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AZAZ HAS experienced quite the turnaround. The city in northern Syria was once controlled by Islamic State (IS), which continued to terrorise it even after leaving in 2014. That is when other jihadists and rebels swooped in. Today, though, Turkey is calling the shots. It keeps the lights on and supplies the local shops. The list of Turkish projects under construction ranges from schools and universities to hospitals and roads. The infrastructure is better than before the revolution, says an architect who is building new housing as part of another Turkish project.

Turkey is expanding its footprint across the Arab world, using force more than diplomacy. In the past year it has occupied north-eastern Syria, punched deep into Iraq and intervened in Libyas civil war. Its military spending has increased by nearly half since 2016.

Yet Turkeys strongman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, does not appear to have an all-encompassing vision for the region. Rather he is pursuing Turkeys economic interests and dealing with perceived threatssometimes by violating the borders of other countries. Thus is he fulfilling a promise made four years ago to go and confront [problems] wherever they nest.

Turkey is no newcomer to the Middle East. Its predecessor, the Ottoman empire, ruled the region for 500 years, until European powers rolled it back. More recently it has exerted cultural and economic influence, especially through Turkish soap operas and construction projects. After the Arab spring of 2011 brought Islamist movements to the fore, Mr Erdogan promoted Turkey as a model of Islamist governanceand himself as leader of the Muslim world. As the Islamists were pushed back (or crushed) and Western powers lost interest in the region, Turkey grew more assertive.

Start in Syria, where Turkey has long backed the rebels trying to topple Bashar al-Assads regime. They have all but lost, but Turkey continues to protect the areas still under their control in the north-west. It does not want another flood of refugees to cross its border, so it has tried to stabilise the regionfurther digging in. It trains police, funds a civil service and has replaced the Syrian pound with the steadier Turkish lira. In cities such as Azaz it is building rapidly. Backers of Mr Erdogan suggest that this is an investment for the long run.

Turkey has been even bolder in the part of northern Syria once controlled by the main local Kurdish force, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG). The YPG grabbed a large swathe of territory while helping America defeat IS. But the YPG has close ties with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a separatist Kurdish group in Turkey. So when America pulled out in October, Turkish troops moved in, backed by local Arab rebels. Together they pushed the Kurds out of much of their statelet. Turkey now occupies a 30km-deep strip in Syria extending for 145km along their border.

Mr Erdogan is also battling the PKK in the Kurds autonomous region in northern Iraq. Turkey says it has neutralised over 1,400 Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria this year. Sometimes the Turks have attacked 200km inside Iraq. They insist it is a short-term operation aimed only at the PKK, but they have set up a number of new outposts in the country. Many suspect their aim is to carve out a buffer zone along the border, as they did in Syria. Iraqs Kurds fear a Turkish presence would endanger their aspirations for statehood and, if it extends far enough, cut them off from the Kurds in Syria.

Turkeys intervention in Libya is different. The countries of the eastern Mediterranean have long argued over who controls which part of the seaand the gasfields beneath it. Mr Erdogan feared that an alliance of Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus might squeeze Turkey out of the area. So last year he signed a deal with Libyas UN-backed government that demarcated their maritime boundaries and supposedly gave Turkey the right to drill in waters off Greek islands. (Greece is having none of it.) In return Turkey has provided troops, arms, drones and mercenaries (from Syria) to the Libyan government and its allied militias, tipping the war in their favour. Earlier this year the forces of Khalifa Haftar, a rebellious Libyan general, were pushed out of western Libya.

Turkey is now a force to be reckoned with along a 600-km stretch of the Mediterranean. It controls an airbase in al-Watiya, close to Libyas border with Tunisia. Its frigates protect Libyas coast in the west. Some say Mr Erdogan is trying to turn the eastern Mediterranean into a Turkish sea.

