas to be in the Turkey-Saudi camp, and the PLO to be with the Jordanians and Egyptians. Sudan also seems to have been embraced by the Saudis and Turks as well, along with Somalia and some other actors..

...as though things weren't complicated enough. Pakistan, meanwhile, which used to be a pretty stalwart Saudi ally, seems at the moment disinclined to get ivolved with the Arabs, putting its efforts into its ties with China (and against India).

This rearrangement of alliances marks the introduction, it seems, of Algeria into Middle Eastern politics and away from the relative isolation it had been enjoying. The catalyst in this is Libya, particularly the ISIS affiliate in Libya, which has been causing trouble for Algeria, Tunisia, LIbya-Tobruk, Egypt and Jordan, as well as exacerbating headaches among the Europeans (particularly the Italians) over the "boat people"matter.

Again concerning Israel, this all seems to have implications for the sub-rosa "Saudi-Israeli alliance" against Iran. Now it's the "Saudi-Turkish" alliance -- still against Iran, but including fiercely anti-Israel Turkey in the person of the still-very-much-alive Mr. Erdogan. None of this portends peace in the region.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (18) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Erdogan is a terrorist [44 words]Michael SOct 10, 2015 15:40225553
1Turkey is Tubal-cain [88 words]JackJul 5, 2015 02:52224062
Turkey - cruising for a bruising [92 words]Peter C.Jun 30, 2015 12:40224009
as usual, outsider analysis' are again exaggerated and came out to be false and narrow perspectived [216 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
servet cevikJun 12, 2015 07:00223775
Now that Erdo's been taken down a peg, will you change your analysis? [17 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Solomon2Jun 9, 2015 08:47223745
Alliances shifting: Saudis getting cozy with Turkey [336 words]Michael SJun 9, 2015 04:47223743
Thank goodness your prognosis of the Turkish elections yesterday was wrong! [88 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
BobJun 8, 2015 15:29223734
Turkey on the brink of political implosion [356 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Mehmet S. TurkelJun 6, 2015 08:36223709
withering Secularism [142 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Dr.AwwadJun 5, 2015 12:38223692
Erdogan: on a collision course with Israel [450 words]Michael S.Jun 6, 2015 10:58223692
reply to Michael S [163 words]Dr.awwadJun 10, 2015 02:40223692
Erdogan is secure from a military coup. Expect attention in the region to shift to Egypt [411 words]Michael SJun 12, 2015 15:33223692
Turkey is seeing red [427 words]Michael S.Jun 23, 2015 13:19223692
1Turkey : A dictatorship [63 words]BilalerdoganJun 5, 2015 02:36223688
Erdo, the Turkish Putin! [15 words]steven LJun 4, 2015 23:59223686
Obama: Lunatic and Buffoon; Erdogan: Just a Lunatic [353 words]Michael SJun 4, 2015 22:05223685
dictators end [10 words]havasJun 8, 2015 05:25223685
1Erdogan is, and likely will continue to be, absolutely in control -- even after the election [222 words]Michael SJun 12, 2015 14:00223685

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