He is active elsewhere, too. He has installed a Turkish garrison in Qatar, an ally and fellow backer of Islamist movements that has been threatened by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He has also shown an interest in Yemens civil war, offering Turkey as a safe haven for the Islamists fighting on behalf of the exiled president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. (He may do the same for Mr Hadi if Saudi Arabia grows tired of hosting him.) Across the Red Sea, in Sudan, Turkey is hoping to develop Suakin, a ruined Ottoman port. And it has established its largest overseas base in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Does Turkey have staying power? Its armed forces may already be stretched thin, having lost thousands of officers to show trials and purges in the past decade. And its adventurism isnt cheap. Its operations in Syria alone cost up to $3bn a year, says Nihat Ali Ozcan of TEPAV, a think-tank. But Mr Erdogan focuses on the benefits. Qatar, for example, has gone on an investment spree in Turkey. Earlier this year it helped shore up the weakening lira by tripling its currency-swap agreement with Turkey to $15bn. It may also be helping to pay for the operation in Libya, where Turkey expects to win new contracts when peacetime reconstruction resumes.

There is a domestic political benefit for Mr Erdogan, too. His attacks on the Kurds and posturing in the Mediterranean have delighted the nationalists who are his allies in parliament. They, in turn, have influence over the police and army.

But the going could get tougher. Egypt has mobilised its forces on Libyas border and vows to cross it if Turkey advances further. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, staunch anti-Islamists, would probably back Egypt. Russia is also on the opposing side in Libyaand in Syria, where it is believed to have killed dozens of Turkish troops in February. Mr Erdogan may soon feel he has bitten off more than he can chew.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Ottoman redux"

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Turkey is wielding influence all over the Arab world - The Economist

Tukey has sent mixed signals regarding the Libyan crisis by pledging a decision military action and calling for a peaceful solution in the war-torn country.

We are determined to make sure that our struggle in the vast region from Iraq to Syria and Libya ends in victory for our country and our friends and brothers and sisters in these countries, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.

Turkey will also continue to defend its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean, he said.

In the same context, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar affirmed in statements Thursday that Turkey is doing its utmost to help its Libyan brothers, in order to bring about a ceasefire, stability, and territorial integrity in Libya.

Akar added that the continued external military support received by Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar represents the greatest obstacle to peace in the country.

Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, stated that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham arrested Fadl Al-Libi, the leader of Jaysh Al-Sahel operating under the banner of Hurras Al-Din organization.

The militant was arrested for refusing to leave Syria and engage in fighting in Libya, at Turkish authorities' orders.

Russias Sputnik also revealed Thursday that a new group of mercenaries was dispatched to al-Watiya airbase in western Libya.

Further, weapons and mercenaries were sent to Misrata ahead of a possible new operation in Sirte and Jufra.

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Erdogan Insists on Decisive Action in Libya - Asharq Al-awsat - English

The Illustrious Twelve Imams in the Imperial House of Osmans Subhat al-Akhbar: The Rosary of World History. After the Prophet Muhammad, the subjects of portraits change to religio-political figures from early Islamic centuries and rulers belonging to major dynasties. In this category, the manuscript depicts the first four caliphs on the right, the Twelve Shii Imams on the left. Image source: Twitter.

by Ahmed Khan, Founder, The Rahnuma DailyEditor-In-Chief (therahnuma.com)editor@therahnuma.com

(RAHNUMA)Subhat al-Akhbar: The Rosary of World History is a very important work in Ottoman Turkish delineating the genealogy of the Ottoman Sultans, from Adam, the first completely perfected Man (al-Insan al-Kamil) and prophet, through Sultan Mehmet II, the Conqueror (d.1481) to Sultan Mehmed IV (d. 1687).

Genealogy has always played a major component of political ideology among Muslim dynasties from the Rashidun Era to the Sharifian revolt against the Ottoman caliphate.

The primary function of Subhat al-Akhbar was to introduce multiple sources of political legitimacy used by the Ottoman rulers to readers.

According to Shahzad Bashir, an Assistant Professor of Religion, Carleton College: The manuscripts series of pictorials begins with a portrait of Adam and Eve, followed by numerous biblical (and other) prophets, Jesus, and Muhammad. Portraits of prophets occupy the right and center of pages and are flanked, on the left, by legendary Persian kings and heroes celebrated as paragons of power and virtue in Islamic royal traditions. After Muhammad, the subjects of portraits change to religio-political figures from early Islamic centuries and rulers belonging to major dynasties. In this category, the manuscript depicts the first four caliphs, the Twelve Shii Imams, and rulers from Abbasid, Samanid, Ghaznavid, Saljuq, Mongol, and various Turkic dynasties.

The absence of the Umayyad and Timurid dynasties in the text marked a significant ideological statement by the Ottoman Sultans.

In his book Fasl al-Khitab in the chapter Ahwal al-Aqtab: Fadhail Khulafa wa Ahlul Bayt p. 592, Khwaja Muhammad Parsa states, Imam Hasan al-Askari is the father of Abul Qasim Muhammad al-Muntadharthe birth of al-Muntadhar was on the night of the 15th of Shaban, 255his mothers name is Narjis [Fasl al-Khitab [Arabic]: Fadhail Khulafa wa Ahlul Bayt, p. 592, Khwaja Muhammad Parsa].

Narjis, the wife of Imam Hasan al-Askari, was the granddaughter of Bardas (d. 866), the brother of Byzantine Empress Theodora.

Bardas engineered Theoktistos fall and became the regent for his nephew, Michael III (r. 842867), who was just two years old when he succeeded as sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Bardas rose to the rank of Caesar and was the effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, for ten years.

The capital of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople, known today as Istanbul, Turkey, and for the Ottomans, the conversion of the Hagia Sophia to a mosque symbolized the transfer of power from Europes greatest Empire, to the hands of the Twelfth Imam himself, whose representatives were none other than the Ottoman Sultans, who also claimed the caliphate to themselves though from the Abbasids, but nevertheless through the blessings of Twelve Shiite Imams.

According to early Ottoman traditions, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, el-Fatih (the Conqueror) decided to attack Constantinople only after being convinced by his spiritual advisor, the Sufi Master Aksemseddin that the Twelft Imam Saheb uz-Zaman Muhammad Mahdi al-Muntadhar ibn Hasan Al-Askari was hidden in the conquering army as a soldier.

Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmet II, el-Fatih, the Conqueror, assumed the title Kayser-i-Rm (Caesar of the Roman Empire). The adoption of the title implied that the Ottoman state considered itself the continuation, by absorption, of the Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, a view not shared in the West.

Hence, for Ottomans, the fall of Constantinople was seen as the fulfillment of a prophecy about the Ottoman Sultans which justified their rule over the Arab and non-Arab Muslim world, specifically Mehmet II and the Sultans who followed him. These Sultans were styled as representatives of the Hidden Twelfth Imam Muhammad Al-Mahdi in their capacity as Muslim caliphs as the Subhat al-Akhbar and earlier genealogical texts implied, but also now justified their claim to the title of Ceasar of the Eastern Roman Empire through their connection via the shadow caliphate to the Hidden Imam.

As outlandish as that might sound to many, it is theology, and most end time theology usually does. This even provides insight into why Iran might find it to be almost likened to a religious destiny to be allied to Putins Russia, which is the last citadel of what is left of the cultural legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire, which to Iran is linked to Narjis, mother of the Twelfth Shiite Imam.

A 2012 study by US based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed over 670 million Muslims expect Mahdi and Jesus to appear before 2050.

Irrespective of whether one believes in these narratives or not, eschatology is a significantly popular narrative in the Muslim world, and cannot be ignored. Such narratives need to be simply reinterpreted, and if done properly, like with the Ottoman Sultans of the past, and Irans Ayatollahs, can also in fact be helpful. Embracing and reinterpreting these narratives is the tool to forever halt all forms of regional eschatological narratives, which are being used to justify violence as we see with the Houthis for instance, and destabilize the Gulf in the name of the Hidden Arabian Guide Imam Muhammad Al Mahdi.

This proposal is in fact, technically no different to how Gulf states refused to refer to ISIS as Islamic and instead referred to it as Daesh. Likewise, it is now time for the Arabians to reclaim the Twelve Imams, and specifically the Twelfth Imam all of whom were from Arabia and greater Arabia.

With recent developments, is it possible next to the cult-like popular Netflix series Erturul the restoration of Hagia Sophia as a mosque is the final play in President Erdogans partys work to attempt to reinstate and popularize Turkish cultural hegemony in the Muslim world?

If my speculation above on the ideological drivers behind the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople are correct, which they are, then we can also understand the symbolism the restoration of Hagia Sophia as a mosque holds for President Erdogans party.

The restoration is seen by the few ideologues at the very top of Erdogans party as being as done in support of the return of the Mahdi, whose blessings were believed to have aided Sultan Mehmet II, el-Fatih to conquer Constantinople, and capture Hagia Sophia hundreds of years ago. These ideas link Erdogans Turkey to Iran ideologically, and unite the two major centers for non-Arab Sunni and Shiite Islam under a common goal. This is where India can enter and how Indian Muslims and their population can be of tremendous importance in terms of public support for Arab monarchies, if they can see the opportunity in it.

Turkeys historical support for Morsi, friendship with Qatar, and major play during the Khashoggi investigation to undermine the image of the Saudi Crown Prince directly demonstrated to the world it has its own plans for both Palestine and the Holy Cities, and so not addressing this ideological threat with an effective counter narrative could deal a more significant blow to the next generation of Arab rulers then they think, and popular support of Indian Muslims is just the solution Gulf nations require.

Indian society is divided along caste lines, even amongst its Muslims, and given the countries most popular Muslim Saint Khwaja Moinuddin is a descendant of the 11th Shia Imam Hasan Al-Askari, Al Askari Sayyids are the default popular leaders selected by the vast majority of Indian Muslims and hence, are the group the Gulf leadership needs to court.

The Arab world needs to befriend Indian Muslims, not just India, if it wants to effectively repel Turkish and Iranian religious narratives which seek to undermine the legitimacy of their leaders by popular support.

The descendants of Imam Hasan Al-Askari, who are by this account, relatives of the 12th imam, can help win broader recognition and legitimacy to support the current reforms taking place in the region, and winning their blessings and support, technically is no different to how the Ikhwan were courted by Ibn Saud, and how the British courted the Sharifs of Mecca, and how Americas Evangelicals court the Chosen People in Israel.

Unknown to most strategists, Al Askari Sayyids are in fact the counter narrative to Irans Wilayat i-Faqih doctrine, as their very existence undermines the argument of Wilayat i-Faqih by virtue of hereditary leadership, the core doctrine of Shiism itself! So feared are Al Askari Sayyids in the Islamic Republic of Iran, that Iran has actual studies to deny their very existence, despite the fact that thousands of Iranians, Egyptians, Sudanese, Indians and others have been registered as Imam Hasan al-Askaris descendants for hundreds of years by the registrar of Sayyid families, Naqib Al Ashraaf, in these respective countries.

Al Askari Sayyids fled from Iraq and Medina as refugees during the end of the Abbasid era, and are now found in non-Arab lands, and include some of the most influential Muslims in history like Khwaja Bahauddin Naqshband Bukhari, Khwaja Qutbuddin Mawdud Chisti, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Khwaja Mir Dard of the Delhi School, Tajuddin Awliya of Nagpur, Sayyid Ahmed Badawi of Tanta, Egypt, and even Lt. Colonel Amiruddin, the Nizam of Hyderabads Military Secretary.

For over 1300 years, Arabs overwhelmingly neglected the descendants of Imam Al Husayn, and the subsequent damage that has done to the Arab understanding of Islam, can be seen in the intellectual weakness of its religious leaders who remained aloof from them. Arab Islam has for the vast majority of its history been molded by the writings of Persian influences, while Persian Islam is a direct byproduct of Persian fascination with the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Bukhari and the majority of the compilers of the Hadith texts being the best example of Persian influence on Arab Sunni and Shiite Islamic narratives.

The Golden Age of the Arab and Islamic civilization commenced during the period of Ali Ibn Al Husayn titled Zayn Al Abdin and ended in the 12th century.

Sir Edward Arthur Henry Blunts The Caste System of Northern India with Special Reference to the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh published by Oxford University Press in 1931 mentions the Al Askari Sayyids amongst the various Muslim castes of India.

Muslims in the Arab world, Turkey and Iran, and even India believe the restoration of the Golden Age the Islamic civilization and its restoration to be a hub for economic, scientific, technological, cultural, and artistic advancement, is something inherently intertwined and interconnected to the return of Imam Hasan Al Askaris family to the Arab world with the advent of the Mahdi, and the Arab world finally embracing them. Maybe the pressure exerted by Turkey and Iran on the Arab world will enable it to finally embrace Al Askari Sayyids back into their societies, and finally embrace the change which is upon them with open arms.

Doing so will be a good move in my opinion.

Ahmed Khan is the Founder of The Rahnuma Daily (theRahnuma.com), the online global English daily edition of The Rahnuma-E-Deccan Daily (ReDD), Indias oldest Urdu daily print newspaper established in 1921. More than 81.1 million Indians identify Urdu as their language, and as per the annual INA (Indian Newspapers Association) report, ReDD ranks among the top 5 most widely circulated and read Urdu daily print newspapers throughout India. Ahmed resides in Hyderabad at his maternal ancestral home and can be contacted at, editor@therahnuma.com

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From Adam to Mehmet II el-Fatih: Insight on Erdogan's eschatology linking Hagia Sophia to the Mahdi, and Turkey to Iran - The Rahnuma Daily

John Bolton, Pres. Trumps former National Security Adviser, published a fascinating book on his work at the White House from April 2018 to September 2019. His revealing book, The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, shows why Pres. Trump is unfit for office and incompetent. Bolton emphasized repeatedly that everything Trump did was either to secure his reelection or for his own self-interest, contrary to the interests of the country.

Today we will focus solely on Trumps unholy relationship with the dictator of Turkey, Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom Pres. Trump calls The Sultan. Turkey is mentioned 135 times in Boltons 570-page book. Erdogan is mentioned 95 times. This shows the importance the White House places on Turkey and Erdogan, Pres. Trumps close friend. Surprisingly, neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan is mentioned in the book even though Bolton made a trip to both countries during his tenure.

In The Room Where It Happened, Bolton compares Erdogans tone on a phone call with Trump to Mussolini speaking from his Rome balcony, describing the Turkish leader as a radical Islamicist.

Erdogan, during his multiple visits to the White House and 20 phone calls with Pres. Trump, repeatedly raised the following three priority demands from Trump

1) The release of Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab from arrest in the United States by appealing to Pres. Trump to drop the charges against him. Zarrab, with Erdogans blessing, had laundered $20 billion to Iran through the Turkish government-owned Halkbank to circumvent the U.S. sanctions on Iran;

2) The extradition from the United States to Turkey of Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric, who after his close alliance with Erdogan, split with him and became the Turkish Presidents enemy number one. Erdogan falsely accused Gulen of leading the Turkish coup attempt in 2016.

3) The acquiescence of Trump to withdraw US troops from Northern Syria, allowing Turkey to invade that area and eliminate the Kurdish populations presence inside the Syrian border.

Bolton related in his book that during the G20 summit meeting in Argentina on Dec. 1, 2018, Erdogan gave Trump a memo requesting that Zarrab be freed from U.S. jail. According to Boltons book, Trump told Erdogan that he would take care of things, explaining that the Southern District [of New York] prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people.

When Bolton was dispatched to Turkey to warn Erdogan that he should not invade Northern Syria, Bolton received a last minute phone call from Pres. Trump asking him to refrain from telling the Turkish President that the U.S. troops will not withdraw from Northern Syria, even though most of the White House senior staff disagreed with the Presidents decision.

Trump also violated U.S. laws and congressional demands by refusing to sanction Turkey, a NATO member, for purchasing Russian anti-aircraft S-400 missiles.

David Ignatius published an article in the Washington Post last week, titled, Trumps corrupt dealings with Turkey are some of the most startling stories in Boltons book. Bolton recalls that he told Attorney General William P. Barr in April 2019 that Trumps repeated efforts to help Erdogan showed his penchant to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked. Ignatius described Trumps corrupt dealings with Erdogan as the clearest, most continuous narrative of misconduct by Trump that has yet surfaced.

Ignatius linked the Trump-Erdogan friendship to Trumps personal business interests. When he launched Trump Towers Istanbul in April 2012, his daughter Ivanka Trump tweeted thanks to Erdogan, the prime minister at the time, for attending. With them was a Turkish businessman named Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, whom Donald Trump described at the opening as a great friend of Ivanka. Kushner, her husband, was there, too.

Trump was surrounded by a group of pro-Turkish staff, such as his first National Security Adviser Michael Flynn who was forced to register as a foreign agent after it was revealed that Flynns consulting firm was paid $500,000 from a Turkish businessman who headed the state-run Turkish business federation. Flynns task was to get Gulen extradited to Turkey.

Another pro-Turkish adviser was Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trumps personal lawyer, who contacted then U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Feb. 24, 2017, stating that he was traveling to Ankara as the representative of Zarrab. Giuliani pressured the Justice Department for some agreement between the United States and Turkey for the release of Zarrab, according to Gulianis statement filed in federal court. Trump fired Bharara in March 2017, but the case against Zarrab was continued by the new U.S. Attorney, Geoffrey Berman, who was also fired by Trump last week.

Not surprisingly, Erdogan was angered by Boltons revelations. Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish presidencys communications director, said on Twitter: Recent publication of a book authored by a high-level former U.S. official includes misleading, one-sided and manipulative presentations of our leader President Erdogans conversations with the US President Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, Bolton refused to testify in Congress during Pres. Trumps Congressional Impeachment Hearings, even though it would not have made a difference. Just about all Republican Senators blindly follow Trumps lead no matter how wrong he is. As Trump arrogantly proclaimed during the campaign, I could stand in the middle of 5th Ave. and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose any voters.

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National Security Adviser Bolton exposes Trumps corrupt ...

CAIRO 25 June 2020: Turkey's ambitions to expand in the Arab World were not set by incumbent President Recep Tayip Erdogan. He has just been venturing into making them materialize. Yet, in the process, he rebelled against the powers that made him chief of state.

Writer and Regional Affairs Journalist Hend al-Dawy tells Egypt Today that the 2017 amendment of the Turkish constitution - turning the ruling system from parliamentary to presidential - sparked outrage in the army. The move was a rebellion by Erdogan against the coalitions that had helped him become prime minister in 2001.

In the 1990s, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) allied with a military order that had 200 members who adopt the ideas of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The alliance was brokered by incumbent Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu. Post the 1997 coup, military candidates were not favored by the public opinion. Hence, Erdogan had been chosen by the order dubbed Ergenekon constituting the Turkish deep state to hold office before he turned against them in what is called "The Ergenekon Trials" in 2013, the writer says.

The majority of around 300 individuals who are military personnel, politicians, journalists and civil society figures - were handed lengthy sentences as they were convicted of plotting an alleged coup.

Since the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011, Erdogan rebelled against the state's secularism, and Ataturk's "Zero Conflict" strategy involving not intervening in the conflicts of other states, the regional affairs journalist adds.

Nevertheless, there is a consensus among Erdogan and the Ergenekon on Turkey's intervention in neighboring states. That is because the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne designating the current borders of Turkey will expire in 2023. Turkey has been targeting to achieve the plan proposed in the 1920 National Oath/Pact (Al Mithaq Al Milli) on borders. The plan is about occupying northern Syria and Iraq, consisting of Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, and Aleppo. That is why Turkey has intervened northern Iraq under the pretext of chasing PKK elements, Dawy explains.

The attempted coup was orchestrated because Erdogan has been promoting the Turkish Islamist model not because of the expansive plans he has been working to accomplish. Erdogan's project is about safeguarding his position as the Muslim Brotherhood leader but not serving the brotherhood at the expense of the Turkish state. The goal of the attempted coup was getting rid of Erdogan but not halting Turkish foreign interventions, the writer elaborates.

The disagreement occurred between Erdogan and the Ergenekon "because he started to promote the Islamist project which is against the creed of the deep stateThe intelligence agencies of some states, particularly Russia, learnt about the attempted coup and informed him. That's why he was able to foil it. Some reports also suggest that the United States was involved in the coup's plan," the regional affairs journalist clarifies.

"It is noted that Erdogan has been seeking to replicate the Iranian model of Revolutionary Guard by dismantling the systematic official army and using militias," Dawy points out. That is why he established SADAT, a company training and hiring mercenaries.

"The Turkish army will avenge one day and may receive backing from the United States, the United Kingdom and some European countries who want to get rid of Erdogan before 2023 in order to thwart the expansive schemes Turkey aims for after the expiry of the Treaty of Lausanne," Dawy underlines.

"The West uses Turkey to narrow the role of Russia in the Middle East. Turkey's military intervention in Idlib took place for the first time since the outbreak of the civil war because its proxies had been bombarded by Russia and the Syrian Arab Army, and because it is Turkey's most important stronghold in Syria," the writer says.

"In parallel, Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar reinforced ties with Russia, and restored relations with Syria which has angered the United States and the United Kingdom. Hence, Turkey began intervening in Libya seizing the opportunity to negotiate on Idlib with Russia, and to push Europe to pressure Egypt to allow Turkey join the East Mediterranean Gas Forum," the regional affairs journalist adds.

The Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu made a statement at the time saying that Turkey and the United Kingdom share similar views on Libya. After Turkey-backed militias affiliated to the Government of National Accord (GNA) had taken over Al Watiyah, U.S. President Donald Trump described the moves as successful. Erdogan also stated that no projects eastern the Mediterranean will succeed without Turkey.

"Erdogan never moves without the green light of one of the super powers, particularly the Anglo-Saxon ones," Dawy highlights.

"Turkey also wants to avenge the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt while paving the way for a second wave of the Arab Spring which focuses on North Africa mainly Tunisia, Algeria, and Mauritania," the writer showcases.

"The red line designated by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as Sirte-Al Jufrah warning the militias from crossing it has put the United States in a critical situation given that Egypt is a stronger ally than Turkey. Therefore, it will try to make a balance. Nonetheless, Erdogan may trigger more provocations and put the West in an embarrassing position," the regional affairs journalist estimates.

"France is enraged, and Italy began abandoning the idea of using Turkey to counter the Russian power in the Middle East. Although France and Italy clashed over interests in Libya, particularly the work of their companies in the oil and gas sector, they may reach an agreement. If a political solution is not reached to conserve the interests of all players, the Syrian model will be duplicated in Libya whereas each power will deploy forces in its bailiwick," Dawy says.

"It is noted that European factories operate by the light oil of Libya. Thus, if the LNA controls eastern Libya housing the majority of oil fields, the countries currently backing Turkey will rush to broker a political solution so they would maintain their interests in Libyan oil," the writer adds.

Earlier this week, the Italian minister of foreign affairs has been in a visit to Tripoli where he asserted the necessity of a ceasefire, arms ban, foreign intervention in the country, and a political solution praising the

"The LNA and its allies, who are Egypt, UAE, Russia, and France, are very strong and can take over western Libya but it's not about military strength alone. Political acceptance among the Libyan people is crucial, and the majority of the population lives western the country," the regional affairs journalist points out.

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Erdogan: statesman who went rogue while pushing for Turkey ...